Contracts for contractors

[Brittany Rose]

I am updating the contracts we use with contractors to stipulate some kind of financial compensation when work is not completed on time. Does anyone use this kind of safeguard in their contracts and could you share what your contracts say in regards to work being completed on time?

[Daniel Karbownik]

Brittany,

Do you hold back retainage?  I work for a non-profit developer and we pay our contractors but hold back a 10% retainage on each line item.  The retainage only gets released at the end of the job when we receive Certificates of Approval from the towns for closing out permits.  

Are you looking to penalize contractors for work that is not done by a deadline?