Retention billing and retention adjustments can be easily made in Siteline, either by doing so line-by-lie or updating all line items at once. This will allow you to bill for some or all of your outstanding retainage, or make adjustments to the percent or amount of retainage held by your GC.

This article will explain how to do this both for the an entire pay app and by line item.

Understanding the current status of your retention

There are multiple ways to view the current state of a project’s retention, at both the line item and pay app level. From the last column in the pay app invoice, you can click on the drop down in the header and choose one of these options:

The dollar amount of the retention held this month
The retention percentage held this month
The total retention held to date
The retention billed this month

Adjusting or billing for retention for all line items

This is useful if you're reaching a progress milestone where your overall retention held amount changes (for example, from 10% to 5%). Changes made here will apply to all line items in your SOV.

Adjusting current retention

In the Billing module, open the pay app where you’d like to adjust retention.
In the top right hand corner, click Adjust retention.
You can choose to bill for past retention or modify the retention for current and future pay apps. Any changes you make here will apply to all line items in the pay app.
To modify retention for current and future pay apps across all line items, choose Adjust current retention, then enter a new retention held percent. This action will not bill for any previously held retention, even if adjusted to 0%. This allows you to adjust retention withheld down, even if you’re not yet allowed to bill for retention.
If you need to override the total retention amount held to date, click the pencil icon on the right side of the Retention held to date row.
Please note: Overriding the total held to date amount on this screen will unlink that dollar amount from the retention held percentage for the pay app you are modifying, meaning that Siteline will no longer auto-calculate retainage for this specific pay app. Remember to check your retention values on each future pay app on this project to ensure the amount is correct.

Billing for past retention

To bill for past retention held, enter a new retention percentage that will apply to past pay apps. We will automatically calculate how much retention is billing this month and show the updated amount of retention held to date. If you would like to bill for all past retention, either set the retention held to 0% or click Bill for all. Once you’ve made your changes, click Confirm.

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Adjusting or billing for retention for specific line items

If your project is set up to calculate retention per line item (the default setting in Siteline), you can adjust/bill for all line items using the steps above, or follow the instructions below to adjust/bill for retention on specific line items.

Adjusting current retention on the line item level

Start by clicking the pencil icon in the "Retention" column for the relevant line item.
Similar to the instructions in the section above, you can take adjust current retention or bill for past retention for a single line item.
Click Adjust current retention. When a new retention percent is entered, the new value will be held on this specific line item for this pay app and future pay apps. It will not bill for retention on that line item, which can be done separately. You can also override the retention held to date on this line item by clicking on the pencil icon on the Retention held to date line.
Please note: If you modify retention at the pay app level, it will apply that change to every line item, including ones you previously overrode individually.

Billing for past retention on a specific line item

To bill for retention, enter a new retention percent. This will not affect retention held on the current pay app, or change the retention held for future pay apps. If you’d like to bill for all retention held, either enter 0% or click Bill for all.
If you need to override the retention billed to a specific amount on that line item that month, click the pencil next to Retention billing this month to override and enter an amount.
Once your changes are complete, click Confirm.