The AIA form prints no retainage figure
AIA A101-2017 §5.1.7.1 tells the parties to insert a percentage or amount to be withheld as retainage, and notes that it may be limited by governing law. The standard form prints no percentage.
- Citing a fixed 10% is a common error.
- A 5% figure can come from a statute, such as Georgia's public-works limit, but not from the form.
When retainage can be requested
Under A101-2017 §5.1.7.3, the Contractor may include retainage in an application for payment upon Substantial Completion of the Work.
- Waiting for the correction period to end confuses retainage with the Article 12 correction obligation.
- There is no 25% completion point, and a Construction Change Directive has nothing to do with retainage release.
Georgia public works: the 5% cap
O.C.G.A. 13-10-80, for public contracts entered on or after July 1, 2022, caps retainage at 5% of each progress payment. It applies here to a building contract over $150,000 and longer than 45 days that is not a DOT road contract.
- The trap: 10% until 50% completion is the pre-2022 rule.
- 10% of each payment exceeds the cap.
- "Any amount the parties choose" ignores that §5.1.7.1 defers to governing law.
Passing retainage down: 10 days
On a private Georgia project, O.C.G.A. 13-11-6 requires the contractor to pass retainage payments through to subcontractors within ten days from its receipt of retainage from the owner.
Worked example: retainage received April 8. April 8 + 10 = April 18.
April 15 uses 7 days (an A201 period), April 23 the 15-day owner-payment period of 13-11-4, May 8 the 30-day A101 final-payment period.
Contract terms beat the Prompt Pay default
The Georgia Prompt Pay Act default for owner payment is 15 days after a payment request (13-11-4). But O.C.G.A. 13-11-7 says that when the contract sets a different payment period and terms, the contract controls.
So an A101 setting final payment 30 days after the final Certificate governs. The trap is saying the statute always overrides the contract; there is also no shorter-of-the-two test. The one-year correction period is not a condition of final payment, because A101 §5.2.1 expressly excepts Article 12 correction.