Page 221 - BASIC GUIDELINE FOR QS

Quantity Surveying: Guideline for Quantity Surveyor Chapter 6

In most of the construction contracts, the amount of Retention Money to hold in each
progress claim is 10% of the work done and up to 5% of the contract sum.
However these figures can be different from contract to contract. Therefore you

may need to refer the contract document for the construction project that you work
before deducting any amount.
Here is how to deduct retention money from the progress claim.The sum due to

Interim Payment Certificate shall be calculated at the rate of 90% for the value of work
done & at the rate of 80% for the properly protected materials or goods delivered on site.

(Generally)

6.17.2 Limit of Retention Money

Retention sum is subjected to limit as per the stated percentage in the contract which is
known as ‘Limit of Retention’.

In general, ‘Limit of Retention’ is 5% of the contract sum. Therefore once the
Limit of Retention is reached, you cannot deduct further Retention Money. In the
subsequent interim certificates, you can see the total retention money deducted.
However there will not have further deductions.

6.17.3 Release of Retention Money in Contract

Release of retention is another important term or milestone in any construction contract
which is also an indication of completion of the scope of the project up to the mentioned
stages.

Usually, retention monies are released in 2 stages of the project.
1. Release of the first half of the Retention Monies

 At the time of issuing the Completion Certificate, The first half of the
Retention Monies will be certified and released
 If there is any outstanding work for the project, those will be stated in the

Completion Certificate.
 If there are outstanding work available and if the contractor doesn’t accept to

complete such rejected work or any outstanding work, QS can deduct a
reasonable amount for completing such remaining work.
 This reasonable cost will be the amount of money to cover the costs of

completing the remaining work by engaging a 3rd party.

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