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Diarise both release dates the day you sign

Put both retention release dates in a diary the day you sign, so each release is asked for on the day it falls due. A release nobody has diarised is a release nobody asks for.

Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.

Why it matters

Retention comes back on events that happen long after your team has moved on: practical completion, the end of the defects period, a certificate someone else issues. If nobody reads the terms until someone wonders about the money, the trigger has usually passed. So has the payment cycle it belonged in, and the person who agreed the subcontract may have left. Reading the clause once, at the start, and turning it into diary dates takes 20 minutes. That habit decides whether your retention comes back on time.

How to do it

  1. Note the retention percentage, any limit on the total and what triggers each release, in the subcontract's own words, the day it is signed.
  2. Note the evidence each release needs: a certificate, a completion date, a closed defects list or an application.
  3. Put the expected date of each release in a shared diary with a warning 3 weeks ahead.
  4. Move the dates whenever the completion date moves, and record why.
  5. Name the person who will make each request, and a deputy.

Example

Illustrative example. The scenario and figures are invented.

The facts

A roofing subcontractor signs a £380,000 subcontract with 5 per cent retention. Half is released on practical completion of the subcontract works and half 12 months later. The commercial manager reads the clause on the day of signing.

What happens

  1. The register records £19,000 of retention at full value, two releases of £9,500 and the trigger for each in the subcontract's words.
  2. Practical completion is forecast for March, so the first release goes in the diary for the March application, with a warning in February.
  3. The job finishes 6 weeks late. The entry moves to the May application, and the reason is noted.
  4. The second release goes in the diary for 12 months after the actual completion date.

The outcome

Both releases are requested in the cycle they fall due. The £19,000 comes back within a month of each trigger, instead of waiting for someone to remember it.

To have this set up for you, see our Retention Loss Prevention service.