General Contractor Financing: Draws, Backlog and Payroll Between Payments

Contracting is a business where you can be profitable and still be short on cash every other week. You pay labor and materials now; you get paid on a draw schedule, minus retainage, often 30 to 60 days later. That gap is the real financing need — and naming it precisely gets better answers than asking for a general loan.

Backlog is the document nobody brings

Signed contracts and awarded bids tell a lender what's coming. A contractor who arrives with a backlog summary — job, contract value, schedule, expected completion — is answering the cash-flow question directly instead of hoping the bank statements imply it.

Retainage and draws deserve their own explanation

If 5 or 10 percent of every job is held until closeout, a meaningful amount of your earned revenue is sitting unavailable at any moment. Show it. It reframes tight months as structure rather than weakness.

For products built for exactly this timing problem, see financing for cash-flow gaps and covering a payroll gap.

Equipment is a separate conversation

Buying a skid steer or a dump truck is a collateral-backed purchase with its own path — see construction equipment financing. Don't finance equipment with short-term working capital, or the payment will land during the months you can least afford it.

What to have ready

• Business bank statements, ideally spanning a full seasonal cycle
• Backlog: signed contracts, awarded bids, letters of intent
• Accounts receivable aging, with retainage identified
• Contractor license, bonding information, insurance certificates
• Existing debt and equipment payments

FundPath's free assessment produces a preliminary game plan from your own numbers — which paths fit, the criteria behind each, and the documents to gather. No credit impact.