Bill the way Canada builds.
Claim a percentage against each line of the schedule of values, with both kinds of holdback withheld on the invoice itself rather than tracked beside it, and the closing-documents holdback released on its own trigger.
Holdback lives in a spreadsheet, and the release date lives in someone’s calendar.
Almost every product in this price range is built for the American market, where holdback as Canadian contracts use it simply does not exist. What you get instead is a single retainage field, so the second kind is tracked by hand, the arithmetic is rebuilt every month, and the release depends on somebody remembering. One long-standing complaint about the biggest residential platform is that it handles Canadian tax awkwardly, which should tell you how far down the list holdback sits.
How a claim goes out.
Schedule of values
The contract broken into billable lines, including every approved change order, so the claim matches the signed document.
Claim a percentage
Per line, not per invoice. Per-line tax rates, inclusive or exclusive, are applied as you go.
Holdback withheld
Both kinds are withheld on the invoice itself, so the arithmetic is visible on the document rather than reconstructed afterwards.
Release on its trigger
The closing-documents holdback releases separately from the basic holdback, on its own trigger rather than on a reminder.
A progress claim, with the holdback taken off it.
Two lines of the schedule of values, each claimed at its own percentage, and the holdback withheld on the invoice itself before tax rather than tracked somewhere else. The audit note underneath records that the claim came from the progress billing sheet.
Who else actually does this.
This is the shortest list on the site, because below enterprise pricing almost nothing handles Canadian holdback properly.
| Doing it this way | What you get | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Canadian construction ERPs | Automate holdback and its release, capably; priced per user | ~$249 / user / mo |
| US-built SMB platforms | A retainage field at best, and no release logic | $100–$900 / mo |
| A spreadsheet beside your accounting | Whatever you remember, and a date in a calendar | invisible until it is not |
| Tenvia Build, Growth plan | Both holdback kinds on the invoice, released on their own triggers | $175 / mo |
Progress invoicing with holdback ships on the Growth plan at $175 CAD per company per month. Third-party figures are published or reviewer-reported as of September 2026 and change without notice, so confirm with each vendor. Last reviewed September 2026.
What this is not.
Not this
- Not an accounting system. This produces the claim; your books stay where they are.
- Not legal advice. What the Act requires of you is a question for your own counsel.
- Card payment in the client portal is planned, and labelled as planned.
But this, yes
- Both holdback kinds withheld on the invoice, not tracked beside it
- Closing-documents holdback released on its own separate trigger
- Fixed price or cost-plus, set per project rather than per company
- Branded invoice PDFs from your own letterhead
- A client portal with the contract, approved changes and every invoice
- Invoices and payments synced to QuickBooks Online on Scale
Ontario’s Construction Act changed on 1 January 2026 and it touches how you invoice. What changed, and what this software does about it. Written up for the person reviewing the claim on the engineers page.
See a holdback invoice built in ninety seconds.
Book a demo and we will do it on your own numbers, on a real schedule of values.