Industries / Construction and contracting

Construction and contracting. Cash: retention and payments held back on finished work.

Grip reads site forecasts, subcontracts and payment certificates, project by project, and names the margin and cash still held back, in AED.

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GBP 229 millionRetention money lost each year in England when the firm holding it goes bust, a 2017 government estimate.

Backed by research

Source: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (UK), Retention payments in the construction industry: a consultation on the practice of cash retention under construction contracts (2017). The same consultation estimated GBP 229 million of retention goes unpaid each year in England because the party holding it became insolvent, and found delays in releasing retention of several months, longer further down the supply chain.

3 workflows

Where we start.

9 of 83 changes other construction and contracting companies made. Open one to see the company.

Price and margin

Site margins reconciled to the books, materials and subcontracts locked early.

ReadsTender cost plan by packageSubcontract and purchase order award dates and valuesContracts and price-adjustment clausesBill of quantities and purchase status

Lock the price of every big subcontract and material package within weeks of winning, and report each against the tender.

Proven at Tutor Perini

Source: Tutor Perini Corporation, Tutor Perini Corporation, Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025.

List the copper, cable, steel and pipe each fixed-price contract still needs, and the margin lost if prices rise 10%.

Proven at IES Holdings

Source: IES Holdings, Inc., Annual report on Form 10-K for fiscal year ended 30 September 2025.

Compare the margin each site predicts with the margin the accounts book, and explain gaps.

Backed by research

Source: House of Commons, Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and Work and Pensions Committees, Carillion, Second Joint report of Session 2017-19 (HC 769) (2018).

Cash and working capital

Retentions and advance payments tracked both ways, money already due collected.

ReadsContract payment termsAdvance payment guaranteesMain contracts, subcontract templatesRetention payable and receivable ledgers

Check every contract's advance payment still covers the work it is meant to fund.

Proven at ALEC Holdings

Source: ALEC Holdings PJSC (under conversion), Local Prospectus, initial public offering on the Dubai Financial Market (includes audited consolidated financial statements for 2024, 2023, 2022) (2025).

Compare what you hold back from clients with what subcontractors hold back from you.

Proven at ALEC Holdings

List every payment held back on projects, and collect what is already due.

Proven at ALEC Holdings

Sales and demand

Orders set against delivery, frameworks won, site repairs turned into priced work.

ReadsOrder book by client and route to awardTender register with outcomesWork order logContract scope, project sales by client

Win places on the approved lists your biggest clients buy through, and track the orders won there without a tender.

Proven at Galliford Try

Source: Galliford Try plc, Galliford Try plc, Annual Report and Financial Statements 2019.

Turn the repairs and upgrades your site teams see every day into priced work orders, and track that revenue.

Proven at Mitie Group

Source: Mitie Group plc, Annual Report and Accounts 2026.

Compare new orders coming in against work delivered each quarter, and act on gaps.

Proven at NOV

Source: NOV Inc., Form 10-K for fiscal year ended 31 December 2025.

The money at stake.

Public figures, each with its company and year. An estimate is marked.

USD 693.8 million

A US glass and facade contractor's backlog at the end of fiscal 2026, not a measure of profit.

Proven at Apogee Enterprises

Source: Apogee Enterprises, Inc., Form 10-K for fiscal year ended 28 February 2026. Apogee's Architectural Services backlog was USD 693.8 million at fiscal 2026 year-end, down from 720.3 million, and the company states backlog is not a measure of contract profitability.

USD 347 million

A US engineering contractor's letters of credit still outstanding on two nearly finished Kuwait projects at end 2025.

Proven at Fluor

Source: Fluor Corporation, Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025. Fluor still had USD 347 million of letters of credit outstanding at end 2025 on two lump-sum projects in Kuwait that were substantially complete except for unapproved change orders and extension-of-time claims.

What we stand on

01Money first

Every project shows the revenue, cost or cash it is worth, in your currency, from your own files, before you agree to it.

02Every project has proof

Every project runs on a client's Grip, was designed on our own Grip, or comes from a play a named company published, with the document we read it in.

03Your systems as they are

We read the systems you already use. Nothing to move, replace or clean up first.

04Value and money found in 2 weeks

A two-week pilot on one department, your first project live and its money delivered by Day 30, then one fixed monthly fee.

Questions

What construction and contracting companies ask first.

Three answers, each with one public figure, its company and its document.

Question 1How can AI reduce retention money held back in construction and contracting?

AI reads site forecasts, subcontracts and payment certificates, project by project, and names the margin and cash still held back, in AED. For scale: GBP 229 million, retention money lost each year in England when the firm holding it goes bust, a 2017 government estimate (Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, 2017).

GBP 229 millionRetention money lost each year in England when the firm holding it goes bust, a 2017 government estimate.

Backed by research

Question 2What does an AI transformation programme in construction and contracting start with?

It starts with the revenue, cost and cash you are losing today, read from the systems you already use. One workflow goes first, usually price and margin, read from tender cost plan by package and subcontract and purchase order award dates and values. For scale: USD 693.8 million, A US glass and facade contractor's backlog at the end of fiscal 2026, not a measure of profit (Apogee Enterprises).

USD 693.8 millionA US glass and facade contractor's backlog at the end of fiscal 2026, not a measure of profit.

Proven at Apogee Enterprises

Question 3How fast do construction and contracting companies see results from AI?

A two-week pilot on one department finds the value and money in your own data before you commit. Your first project goes live, and its money is delivered, by Day 30. For scale: USD 347 million, A US engineering contractor's letters of credit still outstanding on two nearly finished Kuwait projects at end 2025 (Fluor).

USD 347 millionA US engineering contractor's letters of credit still outstanding on two nearly finished Kuwait projects at end 2025.

Proven at Fluor

Construction and contracting. Cash: retention and payments held back on finished work.

Where we start.

Price and margin

Cash and working capital

Sales and demand

The money at stake.

What your Grip looks like.

What construction and contracting companies ask first.

Question 1How can AI reduce retention money held back in construction and contracting?

Question 2What does an AI transformation programme in construction and contracting start with?

Question 3How fast do construction and contracting companies see results from AI?

Start with one workflow.