I've got retention sitting on jobs I finished years ago
Nobody asked for it at the time, the teams have moved on, and we suspect the total is more than we would like to admit.
Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.
What's happening?
Retention comes back on events that happen after the job has finished, so it is the money most easily left behind. Each job's sum looks too small to chase. The person who knew the release terms has moved on. And your main contractor has no reason to pay what nobody has asked for. Across 5 or 6 years of work, the forgotten total can run to tens of thousands of pounds.
Time is the real risk. The time you have to recover each release runs from the date it fell due, not from the day you notice it. The paperwork that proves the sum held gets harder to find every year. A release that was only overdue 3 years ago may now be close to the point where it can no longer be recovered.
The solution
Sweep every finished job at once, not just the ones you happen to remember. Put them all in one register and value each retention from the applications and certificates, not the ledger. Work out each release date from that job's own subcontract, so every request can cite a clause, a trigger, a date and a sum. Then deal with the nearest deadlines first.
Retention Claim runs that sweep for you. We flag anything near its deadline in writing the day we find it, and the requests go out in your name. Every job ends with a clear call: pursue it, wait for a trigger, take legal advice, or write it off with the numbers showing why. Retention Loss Prevention then stops the same thing happening on your next jobs.
Example
Illustrative example. The scenario and figures are invented.
The facts
A drylining subcontractor with around forty finished jobs over 6 years suspects retention has been left behind, but has never added it up. The accounts package lists 43 customers, and the commercial manager who handled most of them left 2 years ago.
What happens
- Every job goes into one register, 43 rows, each graded for the subcontract, the last certificate and any handover email still on file.
- Twelve jobs show retention fully released. The other 31 still show retention held, £118,000 in total on the last certificates.
- Each release date is worked out from that job's subcontract. Nineteen jobs, £74,000 in all, have releases that fell due more than a year ago and were never requested.
- Two of those, £9,000 together, fell due more than 5 years ago. They are flagged in writing that day and go to the solicitor first.
- Three jobs, £11,000, are with main contractors that have since gone insolvent. They are held back for the director to decide, not chased.
- The other nine jobs, £33,000, have releases still to come, and each date goes in the diary.
- Requests go out in the subcontractor's name on the nineteen, nearest deadlines first, each citing the clause, the trigger, the due date and the sum.
The book in figures
| Item | Jobs | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Retention shown as held | 31 | £118,000 |
| Fallen due and never requested | 19 | £74,000 |
| Main contractor since insolvent | 3 | £11,000 |
| Releases still to come | 9 | £33,000 |
| Paid within 3 months | 14 | £52,000 |
The outcome
Fourteen of the nineteen pay within 3 months, £52,000 in all. The other five stay in the register, each with its next step and a date.