The statute sets defaults
The 15-day owner deadline and the 10-day subcontractor deadline in O.C.G.A. 13-11-4 are statutory defaults. They apply when the contract is silent, so the contract does not have to repeat them word for word to make them apply.
O.C.G.A. 13-11-7(b) lets the contract set a different interest rate, payment period and terms, and says those contractual provisions control. No court order is needed to change them; the contract itself does it.
The trap: assuming the statute overrides the contract. Treating the 13-11-4 periods as fixed and unchangeable ignores 13-11-7(b).
Ordinary late payment
When the contract sets its own payment period and interest rate and the owner pays late through an ordinary delay, not a willful breach, the contract's terms govern.
Example: the contract sets 0.5 percent per month. The owner is simply late. The contract's payment period and 0.5 percent rate apply.
- There is no higher-of rule; the statute does not pick whichever rate is larger.
- The statute does not split the period, with the statutory rate for the first month and the contract rate after.
Willful breach
Under 13-11-7(b), in case of a willful breach of the contract's time-of-payment provisions, the interest rate specified in 13-11-7 applies: 1 percent per month.
Example: the contract sets 0.75 percent per month and the owner willfully breaches the time-of-payment terms. The rate is 1 percent per month, the statutory rate.
- The 0.75 percent contract rate controls only when there is no willful breach.
- The statute sets no 1.5 percent penalty rate, and willful breach does not double the rate.
- A contract rate changes the rate; it does not eliminate interest. Saying no interest is due because the contract set its own rate gets it backward.
Quick rule
Contract silent: statute. Contract sets terms: contract. Willful breach of payment timing: statutory 1 percent per month.