Retention the invoice, the ledger and the job all agree on.
Set the rate on the quote you won and every draw bills the net of it - standard on the plant and mine contracts South African contractors actually sign.
Free plan, no card. Built for plant, mine and factory work.
What a R100 000 claim actually invoices
- Payable now R90 000 + VAT
- Held as retention R10 000
Sound familiar?
Every retention job reads as unpaid
Bill gross, get short-paid by the retention, and the job sits owing the held amount forever.
The release date lives in someone's head
The defects period ends eleven months after practical completion, and only a diary note is tracking it.
The final invoice swallows the holdback
A final draw billing "everything remaining" hands over the whole retention in one document.
How retention actually behaves
One rate, frozen on the contract, and an identity that holds at every step.
The rate freezes on the accepted quote
Retention is a contract term. A variation varies scope, not the retention clause.
Every draw bills net
Claimed, withheld and payable print on the invoice. A zero rounding is still recorded.
Per-draw opt-out
Plenty of contracts hold on progress claims only, so each draw can waive it at the point of issue.
A release is a flagged draw
Not a new species of document - a progress draw whose money was earned earlier, capped at what is held.
The defects period is tracked
Record the months and the practical completion date, and the job flags the release as due.
What Quotier will not claim about retention
Retention touches tax, and where this build has not verified something it says so.
No claim about VAT timing
Whether output tax is due on retained money before the release is invoiced has not been verified, and nothing here encodes an answer. Quotier declares VAT on each invoice, on its own amount, in the period of its own date. Your accountant rules on the timing.
No retention on your subcontractors
Money-out retention is not modelled. This is what your customer withholds from you.
It never releases by itself
The job tells you a release is due. It never raises one on your behalf.
Retention - common questions
Can I hold retention on some draws and not others?
Yes. Holding is the default and each draw can opt out, because plenty of contracts hold on progress claims only.
How do I get the retention back?
Issue a release: a progress draw flagged as one, capped at what the job still holds. Most contracts run one at practical completion and one at the end of the defects period.
Does the job still show as fully invoiced?
The agreed total always equals invoiced, plus held, plus left to bill. A fully drawn retention job shows nothing left to bill and a retention balance still outstanding.
Is retention only for South African contracts?
No. It is a contract term, not a tax rule, so it works wherever you do.
See it on your own jobs.
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