How much is held back as retention — and what that locked money costs you until release.
How much is held back as retention — and what that locked money costs you until release.
Track every retention due-date so you claim it back the day it's release-eligible.
Want this reviewed on your real projects? Send it to us and we will walk through where the money is actually going — send me this result →
Retention protects the client, but it's your cash — held back on every bill, often 5–10%, and released only after the defect liability period. Until then it costs you: it's working capital you could deploy, at your cost of capital. This calculator sizes both the retention held and its carrying cost until release.
Retention held × your cost of capital × the fraction of a year it's held (months ÷ 12). It's the interest value of money locked out of your business.
Because nobody tracks release dates. Retention becomes claimable at milestones and after defect liability — miss the date and it sits longer, or gets forgotten. Tracking every due-date is how you get it back on time.
A back-of-envelope number is a start. In a free 20-minute demo we open sotyn.ai on your own trades and project sizes — no slides, no staged data.
A 20-minute walkthrough on your trades and project sizes — not a slideshow. Three fields and we will call you back.
Take the 2-minute EPC Profit Leak Scorecard and see exactly where — and how much — your business is losing every year.
