Free tools · Contractors
Retainage planner
Contract value, margin, retainage rate and months until release. See how much cash is held, how much of your margin that is, and for how long.
- Every number is an estimate from your own inputs.
- Nothing you enter is stored or sent anywhere.
- General information, not advice.
Cash held in retainage
$50,000
On a $500,000 contract, held for about 6 months after your last bill.
- Your expected margin
- $60,000
- Share of margin held back
- 83%
- Held beyond your margin
- $0
- Your own job costs sitting in someone else’s account.
- Months of float
- 6 months
- Dollar-months of float
- $300,000
- Cash held times months held. Bigger means a bigger problem to plan for.
An estimate from the numbers you typed. Nothing you enter leaves your browser or is stored.
Reading the result
Keep reading on this topic: Retainage: the money you earned but can't touch yet.
How to read the result
The big number is the cash that will be sitting in the owner’s or general contractor’s account by the time you finish your work: the retainage rate applied to the whole contract. The share-of-margin line is the one that stings. On a thin job, retainage can hold back most of your profit, and if the share is over 100 percent the owner is holding some of your own costs as well, shown on the “held beyond your margin” line.
Months of float is how long that money stays out of reach after your last billing, including punch list, closeout paperwork and the owner’s own payment cycle. Dollar-months multiplies the two, so a small hold for a long time and a large hold for a short time can be compared on one line.
What to do about it
Retainage is easiest to change before you sign. Many contracts can be negotiated to a lower rate, to a step-down once the work is half done, or to release of your share when your trade is accepted rather than when the whole project closes. Some states cap retainage or set deadlines for its release on certain projects, so it is worth knowing the rules where you work. On the cash side, treat the held amount as a cost of the job when you bid, not as profit you will see later, and put the release date in your cash plan rather than hoping it arrives early. Our guide on retainage goes into the rules and the habits experienced owners use.
One tool like this, every Tuesday
The Float is a free weekly letter on cash flow for owners who get paid after the work is done. Each issue ends with one tool or habit you can put to work before Friday.