Construction Business Loans
Make payroll, buy materials, and take on bigger jobs on your schedule, with fast, flexible funding built for contractors and builders.
See what your construction company qualifies for in minutes, with no obligation to take the offer.
Business loans for construction companies
In construction you spend the money long before you collect it. You buy the materials, cover the crew, and rent the equipment, then wait 30, 60, or 90 days for the draw or the invoice to clear. Take on a larger project and that gap only grows, which is how busy contractors end up short on cash while the work is going well.
FundBetter puts capital in your hands to cover that gap, so a slow draw never stalls the job. Make payroll between draws, buy materials for the next phase, or finance the equipment a bigger job requires, then repay as the payments come through. You get one application, a FundBetter advisor who can read a schedule of values, and a decision in hours.
Why construction companies need working capital
Waiting on draws and invoices
Keep the crew working even when you front materials and payroll and wait weeks or months to get paid. Funding or invoice factoring bridges that gap so a slow customer never stops the job.
Equipment and fleet needs
Put the excavators, trucks, and tools you need on site without draining working capital. Equipment financing covers these major costs so a broken machine never stalls a whole site.
Taking on bigger jobs
Say yes to the project that grows your company, even when a larger contract means more materials, labor, and bonding upfront before any payment arrives. Funding, including long-term business loans repaid over several years, gives you the capital to take it on.
How construction cash flow works
Funding carries you through a cycle that pays in pieces, late, and only after someone signs off. You submit a pay application for the work completed that month, the architect or owner reviews it, and the draw funds weeks later. By then you have already bought the lumber, run the crew, and paid the fuel bill. The work is finished. The money isn't.
Retainage widens the gap. Owners commonly hold back 5 to 10 percent of every progress payment until substantial completion. On a long build that withheld slice can exceed your annual profit, and it sits in someone else’s account for a year while you carry the cost of the labor that earned it. Subcontractors feel it worst, because they often finish their scope in month three and still wait on a punch list in month fourteen.
Then there's the pay-when-paid clause. Most subcontracts tie your payment to the timing of the payment from the owner to the general contractor, so a slow owner or an extra lender inspection passes straight down to you. Change orders make it sharper, because extra work often starts before the paperwork is executed.
Invoice factoring vs. a business line of credit
Pick the one that gets you paid without slowing the job. Invoice factoring sells the receivable. A business line of credit borrows against your company.
| Invoice factoring | Line of credit | |
|---|---|---|
| What it advances against | A specific approved invoice or pay application already billed | Your overall revenue, billed or not |
| How you draw | A separate advance each time you submit an invoice, funded a day or two later | One approval up front, then draws whenever you need them, in as little as 24 hours |
| Cost basis | A discount fee on the invoice value, charged as long as the customer takes to pay | Interest on what you have drawn, not the full limit |
| Effect on customer relationships | The factor verifies the invoice and collects from your customer | Invisible to the GC or owner, since you keep billing and collecting |
| Who it suits | Subs and GCs billing creditworthy commercial or public customers | Contractors with recurring gaps between payroll and draws |
| Where it struggles | Retainage, disputed change orders, and cash-pay residential jobs | A limit sized to today’s revenue may not cover a contract twice your usual size |
What construction companies finance
These are the costs contractors most often fund with us to keep the job moving.
Heavy equipment for the site
Put excavators, skid steers, lifts, and compact track loaders to work now while they pay for themselves over years of jobs, not one project. Equipment financing spreads the cost across that useful life and is usually secured by the machine itself, which keeps working capital free for payroll.
Work trucks and the crew fleet
Keep the crew mobile when pickups, dump trucks, and service bodies wear out on job site roads faster than anywhere else. Financing a replacement avoids a five-figure hit mid-build.
Tools and small equipment for a growing crew
Outfit every new hire without a cash squeeze, even as compressors, generators, saws, and lasers add up across three or four crews. This is the steady, unglamorous spend a credit line handles well.
Materials for a job that has not paid yet
Buy the lumber, steel, concrete, and fixtures a phase needs up front and let funding cover the window until you're reimbursed at the end of it. It also lets you buy ahead when a supplier offers a price hold.
Working capital behind bonding and bigger contracts
Strengthen your case for a larger bonding program by keeping capital in place rather than tying every dollar up in work in progress. A surety looks at your balance sheet and available liquidity before writing a bond, and funding doesn't replace a bond but supports it. Contractors buying a yard, a shop building, or another company often use SBA loans for the same reason, because a longer term leaves more liquidity in the business.
