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Defect Fixes That Free Your Retention
A main contractor’s accounts team receives your retention release request and comes back with a single line: “Outstanding defect items remain open.” The work was completed eight months ago. The defects were fixed. Nobody has a dated record showing they were confirmed closed, and the accounts team will not release retention against a claim that looks disputed.
That outcome is not a legal problem. It is a documentation problem that starts during the defects liability period (DLP), long before anyone assembles the release file. How defects are logged, fixed and confirmed during the DLP determines whether the release file goes through on the first submission or spends three months in a back-and-forth over items nobody can prove were resolved.
This piece covers the operational side of DLP management: what to record, how to confirm each fix, and how to use the defect log to close out the DLP in writing before the release date arrives.
What Does the DLP Clock Actually Start From?
Most Thai subcontracts specify that the DLP begins from the date of practical completion acceptance. That event is not automatic. It requires a document: a completion certificate, an acceptance letter, or at minimum a dated written confirmation that the scope was accepted.
If no document records the acceptance date, the DLP start is ambiguous. A main contractor whose payments team wants to delay retention release can argue the DLP has not expired because the acceptance date was never formally established. The subcontractor who treated a verbal sign-off as the starting point will find that verbal records are hard to pin down months later.
The practical step: when the main contractor’s representative walks the completed scope and indicates approval, record that date in the project communication channel the same day. A short message, “Scope accepted today by [name and role], DLP runs to [calculated date],” sent into the shared LINE group or email thread creates a contemporaneous record. If the start date is later disputed, the communication history provides the answer.
Knowing the DLP end date from day one also means the retention release target date can be placed on the project timeline at setup, not discovered when the month closes and the money has not moved.
What Goes Into a Defect Log That Actually Works?
A defect log does not need to be a formal system. It needs four things per item: the date the defect was notified by the main contractor, a short description of the defect, the date it was fixed on site, and the date the main contractor confirmed the fix as closed.
The notification date is the most critical entry. Under the Civil and Commercial Code, a contractor’s liability for defects runs from when the defect appears, and the claim extinguishes one year after that point. A defect that appears in month eight of a twelve-month DLP is still a legitimate claim. But a defect raised in month three and first appearing in your log in month eleven creates a question about the timeline that can be avoided if dates are recorded at the time the defect is notified.
Record the notification date the moment a defect is raised. If the main contractor raises a defect by LINE message, screenshot it, note the date, and add it to the log. If the item comes up in a site meeting, send a short summary into the project channel: “Defect raised today: [description]. Will advise fix date.”
The fix confirmation is what most subcontractors skip. A defect is fixed on site, the engineer walks past, the crew moves on. Three months later the main contractor’s release file review says that item is still open. The subcontractor has no record of it being confirmed closed.
Fix confirmation does not require a formal inspection. A short message in the project channel after each fix: “Defect [reference or description] fixed on [date], please confirm.” A reply from the main contractor confirming the fix closes that line item. No reply within a reasonable window is itself a record, particularly if the main contractor later claims the defect remained open.
How Do You Close Out the Defect Log Before the DLP Ends?
One month before the DLP expiry date, send the main contractor a written summary of all defect items: the description, the notification date, the fix date, and the confirmation status for each. The summary should ask the main contractor to confirm which items they consider closed and to name any items they regard as still open, so the status can be resolved before the expiry date.
A worked example: a mechanical fit-out subcontract covers a single floor. The twelve-month DLP runs from May 2025 to May 2026. Seven defects are raised during the year. By April 2026, five are confirmed closed with message records. One fix from October 2025 was done but the confirmation reply is missing. The final item from March 2026 was fixed but logged only in a WhatsApp thread rather than the main project channel.
In April 2026, the subcontractor sends a summary table to the main contractor’s commercial manager: all seven items, dates, fix records, and confirmation status. The message asks for a written position on each item before the end of April.
That summary forces the main contractor to state a position before the deadline. If all seven are confirmed closed, the retention release request follows the next week. If one item is still disputed, the subcontractor knows exactly what to address and has a clear record showing six of the seven were resolved. The outstanding item is specific, not a vague claim that work remains.
This step turns a potential dispute about whether the DLP was properly managed into a straightforward conversation about one remaining item.
When Should the Final Retention Release Request Go In?
The retention release request should be submitted before the DLP expiry date, not after. A request submitted after the expiry date may land in a general payment queue rather than a priority review. It also gives the impression that the subcontractor was not tracking the deadline.
The release request process itself is covered in separate guidance on assembling the retention release file. What the defect log enables is the defect sign-off section of that file: a record showing all items notified during the DLP and confirmation of their closure. Without that section, the accounts team treats the outstanding defect question as unresolved and parks the request.
Can a Main Contractor Extend the DLP Because a Defect Appeared Late?
Under most Thai subcontracts, a properly notified defect that arose within the DLP period must be fixed within that period. If a defect appears in the final weeks and cannot reasonably be fixed before the expiry date, the DLP may extend for that specific item, but retention for all other items should not be withheld on that basis.
The contract wording governs. Some subcontracts allow the main contractor to withhold all retention until every defect item is closed, regardless of when individual items were raised. Knowing this before the DLP expires gives time to close every item rather than discovering the wording under dispute conditions when the release date is already past.
What If You Fixed the Defect but the Main Contractor Has Not Confirmed It?
A written request for confirmation, sent into the project communication channel and left without a reply, creates a record. It shows both the fix and the absence of a contrary claim. For items that have not received a confirmation reply and where the DLP end date is approaching, a direct message to the main contractor’s commercial manager or site engineer asking for written sign-off on the listed items is a reasonable escalation.
A fix confirmed only in your own notes and not in any shared channel is harder to rely on. The investment is in sending one short message per fix into the channel both sides use, so both sides have the same record.
Does Repairing a Defect During DLP Reset the Retention Clock?
Fixing a defect during the DLP does not reset the DLP clock for the rest of the contract. The DLP runs from the practical completion date and ends on the date specified in the contract. Individual defect repairs do not extend the overall period unless the contract contains an explicit clause to that effect.
If a main contractor claims that a repair has triggered a new DLP on the repaired component, that claim requires a specific contract clause. A general claim that repairs extend the period is not standard in Thai subcontracts and should be queried in writing before it is accepted.
If the DLP on a current project is running and the defect log is incomplete, a 45-minute call is a practical starting point. We walk through the communication history together and identify what is recorded and what still needs to be confirmed in writing before the release date arrives.