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Retainage Calculator for Pay Applications

By Wyatt Cooper · Published · 3 min read

Key takeaways

  • Retainage is the rate times everything completed and stored to date, rounded to the cent; this period's retainage is that figure minus the same figure on the last pay app.
  • Enter a different rate for the last pay app to see a reduction: retainage held this period goes negative, and that amount is released.
  • The calculator runs in your browser and sends nothing anywhere; the Excel version does the same arithmetic offline.

This retainage calculator works out one pay application's retainage. Enter work completed and stored to date on this pay app and the last one, and the retainage rate. It returns retainage held to date, total earned less retainage, previous payments, current payment due and retainage held or released this period. Enter the last pay app's rate as well to see a reduction, such as 10% dropping to 5% at 50% complete.

Retainage calculator (Excel)

Download (XLSX, no email needed)

Retainage calculator

This pay app, including stored materials

Blank on the first pay app

From your contract

Blank if it hasn't changed

Retainage held to date
$0.00
Total earned less retainage
$0.00
Less previous payments
$0.00
Current payment due
$0.00
Retainage held this period
$0.00

How the calculator works it out

  1. Retainage held to date = completed and stored to date × rate, rounded to the cent.
  2. Total earned less retainage = completed and stored to date − retainage held to date.
  3. Previous payments = last pay app's completed and stored to date − its retainage at last pay app's rate.
  4. Current payment due = total earned less retainage − previous payments.
  5. Retainage held this period = retainage held to date − retainage held on the last pay app (negative means released).

Previous payments here assume earlier pay apps were paid as billed. If your last certificate was for a different amount, use that figure instead. The arithmetic is explained in full in how to calculate retainage.

Try it with the example

Enter $302,118.60 to date, $231,906.80 on the last pay app, 5% now and 10% last time. You should see retainage held to date of $15,105.93, previous payments of $208,716.12, $78,296.55 due, and $8,084.75 released this period. Those figures come from the third pay app in the fictional example in how to calculate retainage.

Sources for those limits: FAR 32.103 and Texas Government Code § 2252.032. What retainage is: the definition. Getting it paid at the end: how a subcontractor gets retainage released.

How it works in Conflo

On Conflo's pay apps, this arithmetic runs on every pay app: retainage at the contract's percentage on work completed and stored to date, rounded once on the total and spread across the lines so they add up to the summary. A rate reduction partway through a job is not built yet.

An electrical subcontractor's September pay app as the GC reviews it in Conflo: the payment steps from submitted to paid to the sub, missing lien waivers and compliance holds, the application summary with retainage and current payment due, and the schedule of values line by line with a send-back option on each.
A sub's pay app in Conflo: 10% retainage, previous payments and the current payment due on the application summary.

The bottom line

Retainage arithmetic is short, but a cent off in month one is a cent off every month after. Work it on totals to date and it stays right.

If you're a subcontractor tracking retainage across jobs and GCs, join the waitlist.

Join the waitlist as a subcontractor

Sources

  1. FAR 32.103, Progress payments under construction contracts — Acquisition.gov, U.S. General Services Administration. Read October 16, 2026.
  2. Texas Government Code § 2252.032, Retainage — Texas Legislature. Read October 16, 2026.

Questions

How do you calculate retainage on a pay app?

Multiply work completed and stored to date by the retainage rate and round to the cent. Subtract it from the to-date total, then subtract previous payments to get the amount due.

Is retainage calculated on stored materials?

Usually, because stored materials are part of completed and stored to date. Some contracts set a different rate for them; this calculator uses one rate.

How do I show a retainage reduction?

Enter the new rate as this pay app's rate and the old one as the last pay app's rate. Retainage held this period then shows the amount released.

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