If you do commercial work or subcontract under a GC, you’re probably dealing with retainage — that painful 5–10% of your invoice that gets withheld until project completion. And if you’re like most contractors, you’ve gotten used to it. You see that number on the invoice, you shrug, and you wait. And wait. And wait some more.

But here’s the hard truth: retainage is robbing your business of momentum.

That 10% isn’t just a line item — it’s your cash. You already earned it. You already paid your crew, bought the materials, did the work, and delivered the results. But that money? It’s sitting in someone else’s account, earning them interest while you’re stressing over cash flow and covering bills.

Too many contractors treat retainage like a “maybe someday” fund instead of what it really is: delayed profit.

And here’s where it gets dangerous — the bigger the jobs you take on, the more money gets stuck in retainage. I’ve seen businesses with hundreds of thousands of dollars tied up across multiple jobs, while they scramble to fund the next project out of pocket.

I worked with a specialty contractor who had $320,000 sitting in retainage — across 14 jobs. Some of it was over 6 months old. He didn’t even know how much was out there because he wasn’t tracking it. We created a simple Retainage Tracker (just a spreadsheet to start), reviewed contracts for final payment clauses, and added follow-up protocols 30 days before project completion. We also started negotiating partial retainage releases at project milestones — not just final punch-out. In 60 days, he recovered $95,000. That’s $95K that was just sitting out there collecting dust.

This is your money — and you have every right to go get it.

If retainage is tying up your cash, let’s fix it.

Pick up your free copy of my new book, “The 7 Minute Conversation-How to Hear the Story Your Small Business Financial Statements Are Telling You-CONTRACTOR EDITION”.  Go to www.7MinuteConversationBook.com

Ready to find out where your cash and profits are really going? Book your free 15-minute Profit and Cash Flow Call with me. No pressure. Just real clarity. I’ll help you see where your money’s hiding — and what to do about it. Schedule at www.CashFlowCallWithLarry.com