Confronting Retainage and its Disruptive Effects on the Business Practices of Commercial Concrete Subcontractors

This paper aims to explore the extent of the damage that retainage is capable of inflicting on the financial health of commercial concrete subcontractors and strategies which can be utilized to mitigate or avoid damage to their financial health. The methodology implemented to conduct this exploration is a series of interviews with commercial concrete subcontractors. An analysis of these interviews in conjunction with a thorough literature review demonstrates that retainage does indeed impact financial health of commercial concrete subcontractor though the scale of the operation does make a difference in the severity of this impact. Whether or not the construction industry is ready to eliminate this practice, it is undeniable that there are elements of the retainage practice that are simply unfair. The immediate elimination of retainage from the construction culture is unlikely. Despite this, the perspective on retainage does seem to be shifting in favor of subcontractors as proven through the passing of recent legislation and the increasing negotiations between general contractors and subcontractors