# Pennsylvania — Construction retainage limits by US state — maximum withholding percentages, release deadlines, escrow requirements, and public vs private distinctions with statutory citations

For Pennsylvania, public project retainage cap (%) is no statutory percentage cap; private project retainage cap (%) is no statutory percentage cap; release deadline is 30 days after final acceptance of the work; escrow required is no; milestone reduction is contractor or subcontractor may post a maintenance bond for 120% of retainage upon reaching substantial completion to facilitate release, recorded from its source on 2026-08-17.

- **State:** Pennsylvania
- **Public project retainage cap (%):** no statutory percentage cap
- **Private project retainage cap (%):** no statutory percentage cap
- **Release deadline:** 30 days after final acceptance of the work _(verified: appears in the quote below)_
- **Escrow required:** no
- **Milestone reduction:** contractor or subcontractor may post a maintenance bond for 120% of retainage upon reaching substantial completion to facilitate release
- **Statutory citation:** 73 P.S. § 509 (Contractor and Subcontractor Payment Act, Section 9) _(our reading, not quoted from the source)_

## What the source says

> If payments under a construction contract are subject to retainage, any amounts which have been retained during the performance of the contract and which are due to be released to the contractor upon final completion shall be paid within 30 days after final acceptance of the work.

## Source

- https://legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/LI/US/HTM/1994/0/0007..HTM?1=

Last verified: 2026-08-17. Review by: 2027-08-17.
Part of [Construction retainage limits by US state — maximum withholding percentages, release deadlines, escrow requirements, and public vs private distinctions with statutory citations](https://referencesource.org/construction-retainage-limits-by-state/).