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Retainage Questions
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Retainage
All States
Im a subcontractor. We have been on a job since April. The last progress payment we recieved was in November. The job is 99% complete. We have a few minor items to touch up, We are waiting on the materials to come in from Mexico. The owner & GC are aware. The GC has been holding payments back from completed work & completed change orders. He also decides what he wants to pay and when and how much. He pays accordingly to how he is feeling and what he thinks is fair, not what we agreed upon. Im afraid he is going to stiff us with the final payment and all the open change order invoices. What should be being doing to prepare for this?
CaliforniaI am contractor. HVAC. Wen can I demand the retainage money. I have completed jobs
South CarolinaI saw your video, "What are construction fund statutes?" Can you tell me the States in which construction subcontract retainage is under statute held in trust, and not optional? I am a surety underwriter who will underwrite bonds in lieu of retainage. Bill Faust, Euler Hermes North America Ins. Co., 215-301-0465, William.Faust@eulerhermes.com
PennsylvaniaOur previous company filed preliminary notices and retention billings for multiple contracts last year. However, as of January 2023, our company completed a name change. Do we still have legal rights regarding the preliminary notices filed under our previous company if the retention was also filed under the previous company? Please advise.
CaliforniaI have several invoices outstanding for project management I performed for a general contractor across multiples sites, so I'm working on filing a lien for the value of the time I spent working on each project against each corresponding property. Can I file two lines on one property? One would be for project management work, the other would be for construction (handyman) labor I performed on the site under a separate invoice. When I send my NOI, can I send all of them in one envelope to the GC? Do I have to send the owners NOI to their residential address, or can I send it to their project address if it has a mailbox?
ColoradoI'm managing a Design Build Public contract that allows for 5% retention. the work is set up in 2 phases, phase 1 is design with some early works/preconstruction and phase 2 is construction. I'd like to know if retainage can be withheld on the phase 1 (professional services/designer/architect) work or does retention kick in when construction starts?
CaliforniaWe have not worked for a particular contractor for 2 years, the contracted time to have retainage released (their contract that we signed), so we routinely sent a letter asking for the return of our retainage. The contractor now denies he withheld any retainage from us and has conveniently manufactured a $5,500 "advance" payment for a job that he says we owe him. We never invoice for any work that is not completed. And I find it highly interesting that this "advance payment" record has no check number on it like all his other payments to us. He is now demanding $5,500 from us after zero contact for two years. I would have noticed if we were paid an extra $5,500 unattached to an invoice. It always took an act of God just to get a check from him for jobs we HAD completed.
LouisianaI work for myself. I was hired by my buddies boss to rebuild a motor in a 300 Chrysler. This motor was already taken apart and left on the ground. I'm the 2nd person to pick up after the 1st guy left. We were both unsure if it would start after o rebuilt it from this state. After 2 months of rebuilding this motor, it would not start. He called me last week and said he was taking it to a dealership. He owes for my labor over these 2 months. Do I lean his home or the vehicle. His intentions were/are to sell it after it starts. If it ever does.
ColoradoI did a house in Vero Beach Fl and the homeowner did not pay me so I put a lien on her house after she didn't pay. I tried to work with her and help her out with her living needs which she also signed a contract as a caretaker. She still didn't pay me so I sent a lien on her house for non payment of everything. I was contacted by her lawyer a few days ago and he sent me a letter to withdraw the lien. I haven't been compensated at all the lien been in place since December. The total for the painting job was $27000. I added the caretaker lien for $5000. Bringing her total to $32000. They are trying to sell the house for $1.4 million. Her attorney said I cannot place a lien for caretaker needs. Should I create a edited lien or go ahead and sign the release of lien.
FloridaA GC is telling us that a college in TN is a federal project which is why the retainage amount is 10%. They did send us information for a law showing Federal projects are allowed to have up to 10%, but the way it seemed worded was only if the work was not satisfactory. So now we are trying to understand how a college is a federal project and how we find out if by them holding the 10% instead of 5%, if they are stating our work is not satisfactory. They have told us everything looks good so far.
TennesseeOn a project that I'm working on, our scope of work has been complete since July of 2021 and the building has been occupied for roughly a year. We still haven't seen retention payment for this project. When do owners/GC's need to pay retention?
MinnesotaI'm run a solar sales organization. I have a client who paid cash for Solar, Roof and a new HVAC unit with ducting work. The HVAC construction company I subcontracted fir the job was a total mess. He came out to give an estimate and while we were still negotiating the projects cost. He started the job without a signed agreement between us and without any form of pdown payment exchanged for him to begin the job. He installed the unit that he knew a part in the furnace was on a recall. So it didn't work. He left a whole in the drywall near ducting system. He left gaslines unvalved and then was unreachable when we were trying to get him to schedule to come back to fix all the issues he had left on the project unfinished. We had to hiring another subcontractor to correct the issues inorder to pass the HERS test. Which added to the overall project expenses. When we sent him an invoice of the additional charges to fix his mistakes and for having abandoned the project. We deducted the additional expenses from the verbal agreement he made with us at $12,500.00, we did not hear back from him. In fact we have still not heard back from him since. However, he filled a Mechanical Lien against the homeowners and their property for $14,000.00. The lien he filed is fraudulent we never signed a subcontracting contract with him or his company at any time during the process of the project and installation. The property is in Napa County but their court house says the lien wasn't filed in their courts jurisdiction.
I need help getting to a resolution for both the homeowners and my company.
Considering that this contractor has numerous suspensions and violations on his licenses. I have a feeling that the lien my have been improperly filed and granted. Is there a way to determine if he also committed fraud when having the lien put against the homeowners property? How can my company dispute the lien validity in order to have it removed and/or expunged?
CaliforniaWe have a project here in Davidson County / Nashville that we have filed a lien on for non-payment. Today the contractor sent over a lien waiver and a consent of surety to release retainage, whereas we are still awaiting payment on 2 progress payments. I think this is a ploy for the owner to side step TN retainage law penalties. I am inclined not to sign because the waiver has wording such as "the undersigned waives and releases any and all liens it has upon the foregoing described property to the extent of the payment received." Thoughts?
TennesseeIf a general contractor hires an architecture firm to be the design builder for a project, would retainage get withheld on the designer for their design or not?
FloridaI supplied and installed materials on a commercial project. The GC withheld major portions of monthly payments or didn't pay at all. I was unable to pay my workers and vendors. Then the GC excessively back charged my contract for work I could or would not perform due to an unachievable expidited schedule due to the GC poor coordination and management. The GC demanded that I put a large unsatiable work force to meet the expidited schedule with the promise of payment then didn't pay. The GC said that the owner was slow in payment. How do I fight the excessive back charges and collect monies due to my workers, vendors and collect for outstanding extras and change orders?
New York