Bill the work. Hold the retainage.
A pay request bills the quantities placed and inspected in a pay period, then holds back retainage on the way to a signed payment application.
A pay request, also called a pay estimate or payment application, is a periodic bill against a construction contract. It bills the quantities of each pay item placed and inspected during the pay period, holds back a retainage percentage until the work is accepted, and applies any adjustments. Oversite builds it from the daily inspections already approved for those dates, calculates retainage on the participating pay items, and tracks the held balance across every estimate, so the net pay is right every period.
Every pay period starts over in a spreadsheet.
Quantities get re-keyed, retainage gets recalculated, and one bad line resets the clock.
Re-keyed quantities
Placed quantities live on paper daily reports, then get typed again into the pay estimate. The same numbers, entered twice, with a transcription error waiting on every line.
Retainage by formula
Retainage is a hand-built column, recalculated every period and reconciled against a running held balance nobody fully trusts. When an item is not supposed to participate, someone has to remember.
Withheld work forgotten
Work held back for a missing material cert sits in a side note. At closeout, someone hunts for what was withheld, what cleared, and what still owes.
Set the rate once. Oversite bills the rest.
Set retainage once
Turn on retainage in the project settings and enter the rate. Mark which pay items participate. Every pay request uses it from then on.
Pull the period
Choose the pay period. Oversite pulls the placed, inspected quantities from the approved daily inspections and bills each item with its current, previous, and to-date amounts.
Hold, release, sign
Retainage is held on participating work automatically. Release held retainage or withheld quantities when the work is accepted, capture signatures, and export the payment application.
01. Approved work becomes the bill.
Choose the pay period and Oversite assembles the pay estimate from the daily inspections already approved for those dates. Each pay item shows its current, previous, and to-date quantity and amount, so the bill matches the field record line for line. The quantities are the same numbers the inspector captured. Nothing is re-keyed.
02. Retainage, held and released on your schedule.
Oversite holds retainage on participating work every pay request, at the rate set on the project. The held balance carries across every approved and paid estimate, so you always see the current retained value. Release it with a dollar amount when work is accepted. Withheld quantities, held for a missing material certification, sit at a zero amount on the estimate and become billed line items the moment you release them.
03. Every figure computed, down to the line.
Retainage is computed on the participating pay items only, at a flat percentage with no cap, and recalculated on every estimate. Non-participating items are excluded on their own. Add a positive or negative adjustment for a fuel index, a correction, or a credit, and choose whether retainage applies to it. Oversite rolls all of it into the net pay.
Pay requests and retainage, answered.
What is a pay request?
A pay request is a periodic bill against a construction contract. Also called a pay estimate or payment application, it bills the quantities of each pay item placed and inspected during a pay period, holds back retainage, and applies adjustments. In Oversite it is built from the daily inspections already approved for the period.
What is retainage?
Retainage is the portion of each pay request an owner holds back until the work is accepted. Oversite holds it on participating pay items at the rate set on the project and tracks the held balance across every estimate.
How does Oversite calculate retainage?
Oversite applies the project retainage percentage to the participating billed work on each pay request. Non-participating items are excluded. The rate is flat, with no cap, so retainage accrues on participating work every period until you release it.
How do I release retainage?
Open a pay request and choose Release Retainage. Oversite shows the current retained value, which is the retainage held across approved and paid estimates minus what has already been released. Enter the amount to release and it is added to the net pay for that period.
What is the difference between retainage and withholding?
Retainage is a percentage held back from every pay request. Withholding is a specific inspection quantity held out of billing, often while a material certification is pending. Withheld quantity shows on the estimate at a zero amount and becomes a billed line item when you release it, capped at the certified quantity.
Can I bill one pay request across a group of projects?
Yes. From a group you can create one pay request for the same pay period across every project in the group. Oversite creates a separate pay request per project so each project's billing and retainage stay correct.
See a pay request built on a real contract.
Book a 30 minute walkthrough with our CEI solutions team.