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California, United States

When is the money due, and when is the retention due?

Two different clocks, and the second one starts at completion rather than at your final invoice. That is why retention sits unpaid while everybody assumes it is normal.

Where are you in the chain?

Your money moves through the direct contractor, so both chains have two steps and both totals are on the cards below.

The progress payment application going up the chain.

Optional. The pass-through counts from the day the money actually arrived upstream.

This is what starts the retention clock. Not the final invoice, and not the day the last cheque cleared.

Give the page a date to count from

Progress payments run 30 days to the direct contractor and 7 more down to a sub. Retention runs 45 days from completion and 10 more after that.

Retention is not a favour

It is your money, held under a contract term, with a statutory release date attached to it. Once you can name that date the conversation stops being about whether it is reasonable to ask.

A withholding has to be specific

Money can be held back for a genuine dispute over a specific item. It cannot be held because the job upstream has not settled. If nobody has told you what the item is, there is no dispute to wait on.

Worked example

A progress payment and the retention behind it, counted

The payment demand went in on 2026-08-01 and the work was completed on 2026-08-11. Two clocks, and the retention one does not run from your invoice.

  • The owner has to pay the direct contractor by

    In 10 days

    Aug 31, 2026

    Past this day the withheld amount carries a penalty as well as the money, and the contractor can act. The period runs from the demand, not from the end of the month the demand landed in.

    Counted as 30 days from the payment demand (2026-08-01).

    Civ. Code s.8800

  • Your progress payment is due by

    In 17 days

    Sep 7, 2026

    The whole chain, counted: the owner pays the direct contractor, and the direct contractor then has the pass-through period to pay you.

    Counted as 30 days to the direct contractor, then 7 days down to you, from the demand (2026-08-01).

    Civ. Code s.8800 and Bus. & Prof. Code s.7108.5

  • Retention has to be released to the direct contractor by

    In 35 days

    Sep 25, 2026

    Counted from completion of the work, not from the final invoice. This is the money most people stop chasing, and it is the money with the clearest statutory date on it.

    Counted as 45 days from completion (2026-08-11).

    Civ. Code s.8812

  • And your share of it is due by

    In 45 days

    Oct 5, 2026

    The direct contractor passes retention down within the pass-through period after receiving it. If you are still waiting past this day you are not waiting on a slow payer, you are waiting on somebody who is late.

    Counted as 45 days to the direct contractor, then 10 days down to you, from completion (2026-08-11).

    Civ. Code s.8812

Open this example and change the numbers

Questions this page answers

How long does an owner have to pay a progress payment in California?
Thirty days after a demand for payment, less any amount the owner is entitled to withhold. The direct contractor then passes payment down within seven days of receiving it.
When does retention have to be released in California?
Within 45 days after completion of the work, and the direct contractor passes a subcontractor their share within 10 days of receiving it. The clock runs from completion, not from your final invoice.
Why is my retention still unpaid months after the job finished?
Usually because nobody has counted the date. Retention goes unchased far longer than progress payments because people are not certain it is late, and the certainty is one subtraction from the completion date.
Does this apply to public works too?
The periods on this page are the private works periods in the Civil Code and the Business and Professions Code. Public works run on their own chapter, so check the contract before you count a public job on these dates.

Or track the retention from the day the job completes

Record completion once and the retention date sits on the job with the money against it, instead of living in your head until the year turns over and you write it off.

Progress payments carry their own due dates on the invoice, so the late one shows up as late rather than as a gap in the bank feed you notice in March.

Open the demo business

Where these figures come from

  • prompt_payment_owner_days (US-CA) Published source Last read from the source Aug 12, 2026.
  • prompt_payment_passthrough_days (US-CA) Published source Last read from the source Aug 12, 2026.
  • retention_release_days (US-CA) Published source Last read from the source Aug 12, 2026.
  • retention_passthrough_days (US-CA) Published source Last read from the source Aug 12, 2026.

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