Florida legislature passes bill to reduce retainage on state and local projects

Florida legislators approved a bill that would limit the amount of retainage that can be withheld from contractor payments on state and local publicly funded projects.

With only one dissenter, the body voted to reduce retainage from 10% to 5%. The retainage rate is the amount withheld from payments until 50% of the project is complete.

The new regulation will not apply to projects valued at $200,000 or less; Florida DOT projects approved under Florida Statutes Ch. 337; and projects entered into, pending approval or advertised by a government entity on or before Oct. 1, 2020. Pending approval by the governor, the new law will go into effect Oct. 1, 2020.

According to Construction Dive, Illinois changed its laws last August to cap retainage at 10% on most private projects, with a reduction to 5% once a contractor completes 50% of its contract scope of work. This is similar to the Illinois retainage laws governing public projects.