Ask any subcontractor about retention and you’ll hear the same shrug: a percentage held on every job, released “eventually”, some of it never. Multiply the shrug across years of work and the number gets serious. The legal position is usually simple; recovery is a process problem — and process problems are solvable.
Know Your Triggers
Retention is released when the contract says it is: commonly a moiety at practical completion and the balance at the defects liability period’s end — but the drafting governs, and informal subcontracts often say almost nothing (in which case the arrangement’s terms are reconstructed from documents and conduct). Step one is always the same: read the terms, fix the trigger dates, and compare them to today. Money past its trigger is simply due.
Demand Like You Mean It
The recovery letter: the contract identified, the trigger evidenced (certificate, dates, completion records), the specific sum, a payment date, and the next step named. Alleged defects met with a requirement for particulars — indefinite withholding on vague assertions is not what retention clauses permit. Most aged retention pays on a properly built demand, because the payer’s ledger position was always inertia rather than argument.
Escalating the Holdouts
An unpaid retention demand is a payment dispute, and the full ladder applies: on contracts within the 2013 Act, adjudication delivers a binding decision in 28 days; court proceedings scale to the sums where the Act doesn’t reach. The credible prospect of either is usually sufficient — which is why the demand letter names it. The wider payment toolkit: subcontractor payment disputes and the escalation ladder.
The Batch Exercise — and the Fix
For established trades, the productive move is the ledger review: every job’s retention, trigger and status in one schedule; demands issued in a batch; escalation reserved for holdouts. And then the forward fix — terms that define release triggers cleanly, invoicing that tracks retention explicitly, and a diary that demands on the trigger date instead of three years later: contracts review for trades.
How Much Retention Is Ageing on Your Ledger?
Bring the jobs list. We will confirm the triggers, draft the demands, and price the escalation for any holdout.
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About the Author
Richard O’Shea, Solicitor practises with Mary Molloy Solicitors (established 1981), advising homeowners, self-builders, subcontractors and SME contractors across Ireland on building disputes, defects claims and payment recovery. Richard holds a Diploma in Mediation from the Law Society of Ireland — central to construction work, where conciliation and mediation resolve many disputes without a courtroom. Contact Richard on 01 5827148 or richardoshea@marymolloysolicitors.com.
This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Every farm and family situation is different, and you should obtain advice on your own circumstances before acting. In contentious business, a solicitor may not calculate fees or other charges as a percentage or proportion of any award or settlement.