Retention Claim
ClaimTimetable agreed at scoping
Retention still held on finished jobs? We establish what is due, prepare the requests and pursue release.
Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.
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The problem
Retention remains unpaid months or years after completion, with your main contractor citing missing certificates, defects or its own unpaid retention. Smaller balances across older jobs may never have been chased.
Main contractor in administration or liquidation? See Insolvency Claim.
The solution
We check deadlines and release conditions, calculate each balance and prepare requests for your approval. We answer withholding reasons with evidence and seek missing certificates.
You decide whether to settle, stop or pursue adjudication. We prepare the figures; your solicitor handles legal questions.
What you get
You receive a job-by-job calculation of the retention and its release position, supported by payment requests and responses to the reasons given for withholding it. The final record tracks payments, agreed dates, future releases and write-offs.
Includes a Handover Pack: key dates and sources, next steps, likely responses, scope limits and any ready-to-send letters.
Fee: Fixed fee agreed in writing after we see your records. Each later stage, including adjudication support, has its own fee agreed before it starts.
Turnaround: the timetable is agreed in writing at scoping and then kept.
How it works
Claim stage: Event
You tell us what is still held
Start with a free call and send what records you have. We flag close deadlines that day and confirm the fee.
What you get: A written scope, fixed fee and timetable
- A
The list of jobs where retention is still held
Every job you can name from the last 6 years or more, including the ones written off in your head. A customer list from your accounts package is a fine start.
Where to find it: Your accounts package, old job folders, or an evening's remembering.
Why we need it: The recovery can only reach jobs it knows exist, and the written-off ones are usually where the money is.
How we will use it: It becomes the register's spine: one row per job and per release, each rated for the evidence behind it.
- B
The subcontract or order for each job, where you still hold it
PDFs or scans with all schedules and amendments, however incomplete the set; say which jobs have nothing.
Where to find it: Old commercial folders, the order emails, the filing box nobody opens.
Why we need it: Whether each release is due depends on the subcontract's release wording, not on custom or what feels fair. A missing subcontract changes the approach rather than ending it.
How we will use it: We establish what triggers each release and when it fell due, and cite the clause in each request.
- C
Every valuation, application and certificate you hold for each job
As issued at each stage, not retyped into a clean schedule afterwards. If only the last account position survives, send that.
Where to find it: Your QS's file of applications and certificates, from the first valuation to the last.
Why we need it: The amount held is the first thing a main contractor disputes, and it has to be rebuilt from the payment paperwork, not asserted from the ledger.
How we will use it: We rebuild the retention held on each job, valuation by valuation, so the sum in each request is traceable.
- D
Any completion, practical completion or making good certificates
As dated PDFs or scans.
Where to find it: The email trail around handover, where they usually sit.
Why we need it: Release events are usually pinned to these certificates, so their dates are what turn a clause into money due.
How we will use it: We pin each release to its certificate date, which turns the position into a request with a date on it.
- E
Any notice given for holding the retention
As served, in full: the Pay Less Notice, the withholding notice or the email it came under.
Where to find it: Your inbox, or the payment file for the job.
Why we need it: A deduction usually has to be notified to be valid, and without the notice it cannot be tested against that requirement.
How we will use it: We test any withholding against its notice before the request is written.
- F
The release correspondence and any defects list relied on
Your requests and their replies, forwarded as the original emails with dates intact, and any defects list exactly as sent.
Where to find it: Sent items are usually more complete than inboxes. The defects list is the one your main contractor sent you.
Why we need it: The reasons for holding the money usually sit in that thread already, and each common reason has a known answer. A defects list shows whether what is held matches anything real.
How we will use it: We answer the reasons already given and compare what is held against what is actually listed as outstanding.
- G
Any deadline you already know of
Any date your solicitor has confirmed, or any settlement, insolvency or dispute touching a job.
Where to find it: Your solicitor, or your own notes on each job.
Why we need it: A release close to its recovery deadline has to be dealt with first. A job touched by settlement wording or insolvency needs your decision before any letter goes.
How we will use it: We put those jobs first and hold the sensitive ones for your decision.
Copies are fine. Send what you have and we will tell you what's missing.
- A
Claim stages: Entitlement, Evidence, Quantum and Assembly
We work out what you are owed
We read each subcontract's release terms, check the evidence and work out each sum from your payment records. Then we recommend the best route for each release.
What you get: A written position and recommended route for each release
You approve and send the requests
We write each request with the evidence attached. Nothing goes until you approve it. You send it in your next application or as a letter.
What you get: Each request, ready to go in your name
Claim stage: Resolution
We get you paid
We check every reply and payment, answer each reason for holding the money and negotiate. Anything agreed is put in writing.
What you get: A written record of what was agreed and when it will be paid
We prepare for adjudication, if it comes to that
If they still will not pay, you decide whether to settle, stop or adjudicate. If you adjudicate, we prepare the figures and evidence, and check the decision is paid.
What you get: The figures and evidence for the adjudication
We close out the retention and hand over the pack
Get a free report on your claim
Answer the questions below for a free PDF report by email. Allow about three minutes; choose “Not sure” where needed.
Your report explains where you stand, the next steps to take and the records to gather. It also sets out how we could help for a fixed fee, with no obligation.
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Prevent it next time
Put a routine in place to reduce the risk of this happening again. Retention Loss Prevention.