How to manage subcontract retention

Retention lets you hold back a portion of subcontractor payments until project completion. You can create multiple retention schemes for the same subcontract and apply them either automatically with a percentage scheme or manually on each invoice.

Note: Retention must first be enabled in company features. See how to activate retention.

Retention options

1. Automatic retention
   • Use Add subcontract retention when creating the subcontract.
   • Define a percentage (e.g. 10%). Retention will then be automatically deducted and tracked across all invoice plans.
2. Manual retention
   • Use Manually book retention when creating the subcontract.
   • Enter retention amounts per invoice, either as a percentage or a fixed sum.
   • Useful when retention varies.

How to activate retention on a subcontract

Option 1: While creating the subcontract

1. Go to Create subcontract.
2. Fill in the contract details.
3. Choose one of the retention options:
   • Click Add subcontract retention to set up an automatic percentage scheme, or
   • Click Manually book retention to enter retention on each invoice.
4. Save or submit the subcontract.

Option 2: After the subcontract is created

1. Open the subcontract.
2. Go to the Summary tab.
3. Scroll down to Retention total.
4. Choose one of the available options:
   • Add subcontract retention to apply a percentage scheme, or
   • Manually book retention to enable invoice-level retention.

Note: You can only add or activate retention on an existing subcontract if no invoices have been booked against it.