The timeliness of the Earthquake Commission's payouts to contractors repairing damage from the Canterbury earthquake is in dispute.
Some drainlayers in Christchurch say they are frustrated with delays in payouts but the registered master builders and plumbers federations say it is the contractors who are to blame.
One contractor, Graham Boyd, says he has been taking on work and then waiting for more than a month to be paid.
The leader of a Canterbury residents association, Tom McBrearty, says he's heard rumours some contractors are turning down quake repair work because of the delays.
But Richard Field from the Registered Master Builders Federation says its members have not had problems with payments.
He says small inexperienced operators are either mixing up their EQC paperwork or do not understand how the claims process works.
EQC insurance manager Lance Dixon says some mistakes are inevitable with so many claims to process but he believes they should be minimal.
