How do I get my retention back?

1. Each claim has retention deducted at the basis your contract sets. This is usually a percentage of the claim, up to a cap.
2. Some contracts hold one rate up to a point and a lower rate above it. For example: ten per cent of each claim until half the contract sum is certified, then five per cent. YourCA reads both rates and the point where the rate changes. It splits a claim that crosses that point: the part below is held at the first rate and the rest at the second.
3. For that split, YourCA must know the contract sum, because the change point is a share of it. Without the contract sum, YourCA does not apply the first rate to everything, because that would hold more than your contract allows. It says what is missing instead. Record the contract sum on the job and the split works.
4. Normally, half comes back at practical completion. The balance comes back at the end of the defects liability period, which usually runs twelve months after practical completion.
5. Financials, Retention is one section and shows all of it: what is held across every claim you served, the figures from your contract, the two releases, what falls due in the next three months, and what is overdue. Download the retention statement from there.
6. The section reads in the order of your questions. The amount held is first, with the ceiling from your contract beside it. Under that: what is still held, what falls due within 90 days, and what is overdue. Then one line says if anything is recorded as coming back. The next heading is The two releases, so the dates show without a scroll. A question that blocks a date has its own heading directly under them.
7. Under that, each source of the figures has its own heading. First, Retention that came back. Then What YourCA read off your contract (Your retention terms, on a job whose contract has not been read), with the other figures folded under it. Then Your practical completion claim. The retention statement is last, because you take it away after you read the rest.
8. If YourCA cannot work out a release date, it does not show those two figures. The section says which piece is missing. It does not show you a nought.
9. There are three possible reasons, and each says what to do. Nothing is withheld on this job yet. Or a retention term has no clause behind it. Or no practical completion date is recorded, so there is no date to count from. For the last one, press Record practical completion on the Retention screen. The form opens there and both dates fill in.
10. When a release falls due, the Retention held line on Handover shows Put it on the next claim first. This is the stronger ask, because the builder must answer a payment claim, but can leave a letter unanswered. Press it to open Claims on Financials. Continue the draft claim or start the next one. Put the release on it under Retention asked back on this claim.
11. The second way is a letter, and YourCA writes it. Open the job and go to Handover. The Retention held line says which release is next, or how many days it is overdue. Press Ask for your retention back on that same line. You get the amount, the claim history behind it and the clause that holds the retention. Send it from your own email, with the statement attached.
12. The same control is on the Procurement tab. On a job with a release that is due, it sits on the action row beside Add an order, not in the more menu. An overdue release must be easy to find. On a job with nothing outstanding, it stays in that menu.
13. YourCA writes it and you send it. YourCA never sends it to your builder, and no button does that.
14. The chase is also beside the overdue figure. Financials, Retention and the Retention releases report both show it directly under what is overdue. It is one letter for the job. It names every release past its date, what is still to come on each, how many days late it is and the clause it came from. It goes to the head contractor on the job record. Press Open a chase in your mail, or Copy message for webmail. Nothing is sent until you send it.
15. It reads like a letter you wrote, because it is one. It opens to the person you recorded at the head contractor, or to their company if you have only that. It signs off with your company name. If the job records neither, it opens plainly and does not guess a name. You can edit all of it in your mail before you send it.
16. The statement itself is on Financials, Retention, at the foot of the section. Download there offers it as a PDF, a Word file, plain text or a spreadsheet of the position on the job: what was withheld across your served claims, what came back, and when each release falls due. It is there even when you cannot chase a release yet. The position is a fact about the job; the chase is only a step you may not be ready for.
17. The chase signs off with your business name under the thanks. The chase from Handover also carries your ABN, so the accounts department knows who asks to be paid.
18. YourCA does not write a chase for a release that is not due yet. With no practical completion certificate on the job, there is no release date to count from and nothing is owed. You get the reason and the screen where you record the certificate, not an email. Record the certificate on Handover and the chase writes itself. The reason and the fix are both on Handover, on one screen.
19. The same schedule shows as one line on the Financials Overview, on the Reports tab, and in the release reminders. YourCA works all of them out once, from your contract terms and the practical completion certificate, so no two can disagree.
20. The five figures behind all of that are in the same section: the contract sum, the share held from each claim, the ceiling, the share released at practical completion, and the length of the defects liability period.
21. Drop a contract, a progress claim or a remittance, and YourCA files it against its job. If YourCA does not know that job, it opens the job for you. Opening a job costs nothing, so YourCA never refuses this. The job spends a credit on the day something real happens on it, like any other job.
22. You get a reminder for each release a month before it falls due, a week before, on the day, and then while it stays outstanding. The reminder reaches the bell and the Dash even when the job has finished. The defects liability release lands about a year after you leave site.
23. On the Dash, a release is a line in the brief like any other deadline. A release still to come sits in Coming up. A release that is due with nothing back sits in Needs you now, with the amount, the date and the clause. It is the same schedule as this section, from the same place.
24. When retention comes back, record it. Retention that came back sits under the two releases in the same section, and the note under the figures links to it. Enter what landed and the day it landed. The schedule then becomes a balance, not a list of what is due. What is still to come falls, the overdue figure falls, and the reminders on a release paid in full stop.
25. If only part of a release arrived, record that part. A builder who owes you five thousand often sends three. The balance stays owed, stays overdue if its date has passed, and keeps its reminder. There is no mark it released button, because on most jobs that would not be true.
26. If you know which release the payment was for, say so. If you do not know, leave it unanswered. Then YourCA puts it against the practical completion release first, and any balance against the defects liability release.
27. What you record there is your own statement, not something YourCA read. So it carries your name and the day you recorded it, and no clause reference. Every other figure in that section carries its clause, and the screen keeps the two apart on purpose.
28. You cannot edit or delete a receipt. If one is wrong, take it off and give the reason. The original stays on the record struck through, with who took it off and why. Then record the correct amount as a new receipt.
29. When you record the last of it, the job finishes. A wrapped up job closes itself when nothing is outstanding. A closed job still accepts one write: taking a receipt off, because you must be able to correct a payment that bounced.