Your crew gets paid every Friday. The draw you earned last month is still working its way through an approval chain. That mismatch is the contractor's core cash-flow problem.
Apply Now →On most commercial and larger residential-adjacent jobs, payment is tied to milestones. You finish a phase, submit an application for payment, the owner or architect reviews it, and the money moves after approval. Retainage, a portion held back until the end, adds more delay. Each step is routine, and together they can leave your crew paid long before you are.
Labor is the fastest-moving cost. Materials can sometimes be bought on supplier terms, but workers expect a check on schedule.
Take your weekly loaded payroll, wages plus payroll taxes and insurance, and multiply by the number of weeks between the start of a phase and the draw hitting your account. That total is the cash you have to carry on that job.
| Item (illustrative) | Value |
|---|---|
| Weekly loaded payroll for the crew | $12,000 |
| Weeks until the draw is paid | 6 |
| Payroll float on this phase | $72,000 |
The figures are made up to show the method. Your own numbers will differ, and nothing here describes our terms.
One job's float is manageable. Three overlapping jobs, each waiting on a different draw, can mean you are fronting several crews at once. Growth in a contracting business feels like success and behaves like a cash drain until the first big draws land. A useful habit is to compute the float for each new contract before you sign, not after the crew is on site.
Submit pay applications on the first day you are allowed to. Every day you wait is a day of float.
Smaller, more frequent draws, or a mobilization payment at the start, reduce the amount you carry.
Know the percentage and when it is released. It is money you have earned but cannot spend.
If the float still exceeds what your account can hold, working capital can cover payroll until the draw arrives.
We ask for about three months of business bank statements, no tax returns. Draws that arrive in lumps with quieter weeks between are normal for contractors and a funder reading the statements will expect them. We fund $25,000 to $5,000,000, in as little as 24 hours, consider FICO 500 and above and use a soft credit pull on a five-minute application. Sole proprietors can apply, including one-person trades.
It is the cash you must carry: weekly loaded payroll multiplied by the weeks between starting work and being paid.
Draws arriving in lumps are normal in contracting. We read about three months of business bank statements to see the pattern.
Yes. Sole proprietors can apply.
Retainage is a portion of each payment held back until a job is done. It is earned money you cannot use for payroll in the meantime.
No. It is about knowing the float before you sign, so you can plan how to carry it.
Three months of business bank statements and a 5-minute application. FICO 500+ considered. $25,000 to $5,000,000, funded in as little as 24 hours.
Apply Now →It takes about two minutes and it will not affect your credit score.
No obligation • No impact to your credit score
