Retainage is money nobody is tracking
Every job holds a percentage back. The number is rarely the problem. The problem is that nobody knows, per job, how much is held, what triggers release, and who was supposed to chase it.
Why retainage quietly disappears
Retainage is released against a condition: substantial completion, final inspection, a warranty period, an owner sign-off. Those conditions happen months after the job, when the person who knew is on another project.
Nobody decides to forget it. The job closes, the file goes in a box, and the receivable sits there until someone reconciles a year later and finds a number.
What a retainage log has to contain
One line per job: the percentage held, the dollar amount held to date, what event releases it, the date that event happened, and who owes it.
Anything less is a note, not a log. A note cannot be chased.
The chase is the product
A log that nobody reads is worse than no log, because it looks like control. The weekly step is the value: every open line checked, every owner who owes contacted, every release date that has passed escalated to you.
That is the part contractors do not have time for, and it is exactly the part that turns a year-old receivable back into cash.
Where to start
Pull every closed job from the last 24 months and ask one question per job: is anything still being held? Most contractors find something on the first pass. That list is the beginning of the log.
The number most contractors cannot answer
Ask a contractor how much retainage is being held across every open and closed job, and the usual answer is a range, or a name of somebody who would know. That is not a criticism; it is what happens when the record lives in job files rather than in one list.
The list is not complicated. One row per job, the percentage, the amount held to date, what releases it, the date that happened, and who owes it. The difficulty is that nothing forces it to exist — the job closes, the file goes in a box, and the clock keeps running.
Once the list exists, the work becomes weekly: which releases are due, which dates have passed, which owner has gone quiet. That is a standing appointment, not a project, and it is the part that turns a two-year-old receivable back into cash.
Free: the retainage log — take it and use it whether or not you talk to us.
Looking for retainage release letter? That is the decision this page answers — the documents, the dates and what it costs to stop covering it yourself.
Nothing goes out without your say-so. Money and commitments stop at you by default. We write it up, you make the call.
Questions
Is this the same as a virtual assistant?
No. A virtual assistant holds tasks. This is answerable for the job — the draw, the certificate, the follow-up. That is a different arrangement, and it is why nothing publishes without your approval.
What do you need from me to start?
The open jobs, the current receivables, and whatever certificates you already have on file. Week one is reading those.