A contractor is the business that your company enters into the contract with. The contractor withholds retentions for the work that your company completes.
In this article we walk you through:
Opening the Contractors list
Adding a new contractor
Searching for a contractor
Adding a contractor manually (New Zealand and United Kingdom only)
Setting a trading name
Adding contacts
Creating the contractor
Next steps
Opening the Contractors list
Click Contractors in the left sidebar to open the list of contractors in your workspace.
Adding a new contractor
From the Contractors list, click Add Contractor in the top right to open the Create a Contractor form.
Searching for a contractor
In the Company Details section, search for the contractor by name or business number. The search field shown depends on your workspace region:
Australia — Australian Business Number (ABN)
New Zealand — New Zealand Business Number (NZBN)
United Kingdom — Company Registration Number, via Companies House
Start typing the contractor's name or business number — Retention Track shows matching companies from the relevant business register. Click the company you want to add. The business number and company name are filled in automatically, and details from the register appear below the search so you can confirm you have selected the right one.
Adding a contractor manually
Note: Manual entry is available for New Zealand and United Kingdom workspaces only. Australian workspaces must use the ABN search.
If the contractor is not registered, or if you prefer to enter the details yourself, switch to the Manual Entry tab at the top of the form and type the contractor's name into the Company Name field.
 Click Manual Entry on the top bar. |  Then type the contractor's name. |
Setting a trading name
By default, Retention Track shows the registered company name everywhere. If the contractor trades under a different name, you can record a trading name that Retention Track will display in its place.
In the Use Trading Name dropdown, select Yes.
Enter the trading name in the Trading Name field.
Leave Use Trading Name set to No, use company name to keep the registered name.
Adding contacts
Every contractor must have at least one contact. The first contact you enter is the Primary Contact. For each contact you can enter:
Name — required.
Email — optional. Used by Retention Track for any contractor-facing emails.
Phone — optional. Stored for your reference only — Retention Track does not call or send SMS to this number.
To add another contact, click Add in the top right of the Contacts section. Additional contacts can be removed with the trash icon. There can only be one Primary Contact, and it cannot be removed.
Creating the contractor
When you are happy with the details, click Create Contractor at the bottom of the form. You will be taken to the contractor's page where you can review what you entered and continue setting them up.
Next steps
Once the contractor has been created, there are a few more things you may want to set up from the contractor's page:
Link to a Xero contact — required before you can create Xero credit notes for retention against the contractor. See Linking a Contractor to a Xero Contact.
Record retention trust accounts or securities — for Australian and New Zealand workspaces, retention trust account details and other securities can be added to the contractor from the Securities card on the contractor's page.