Retention is a percentage — typically 3% to 5% — held back from each payment to a contractor or subcontractor as security for the proper completion of the work. Half is usually released at practical completion; the remainder at the end of the defects liability period, often twelve months later.
That is the theory. In practice, retention is one of the construction industry's most quietly written-off assets: money owed eighteen months after the work finished, claimable only by a business still organised enough to know it is owed, from a payer with every incentive to wait to be asked.
Why it matters
On thin contracting margins, retention can be the profit. A specialist subcontractor running 5% retention on £2m of annual workload has £100,000 permanently outside the business — and every release date missed is interest-free lending extended for another quarter. Chasing it requires knowing, per job: the retention rate, the amounts held from each application, the practical completion date, and the defects period end.
How it goes wrong
Retention is lost to housekeeping, not to disputes. The job closes, the team moves on, the release dates live in nobody's diary, and two years later the ledger shows a balance no one can substantiate. The fix is unglamorous: retention tracked per application, on the same record as the job, with the dates visible.
In Vyntworks, applications for payment carry retention properly — held amounts accumulate against the job and stay visible through to release, rather than dissolving into a spreadsheet archive. See also: applications for payment, explained.