Sub-Contract Retentions, a reminder of what they are meant for and how we can assist you to reduce your overdue retention account
Retention is a percentage of the amount certified of a construction Sub-Contract as due to the Sub-Contractor on an interim certificate, that is deducted from the amount due and retained by the Main-Contractor.
The purpose of retention is to ensure that the Sub-Contractor properly completes their Sub-Contract works required of them under the Sub-Contract, including attending to defects during the Defects Liability Period.
Sub-Contracts generally allow for half of the retention amount to be released upon completion of the Sub-Contract or Main-Contract works, with the remainder to be released upon the expiry of the Defects Liability Period, upon the Sub-Contractor’s Application.
In an ideal world, a Sub-Contractor would apply for their retentions when they become due and the Main-Contractor will pay them…HOWEVER this is rarely the case and Sub-Contractors find themselves to have significant sums of retentions outstanding at any one time from numerous Main-Contractors across several projects. With the response from the Main-Contractor often being that they will “look into what is owed” and fail to do so, and regularly it is the case that retention applications are ignored and remain outstanding for several years.
We know that recovering your retentions can be time-consuming, frustrating and take up vital management time.
We can assist you to reconsider the processes you engage to recover your retentions or take over the process for you.
Our clients find that when we do take over the process, their retentions are repaid much quicker because we are familiar with managing excuses and delaying tactics raised by Main-Contractors.
Take a moment to think about the difference your outstanding retentions would make to your business if they were in your account instead of a Main Contractor’s account effectively acting as a free loan to them