Payroll across a long build
Cover the one bill you can't stretch. Crews get paid weekly while owners pay monthly, minus retainage, sometimes later, and on a multi-year project that mismatch never closes on its own.
When financing construction receivables makes sense
Financing a receivable is a good trade when the money is genuinely owed and genuinely coming. It's a poor trade when either of those is in doubt.
Good fit for a construction company when
- You bill commercial or public owners who pay reliably, just slowly, on 30 to 90 day terms
- Your pay applications are approved and the work behind them is signed off
- You are profitable on paper and short only on timing
- A larger contract is available and the only obstacle is fronting two months of labor and materials
- You work in a cold-weather trade and need to carry fixed costs through a short off-season
- The fee costs less than demobilizing a crew you would have to rehire and retrain
Poor fit for a construction company when
- The receivable is retainage, which funders will not advance against before substantial completion
- The amount is disputed, tied to an unexecuted change order, or subject to a backcharge from the GC
- The owner above you has stopped paying and your subcontract conditions your payment on theirs, since financing does not restart a stalled project
- The job itself is unprofitable, because borrowing against a bad bid only moves the loss forward
- You are a residential remodeler collecting deposits directly from homeowners, with no commercial invoice to advance against, which points toward a term loan or a merchant cash advance instead
- You have preserved a lien or bond claim and have not pressed it yet, since that leverage may collect the money without a financing fee
Best ways to use construction business loans
Most construction funding goes to the same handful of places: the crew, the materials, and the machines that keep a site moving.
Funding options for construction companies
A general contractor waiting on retainage and a sub buying a skid steer need different products. These are the four that fit construction work best.
Invoice Factoring
Turn approved progress billings into cash instead of waiting out a general contractor pay cycle.
Learn moreEquipment Financing
Finance trucks, excavators, and skid steers with the machine standing as collateral.
Learn moreBusiness Lines of Credit
Cover payroll and materials between draws, then repay when the next draw lands.
Learn moreShort-Term Business Loans
Take on a larger contract by funding the mobilization costs up front.
Learn moreWho qualifies for construction business loans?
Underwriting looks at how much work you are billing and how steadily it collects, not just your credit file.
Check if you qualifyFrequently Asked Questions
Can I get a construction business loan if I am waiting on retainage?
You can get funding, but not against the retainage itself. Because retainage isn't payable until substantial completion, funders treat it as a future receivable rather than a current one. A line of credit sized on your overall revenue is the usual answer. It covers the payroll and materials the withheld money was supposed to fund, and you repay it when the retainage finally releases.
How does invoice factoring work for a subcontractor?
You submit an approved pay application or invoice, the factor verifies it with the general contractor, and you receive most of the value within a day or two. The remainder, less the fee, arrives when the GC pays. It works best when your customer is creditworthy and the billing is clean. Disputed change orders and retainage portions are typically excluded from the advance.
Does taking construction funding affect my lien rights?
Financing your receivables doesn't waive a mechanics lien on its own, but the paperwork matters. Lien waivers you sign to release a progress payment, and any assignment of receivables in a factoring agreement, both affect what you can claim later. Read those documents alongside your subcontract, and have your attorney confirm the preliminary notice and filing deadlines that apply to your job.
Can a construction company get funded during the winter slowdown?
Yes. Underwriting looks at the full year rather than the last four weeks, so a seasonal dip in a cold-weather trade doesn't disqualify you. Many contractors set up a line of credit during the busy season and draw on it through the winter to hold onto a crew, service equipment, and cover fixed costs until the ground thaws.
What can a contractor use to qualify without heavy collateral?
Most FundBetter options are underwritten on revenue and bank activity, not pledged assets. The general benchmarks are six or more months in business, at least $15,000 in monthly revenue, and a personal credit score of 500 or higher. If you're buying a machine, equipment financing is usually secured by that machine, which often means easier terms than an unsecured loan.
How much funding can a construction company get, and how fast?
Funding runs up to $5 million depending on your revenue, time in business, and the strength of the contracts behind the request. Once your application and basic documents are in, approval can come the same day and funds can arrive in as little as 24 hours. That's fast enough to make Friday payroll when a draw slips a week.
Other industries we fund
We know the cash-flow realities of 22 industries. If yours is not Construction, chances are we fund it too.
Accelerate growth with construction business loans
Tell us about your jobs and your billing cycle, and one of our funding advisors will come back with the options that actually fit your contracts.