Sliding Retention. The cap, the step-down, Bank Gurantee. All of it.

Cap-then-step-down. Bank Guarantee. Hybrid. None. Every commercial security pattern AU and NZ subcontracts actually use, captured as structured data and reflected in your contract documents. The shift For years, many software solution on the marketrs were modelled as if cash retention was the only commercial security a builder ever used. One percentage. One cap. Applied flat for the whole life of the contract. That model never matched the reality of how retention actually works on AU and NZ commercial sites. The standard pattern most subcontracts run on is cap-then-step-down: 10% retention on each progress claim, accumulating until cumulative retention reaches 5% of contract value. At Practical Completion, half is released. At the end of the Defects Liability Period, the rest. That is the SOPA, CCA-aware shape of retention on most commercial subcontracts in AU and NZ. The platform did not model it. On larger subcontracts the picture changes again. Bank Guarantees replace cash retention from day one. Hybrid arrangements run cash retention through construction, then substitute a BG at PC so the subbie can recover their cash flow. Builders were tracking all of this in spreadsheets, contract notes, or memory. Generated subcontract documents carried retention language by default, regardless of what was actually agreed. This release closes the gap. Subcontracts and Head Contracts now have a proper structured security model: four types, dedicated fields for each, sliding retention that mirrors the two patterns AU/NZ commercial construction actually runs on, and contract documents that reflect the agreed arrangement. Before and after The Retention Settings block on a subcontract used to be three fields: Retention Rate, Retention Cap, and a checkbox for Sliding Retention. Useful for pure cash retention contracts. Insufficient for everything else. The same form now opens with a Security Settings block above retention. The form responds to your selection. Retention fields appear when retention applies. Bank Guarantee fields appear when a BG applies. On Hybrid, both surface together. Security selector Security type sits above everything else, and everything else responds to it. The selector is a required field. The form will not save without it. Switching between types is non-destructive: if you fill in BG details, switch to Hybrid, then switch back, the values you entered are still there. Four types. The four arrangements that actually exist on AU and NZ commercial subcontracts. Selecting a type changes what appears in the rest of the form. Retention fields are hidden when the type is Bank Guarantee or None. BG fields are hidden when the type is Retention or None. On Hybrid, both surface together with BG fields collapsed by default, expanding when you opt in or when a BG has already been recorded. Bank Guarantee, captured properly When Bank Guarantee or Hybrid is selected, a dedicated BG block appears alongside the rest of the commercial settings. The fields are exactly what a real BG carries: required amount (entered as a percentage of contract value with the dollar equivalent calculated live, or as a fixed figure), issuing bank, BG reference number, expiry date, and received date. A status tracker, not just a dropdown BG Status moves through a defined lifecycle. Required when the contract is signed but the instrument is not yet in hand. Received when the physical or digital instrument arrives. Verified once the contracts admin has confirmed it. Returned or Expired at the end of its life. Status changes are not hard-blocked out of order. In real life things get confirmed retroactively, so the system flags an unusual jump rather than refusing it. The BG document itself can be attached against the subcontract record. This release supports attachment only. Preview and version management are not part of v1. Hybrid, with substitution Hybrid subcontracts get an additional option: Allow Bank Guarantee substitution at Practical Completion. The classic AU/NZ pattern on longer-duration subcontracts where the agreement is to release cash retention in exchange for a BG once PC is reached. Lets the subbie recover cash flow exactly when they need it most. The flag captures the intent. It does not yet trigger an automated workflow. When PC arrives, the substitution is on record and visible to the team handling it. Sliding retention. Two modes that cover every AU/NZ pattern. Retention itself is no longer a single fixed percentage. When Sliding Retention is enabled on a subcontract or head contract, two modes are available. Between them they cover every retention structure used in AU and NZ commercial construction. Mode 1 — Milestone and % Complete triggers The rule-based path. A default retention rate applies until the first rule fires. Each rule defines a trigger and the new retention rate to apply. Multiple rules can be chained: 5% from start, 2.5% at PC, 0% at DLP End. The classic post-PC lifecycle, finally not a spreadsheet. Mode 2 — Cap mode. SOPA-aware out of the box. Cap mode runs the way Security of Payment legislation actually expects retention to behave. A flat rate (commonly 10%) applies to every certified claim, until the cumulative dollar amount held reaches a defined cap (commonly 5% of contract value). Once the cap is reached, retention automatically tapers to zero. The cap can be set as a percentage of contract value (calculated dynamically) or as a fixed dollar amount. If a single claim would push retention past the cap, only the remaining cap amount is withheld on that claim. Partial retention, not a missed boundary. A live Retention Timeline Preview shows the schedule before you save, including a worked example of how the cap behaves against the contract value you have entered. Both modes are non-destructive. Retention is calculated on certified claims only. Draft, Submitted, or Disputed claims do not trigger retention. Changing a rule never recalculates a claim that has already been certified, important for SOPA audit integrity. Documents reflect what was actually agreed Document generation reads the security type and produces the matching clause set. Retention contracts get the existing retention clause. Bank Guarantee contracts get a BG clause populated with issuing bank, reference, amount, and expiry. Hybrid contracts include both, with a note about substitution at PC if that flag is enabled. None contracts get an explicit clause confirming no security is required, removing the ambiguity that used to creep in when retention language stayed in the document by default. Any document templates that previously hard-coded retention language are updated as part of this release. What it changes Every retention pattern in AU and NZ commercial construction now has a native home in Deep Space. Cap-then-step-down. Milestone chains. Bank Guarantees from day one. Hybrid arrangements with substitution at PC. None at all when the deal calls for it. Each one is a structured selection on the form, a structured set of fields underneath it, and a structured clause in the generated contract document. For the first time, the system can answer the question "what security do we hold on this subcontract" with a structured answer instead of a spreadsheet.