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, watches Companies House and The Gazette for signs a main contractor is turning risky, and emails the release correspondence for you as your authorised agent, escalating to firmer follow-up letters if it goes unpaid.
£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 fuse signals from Companies House and The Gazette, the UK's official public record, covering CCJs, overdue filings, director changes, strike off notices and published insolvency events, then pair each one with the exact amount that contractor is holding from you. Built to take on more sources as we add them.
We send the letters
Release applications and firmer follow-up letters are emailed directly to the main contractor by Holdback, as your authorised agent. Nothing goes out 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: we email the release application as your authorised agent, then escalate through firmer follow-up letters if it isn't paid, with every step still needing your approval first.
Start with a free auditYou
Approve each step
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 and monitoring layer. Every contract, tranche and release date, kept current, plus contractor risk warnings on their own if that is all you need.
- Unlimited contracts and main contractors
- Claimable now, due soon and overdue views
- JCT and NEC release letter generation
- Contractor risk monitoring, fused from Companies House and The Gazette
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