On almost every BC construction project, 10% of each payment is held back. It isn't optional and it isn't the owner being difficult: the Builders Lien Act requires it. The holdback exists to protect everyone below you in the chain, and to give lien claimants a fund to claim against.
The practical problem is that holdback money is easy to lose track of. It accumulates quietly, 10% of every draw, project after project. For a busy subcontractor, that's often tens of thousands of dollars that nobody is actively chasing.
When holdback can be released
The holdback period expires 55 days after the Certificate of Completion is issued, or, where no certificate is issued, 55 days after the head contract is completed, abandoned, or terminated. Once the period expires, the holdback can be paid out, provided no claims of lien have been filed against it. Prudent payers search title first, then release.
Notice the relationship with the lien window: liens must be filed within 45 days, and holdback is releasable after 55. That 10-day gap is deliberate. It lets the payer confirm no liens landed before the money moves.
What changes under the CPPA
When BC's Construction Prompt Payment Act comes into force, the holdback period shortens from 55 days to 46, and the associated amendments abolish the so-called Shimco lien against the holdback itself. The lien filing window stays at 45 days, so the gap between the last possible lien and releasable holdback shrinks to a single day.
Shorter period, faster release, less margin for slow paperwork. If your process for requesting holdback release is 'eventually', the new regime rewards tightening it now.
Getting your holdback out
Know your trigger dates, calendar the expiry, confirm no liens are filed, and invoice for the holdback release the day it becomes payable. Money you don't ask for stays where it is.
LienClock computes holdback release dates under both regimes in the free calculator, and the upcoming tracker includes a holdback ledger that shows exactly how much is releasable across all your projects.