Money you've earned, that quietly goes missing.
On a $400,000 contract, a typical retention setup can leave $20,000 of your cash sitting with the builder — and no reminder chasing it back. WNDW tracks what's withheld, what's owed, and when it's due, right alongside the claim it came from.
Retention lives in nobody's spreadsheet.
Every claim, the builder holds back a slice. It's real money — yours — parked against defects that might never turn up. Most subbies track it nowhere: not in the accounting system, not in a spreadsheet, not anywhere they'd notice if it stopped adding up. See where it fits into what you claim versus what you're actually paid in our guide to progress claims vs payment claims.
Practical Completion passes and nobody invoices the release. The DLP ends twelve months later and nobody remembers there was a second one due. The cash just stays there, waiting for someone to ask for it back.
The numbers, sitting next to the claim.
Withheld, worked out for you
WNDW knows what's withheld the moment you make the claim. Not a formula you re-run in a spreadsheet once a month.
A cap that stops itself
There's a cap on how much gets held back. Once you hit it, later claims come through clean — WNDW knows exactly where that line sits for your contract.
Release milestones tracked
Common practice releases half of what is held at Practical Completion, and the balance at the end of the Defects Liability Period (often 12 months). WNDW tracks both dates against the project and shows what is due.
Reminders so it gets chased
WNDW surfaces the release when it falls due, so someone actually chases close-out and invoices it — instead of it sitting there for another twelve months because nobody's calendar owns it. Release is usually conditional: outstanding defects and your contract's release conditions still apply. A reminder isn't an entitlement.
Rates, caps and release timing are all configurable per organisation — they're defaults modelled on common Australian practice, not fixed by WNDW. Your contract decides; WNDW just remembers. Retention has its own GST timing quirks when releases are invoiced — WNDW keeps the paperwork consistent and your accountant stays in charge of the treatment.
This is all built around cash retention, withheld claim-by-claim. Some larger subcontracts use a bank guarantee lodged up front instead — if that's your contract, the tracking here doesn't apply the same way.
Say your contract holds
$400,000. Here's what typical defaults do with it.
Numbers only, using common configurable defaults — a 10% withhold rate up to a 5% cap. Your contract sets the real figures.
$20,000
Cap, at a 5% default
The most a typical default configuration holds back from this contract.
$4,000
Withheld per $40k claimed
At a 10% default rate, taken off net payable claim by claim — until the cap is reached.
$10,000
Released at Practical Completion
Half of what is held, typically released as a lump once PC passes.
$10,000
Released at end of DLP
The remaining balance, typically once the Defects Liability Period ends.
Smaller contract, same problem: on a $100,000 job, the same defaults hold $5,000 — still real money sitting with the builder.
Further reading
Know what you're claiming before retention comes off it.
Progress Claim vs Payment Claim vs Invoice
Includes exactly where retention fits into what you claim versus what you're actually paid.
Read guide →How to Write a Progress Claim (A Subbie's Guide)
Check your contract, measure what's actually done, claim it honestly, and attach the evidence.
Read guide →Find out what's sitting with your builder right now.
Bring your last contract and your last claim. We'll show you what's held, what's due, and when.
Show me what's held