Retainer on building work

[Towelonthedoor]

When you guys have had building work, have you held back a sum of money till the time when building regs signs everything off? If so could you give me an idea of what % you have retained. Thanks in advance.

My dh has a building company and I think 5% has been mentioned but that might be 5% of the final account and is usually paid after all the snagging has been completed. Sorry, I don't always listen

I would hold back a lot. 20%? It does not take long to get building regs sign off. If you have a decent builder they can usually get building control round within 2-3 days.

Make sure it DOES get signed off. Our builder told us when they’d finished that they just needed to send a certificate/info on some material they’d used to the building inspector and then he’d sign it off. Well, we then forgot about it, so did the builder, and the building inspector certainly didn’t question why the job wasn’t finished yet.

It was nearly 2 years later when I read a post on here that I thought “oh shit, we never got a certificate.” Had to chase it up with both building control AND builder, but we got it in the end.