Retainage and Payment Tracker
A pay application register that keeps the retainage total visible, the payment clock running, and the lien deadline in front of you instead of behind you.
Who it is for. Anybody who has finished a job, felt good about it, and then waited eight months for the last five percent.
This sheet ladders into module 07, The Contract Clauses That Eat the Profit.
Retainage is your margin, held by somebody else
On a lot of dirt work the retainage is roughly the same size as the profit. That means the job does not actually make money until the retainage is released, and on a slow release that can be a year after the machines left.
Two numbers get lost. The first is the running retainage total, which nobody tracks because it never appears on a single invoice. The second is how long each payment has been outstanding, which is the only thing that turns a polite follow up into a statutory one.
This sheet keeps both in front of you. Fill a row per pay application and total the retainage column every month.
Contract header
- Job name and number
- Customer or general contractor
- Contract sum
- Retainage percentage in the contract
- When retainage reduces, if it does
- Conditions for release of retainage
- Payment terms in the contract
- Pay when paid or pay if paid, which one
- Public or private work
- Your state's retainage cap, and the statute
- Lien or bond claim deadline, and the date it falls
Pay application register: what you billed
| App no. | Period ending | Submitted | Work completed to date | Stored materials | Retainage this app | Amount due |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Work completed to date is cumulative, not the month. Amount due is the total earned less retainage and less everything they have already paid you.
Pay application register: what you were paid
Same application numbers. This is the half that tells you who is slow.
| App no. | Amount due | Date paid | Days outstanding | Retainage held to date | Still outstanding |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Retainage release
| Date requested | Amount | Condition it depends on | Documents supplied | Date chased | Date released |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The condition column is the one that matters. Substantial completion, final inspection, as-builts, warranties, consent of surety, final lien waivers: find out which one is holding your money rather than assuming it is just slow.
What Missouri law says, as an example of what to look up in your state
These are Missouri's numbers. Every state is different and several are very different. Find your own and write them in the header.
| Item | Missouri rule | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| Retainage cap, public works | Retainage withheld on any construction contract or subcontract for public works shall not exceed five percent of the value of the contract or subcontract | RSMo 8.960 |
| Small contracts | Contracts under fifty thousand dollars that do not require bonds may carry up to ten percent | RSMo 8.960 |
| Owner payment clock, public works | Payment within thirty days following the latest of delivery, invoice, or the approval notice | RSMo 8.960 |
| Contractor to subcontractor | Payment to the subcontractor or supplier within thirty days after acceptance | RSMo 8.960 |
| Late payment interest | One and one half percent per month from the expiry of the thirty day period until paid in full | RSMo 8.960 |
| Private construction contracts | Missouri has a separate prompt payment statute for private work | RSMo 431.180 |
| Mechanic's liens | Notice and filing deadlines are strict and they start running from your last work | RSMo Chapter 429 |
RSMo 34.057 was transferred to RSMo 8.960 in 2022. If you find an old article citing 34.057, that is why the link is dead.
The follow up sequence
- Invoice on the day the contract allows, not when you get round to it
- Diary the contractual due date the moment you submit
- First chase the day after it is due, in writing, politely, to the person who actually cuts cheques
- Second chase seven days later, quoting the contract clause and the date submitted
- Third chase in writing, quoting the statutory payment period and the interest rate that applies
- Know your lien or bond claim deadline before you need it, and diary it from your last day of work
- Never let a lien deadline pass while you are being told the cheque is in the post
- Stop work only where the contract or the statute gives you the right, and take advice before you do
Job totals
- Contract sum including approved changes
- Total earned to date
- Total retainage held
- Total paid to date
- Total outstanding
- Oldest unpaid application, in days
- Retainage as a percentage of the margin you bid
Not legal advice
Retainage caps, payment deadlines, interest rates, lien deadlines and bond claim rules are state law and they change. The Missouri figures above are current at the links given and are here to show you the shape of what to look for.
Look up your own state, write the numbers on this sheet, and check them with a construction attorney before you rely on them in a dispute.
Where this comes from
Every code, standard and statute this sheet leans on, with a link to the body that publishes it. Check them. That is what they are for.
- RSMo 8.960, Prompt payments required on public worksTransferred here from RSMo 34.057 in 2022. Caps retainage and sets the payment clock.
- RSMo 431.180, Private construction contracts, prompt paymentThe private-work equivalent.
- Missouri Revised Statutes Chapter 429, LiensMechanic's lien notice and filing deadlines in Missouri.