Hi tstr1a,
Yep, this is what I thought when I read my contract. Its vague & open enough to be confusing.....
My personal view is that a stage cannot really be classed as complete if the work carried out is not completed to Australian Standards, which should be the yardstick to measure this.
Would be interested to understand the legalities of this clause and how its meant to protect the client.
Afterall, taking it to a silly extreme for one minute, what stops any rogue builder just ignoring all building standards and just completing each stage as roughly as possible and being able to legally claim each payment un-challenged up to final payment !!??!!