Final 10% Payment to builder - how long to hold it back for after job finished

[TwoFlatsasOne2019]

We are coming to the end of our building works.
My builder and I have agreed that the final 10% of the cost of the whole build should be paid one month after the work has been finished, to give us a chance to live in it for a while and pick up on anything that might not be working.

I was talking to my neighbour about this and he says that one month is not a very long time, and standard is 6 months and sometimes as much as 8 months.
If you had building works done, how long did you hold back the final 10% of payment for?
I trust my builder and he's quite easy going with whatever I might suggest. It was me who suggested one month (in ignorance).
I just want to know what is standard and put that to him instead.

We paid more or less immediately. I think it would be outrageously unreasonable to hold back partial payment for 6 to 8 months. You agreed a month. Stick to it. If there are problems down the line, there are other ways to deal with that.

I'd just check to make sure everything is working and get him in for any snagging, then pay him. Can't see waiting 6 or 8 months that is awful if the work is good.

We held it back for a month. Six months would cause a massive cashflow problem for most small businesses, and by that point you might be noticing wear and tear rather than building problems

We paid more or less immediately. I think it would be outrageously unreasonable to hold back partial payment for 6 to 8 months

Totally agree. Who the fuck holds back 10% for 8 months?!

Thanks for the replies.
Reassuring to know that 6-8 months is indeed an outrageous amount of time to hold back 10% of total build cost. I was just a bit paranoid when my neighbour told me that was what was normal!

Having spoken to a few RL friends who have had building works done, their builders have never come back for their final payment, but neither have they come back to fix any problems or finish the works!

I think I'll pay when Building Control sign off this phase of works and hold back 5% for a month or whatever he thinks is fair.
(Just been googling and the normal amount to hold back seems to be 5-10%)

I wish, I'd done this (held back 10%). Granted, the builders have returned where there has been issues but some of the quality of their work has not been great. Twice they have had to come back to repair a leaking roof. The floor is not level and because of this the plastering does not go far enough down and we require extra screeding. Most of the carpentry work (thankfully there is very little) is very shoddy. I'm not talking enough issues for them to be a rogue trader or anything like that but I think I expected a bit more. After they left, we needed to spend a few hours tidying up - bits of glass and rubble everywhere (we have young dcs). It felt like they were in a rush to move on to their next job and a lot of their finishes are not great, requiring a lot of additional work from us. They were very quick to demand payment which we duly paid (they made us feel really guilty for being a day late with the final payment because we had been away - we explained this to them beforehand so it wasn't that they weren't aware) but now I dread anything else going wrong and them not rectifying it (hasn't happened so far). I think it is only fair to hold some money back (albeit a relatively small amount).

Sorry whinge over - dh is rectifying an issue they left us with as we speak.

Some people seem over opinionated on this, what you do is based on what you agreed or what you subsequently agree with the builder.
In our case we held back 5% for a year as recommended by the architect, this was for two story extension and extensive structural work, and the 12 months was because any flaws may not show up until all the seasons have passed.
Yes if someone fits a new light, just pay on completion, if it's new windows, a month should be fine, but if it's a significant extension a year should be reasonable.
In the end the only thing we had sorted under the 5% was guttering that shot water down the side of the house and a hole that fell out at the top of the wall.
But yes, i think for high value jobs a year is reasonable, but 5% would be enough.

"My builder and I have agreed that the final 10% of the cost of the whole build should be paid one month after the work has been finished."

There is your answer. You have a legally binding contract and that is what you must abide by.

I've just made the final payment before works are complete. We had a payment schedule which the builder stuck to religiously. The extension is more or less complete. Couple of snags to sort out which are non urgent. Skirting boards and a couple of door casings yet to fit but we're not ready to have them done yet. I didn't think it was fair to hold back the remaining £12.5k because we're not ready for then to finish a couple of things off. Sure, I could have paid the majority and held back a nominal sum but I trust he'll return and finish off. Even.if he doesn't, in the grand scheme of the entire build, it would be a minor cost to resolve.