How much retention are you owed right now?
Most firms can't answer that without digging through old files. Holdback keeps a live ledger of every retention across every job, warns you when a main contractor starts showing financial trouble, and sends the release correspondence for you as your authorised agent.
£184,720
across every open job
31
jobs
7
main contractors
- Still in defects period £80,220
- Due within 90 days £61,300
- Claimable now £43,200
£92,600
£18,400
2 active
£43,200 of this is claimable today.
Find your number →The retention ledger
Log the job once. Both tranches, release dates and status are worked out from the contract value, retention rate, practical completion and the defects period.
Contractor risk warnings
We watch Companies House for CCJs, overdue filings, director changes and strike off notices, and pair each warning with the exact amount that contractor is holding from you.
We send the letters
Release applications and follow ups go out from Holdback as your authorised agent. Nothing is sent until you approve it.
Interest on overdue sums
Overdue retention is claimed with statutory interest at 8% above the Bank of England base rate, calculated and added to the letter for you.
Every pound, on one screen.
One view of what you're owed, who's holding it, and which jobs need action first. Built for the person who actually has to chase the money.
Alex Smith
Director
Overview
Total outstanding
£418,240
Claimable now
£184,720
At risk
£92,400
Overdue
£43,200
Due this month
£61,300
Exposure by contractor
- ABC Construction £214,800 Elevated
- Riverside Build £92,600 Moderate
- Northgate Ltd £61,300 Low
- Summit Projects £37,900 Low
Coming due
- Horizon House, Retail Unit 2 DLP ends in 14 days £18,620
- Westfield Apartments, M&E DLP ends in 21 days £24,300
- Citypoint, Level 3 Fit Out DLP ends in 32 days £17,400
Recovery pipeline
£73,420
in progress
- Identified £31,640
- Sent £24,160
- Responded £12,900
- Paid £4,720
We handle the hard conversations.
Retention usually goes unclaimed for a simple reason. Nobody wants to lean on a main contractor they hope to work with again next year. So the letter waits, and the money sits. Holdback takes that job off your desk. Correspondence goes out from us, as your authorised agent, and every step needs your approval first.
Start with a free auditYou
Approve each step
Holdback
Authorised recovery agent
Contractor
Receives correspondence
- 01
We find it
- 02
You approve
- 03
We send
- 04
We follow up
- 05
You get paid
If a claim is disputed, we stop and prepare an evidence pack for your solicitor. We handle commercial correspondence, not legal proceedings.
Retention sits with the main contractor for a year or more after the work is finished. The party holding your money has no reason to remind you it's due. And if they go under first, you join the queue as an unsecured creditor.
£4.5bn
held in retention across UK construction at any one time
44%
of contractors have lost retention to an insolvency up the chain
£800m
estimated retention held by Carillion when it collapsed in 2018
A flat fee for the ledger. A small cut of what we recover.
If nothing comes back, the recovery side costs you nothing.
The tracking layer. Every contract, tranche and release date, kept current.
- Unlimited contracts and main contractors
- Claimable now, due soon and overdue views
- JCT and NEC release letter generation
- Companies House risk monitoring
We send the correspondence as your authorised agent and follow it through until it is paid or handed to your solicitor.
- Everything in Ledger
- Step by step escalation, approved by you
- Correspondence sent under our letterhead
- Statutory interest added to overdue claims
Straight answers before you send us anything.
No. Debt collection firms chase consumer debts. Holdback applies for money you are already contractually owed, as your named and authorised agent. Nothing is hidden. The contractor always knows who they are dealing with and why.
Find out what you're owed.
Send us your last ten completed jobs. We'll show you what is claimable right now, what is already overdue, and which contractors to keep an eye on. It costs nothing.
- Free
- No obligation, no card
- Under a week
- From records you already have
- No software
- Just send your job details