92%

of subcontractors floated payroll out of their own pockets in the past year.

56 days

is how long subcontractors wait, on average, to get paid after submitting a pay app.

$0

is what contractors earn today on the retainage held from them.

Sources: Siteline, The State of Subcontractor Billing in 2026 , survey of 492 construction finance and operations professionals, May 2026 (92%). Billd, 2025 National Subcontractor Market Report (56 days).

The problem nobody fixed

Right now, your retainage is working for someone else.

Retainage has been standard practice in the U.S. for over a century. The money is yours. It just sits in the owner's operating cash, earning for them, until closeout drags to an end.

Today

With Retain-Edge

Where the money sits

Mixed into the owner's operating cash

A segregated account at an FDIC-insured partner bank

Who earns the interest

The owner, banks, or no one

The GC and every sub, pro rata by balance

What you can see

A number on a pay app, if you ask

Your balance and interest, live, any time

When pay apps get funded

Whenever it gets approved. 56 days on average

A funding deadline on every pay app

When retainage releases

When the last trade on the job finishes closeout

When your own scope clears. No waiting on others

Three steps. Nothing new to learn.

Same withholding. A separate account. The interest goes to you.

Step 1

The owner withholds as usual

5 or 10 percent of each pay application, exactly as the contract already says.

Step 2

It goes into its own account

Held at a partner bank, separate from everyone's operating cash, earning interest at a published rate.

Step 3

You earn, then you're paid out

Interest credited monthly. At closeout, your retainage and interest release together.

What's yours worth?

Slide it to what's held from you today.

Held about 20 months at an example 3.70% rate, compounded monthly, before fees.

You'd earn about

$25,403

on money that earns you nothing today.

Built for both sides of the job

Subs get paid for their patience. GCs get a better job.

For subcontractors

3.7% / yr on your balance

Interest on money you already earned.

• Earn on your retainage from the first pay app
• Scope-level release where the contract allows it
• A funding date on every pay app

Same rate for every party, each on its own balance. Nobody earns on anyone else's money. Benchmarked to short-term U.S. Treasury yields; varies with the market. Fees disclosed on every statement.

More than interest

Faster pay applications. Faster closeout.

Because the account has rules, the two slowest moments in construction payment get a clock.

Payment acceleration

Every pay app gets a funding deadline. If retainage is funded late, the interest goes to you.

Closeout tracking

We track what each sub owes for closeout from the first pay app.

Member access

See every dollar, on every job, as it earns.

Your projects, your retainage, the interest ticking up, and exactly what stands between you and release. Open the demo and look around.

Open the demo dashboard

Every contractor who signs up gets it onto more jobs, sooner.

Retain-Edge goes into the owner/GC contract. The fastest way onto your next project is to sign up, then ask your GC, and get the trades you work with asking too.

Get early accessGet it on your job

I'm a

Retainage held from you, across all jobs $400,000

How long it's typically held 20 months

Example interest rate 3.70%

Estimated interest you'd earn

$27,390

on money that earns you nothing today.

$1,270average per month

$32,000extra value from releasing 8 months sooner*

Get early accessAsk my GC for it

Illustrative only. Interest compounded monthly at the rate shown, before administration fees. Actual rates are set by the partner bank. *Early-release value assumes a 12% cost of borrowing, on a balance held for 8 fewer months when your scope closes out on its own.

What goes into the number

How we estimate it.

Interest

Your balance, compounded monthly at the example rate for the months it's held. Real rates are set by the partner bank and published in the account agreement.

Fees

Administration fees come out of interest, not retainage. The example statement on How it works shows all three lines.

Faster release

For subs, the extra value of your money coming back months sooner. For GCs, the value of sharper trade pricing on the work you sub out.

Sign up

Tell us who you are and which projects or GCs you want it on. It takes about a minute.

Get early access

Ask your GC for it

Send this to your GC. Add the project name and send it today.

Tell other contractors

The more trades on a GC's list that ask, the sooner owners write it into contracts.

One GC can put Retain-Edge on every job it runs. Twenty subs asking that GC is usually what makes it happen.

Where to bring it up

The moments that move a GC.

At bid time

Note in your proposal that you'd prefer retainage held through Retain-Edge. It costs the GC nothing to pass it up. Consider offering a small discount when Retain-Edge is written into the contract. Faster, more certain payment is worth pricing in.

At contract review

Ask for the Retain-Edge rider in the subcontract. If the owner/GC contract doesn't have it yet, ask the GC to add it.

At the trade partner meeting

Bring it up where the other subs can hear. A room full of trades asking is hard to say no to.

The money

Who holds my money?+

An FDIC-insured partner bank holds it, in a segregated account for your project. Retain-Edge administers the account: we keep the ledger, credit interest, and handle release conditions and notices. We don’t hold, lend or invest your funds.

Does the owner withhold more, or pay more?+

No. The owner withholds exactly what the contract already allows. The only change is that the retainage sits in its own account instead of the owner's operating cash, so the interest goes to the people who earned it. The owner pays interest only if it funds late.

How is interest split between the GC and subs?+

Pro rata by each party's retained balance and how long it was held, credited monthly. The GC earns on its own share, each sub earns on its own share, and nobody earns on anyone else's money.

What rate will I earn?+

Every party earns the same rate on its own balance: a competitive rate benchmarked to short-term U.S. Treasury yields, currently about 3.7%. The partner bank sets it, and it's published in the account agreement before the project starts. Rates move with the market.

Cost

What does it cost me?+

Administration fees come out of the interest the account earns, never out of your retainage. Every statement shows three lines: interest earned, fees, and what you keep. You're never charged to get to your own money.

When are fees taken?+

Fees come out of the interest your account earns, never out of your retainage, and every statement shows them.

Is payment acceleration extra?+

No. The funding clock is included free on every project. Late-funding interest goes to the contractors, not to us.

Timing and release

When does my retainage release?+

When your scope clears and release conditions are met, where the contract allows it, your retainage and interest are paid out together.

What happens if the owner funds late?+

Retainage is due in the account by a set deadline. If it's late, the owner owes interest on the late amount, credited to the contractors.

Getting started

Is this allowed where I work?+

Several states already require retainage to be held in an interest-bearing escrow account. In most other states nothing forbids it on private work: the owner and GC simply agree to it in the contract. On public work, some states let the contractor request it. For state-by-state rules, see our retainage guides for Texas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, New York, North Carolina, Oregon and Tennessee.

When can I use it?+

We're now enrolling pilot projects in Texas, Tennessee, Kentucky and the other mandatory-retainage states. Sign up and tell us which GCs and projects you want it on. Those requests decide where we go first.

I'm a sub. Can I sign up without my GC?+

Yes. Sign up, name the GCs you work with, and ask them for it. Your sign-up is how we know where the demand is.

Is the member login live?+

The member login on this site is a demo with fictional projects, so you can see what your account will look like. Live accounts open with pilot projects.

Still have a question?

Sign up and add it in the notes. We read every one.

Get early access

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Early access

Get Retain-Edge on your projects.

Sign up now and you'll be first in line as projects open in your area. Tell us which GCs you work with and we'll reach out to them too.

• No cost to sign up. Nothing changes on your current jobs.
• Name your GCs and owners. Every name you give us is a job we can go after for you.
• Pilot projects come first. Early sign-ups decide where we launch.