Holdback taken off every invoice, and never lost track of
Appello takes holdback off every progress invoice, keeps a running total of what your customer is holding on each job, and works out the release invoice when the job is done. Set the percentage on the job once and every invoice picks it up. It is live today for insulation, mechanical and sheet-metal contractors in Canada and the US, and you can call it holdback or retention.
Holdback invoicing: how it works
Set the percentage once
Holdback lives on the job. Every new invoice copies it, and you can change it on a single invoice when the contract says so. Pick the word your customers use — holdback or retention — and every screen and PDF follows.
Taken off every progress invoice
Each line shows the work completed this period, the holdback for the period and what is due. Tax is worked out on the amount after holdback. Simple invoices can carry holdback too, when you switch it on.
See what is still being held
Every invoice shows holdback to date for the whole job, at that invoice's percentage. The job's financial summary carries the same total, the invoice list has a holdback column, and the Job Cost report shows unreleased holdback job by job.
Bill the release
Choose the holdback invoice type and Appello works out the amount from everything invoiced with holdback applied, less anything already released, plus tax. It uses its own payment terms, set once in your business settings.
A normal week with it
- Month end
The project manager sets percent complete on the progress report. The invoice drafts itself, with holdback off every line.
- Before it goes out
The office checks the job summary — completed to date, holdback to date, invoiced to date — then sends the PDF. It syncs to QuickBooks Online if you use it.
- At close-out
Create the holdback invoice. The amount, tax and holdback terms are already filled in. Bill holdback more than once if you need to; each holdback invoice bills only what has built up since the last one.
What holdback costs without it
Provincial prompt payment and holdback rules, like Ontario's Construction Act, run on dates. Holdback that nobody is tracking is money that sits on someone else's books.
- Holdback lives in a spreadsheet beside the invoices, updated by hand every month.
- The release invoice is rebuilt at close-out from old PDFs and memory.
- Nobody can say quickly how much is being held, or on which job.
- Job reports disagree about revenue because some count holdback and some don't.
Holdback invoicing: common questions
Can one job carry different holdback percentages?
Yes. In Appello, each invoice keeps its own holdback percentage, copied from the job and changeable on a single invoice when the contract says so. When you bill the release, Appello uses a weighted average across the invoices that had holdback applied, and shows you the percentage it used.
Can we bill holdback more than once on a job?
Yes. Each Appello holdback invoice bills all the holdback that has built up since the last one, so a job can release holdback in stages as work is finished. Appello calculates the amount from the invoices with holdback applied, less what was already released, plus tax. It does not release only part of what is currently held.
Does Appello tell us when holdback is legally due?
No. Appello does not tell you when holdback is legally due. It does the maths and keeps the running balance of what is held on each job. Your contract and your province's rules decide when holdback is due — set your default holdback payment terms to match, and check with your lawyer or accountant on the rules.
Holdback invoicing, on your own jobs
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