Lakemont Business Funding, a small-business funding service in Gainesville, GA, explains how a contractor uses a business line of credit: drawing for labor and materials before a draw clears, paying it down when payment arrives, and handling retainage. It uses Hall County, GA construction counts and an invented example, and links to the construction page.
Business Line of Credit for Contractors
A line of credit lets a contractor draw what each phase needs and pay it back when the draw clears, then draw again for the next. Interest is charged only on the balance drawn. For a business whose costs repeat on every job, a revolving structure fits better than a lump sum.
County Business Patterns counted 584 Hall County, GA construction employers in 2023, and 68.3% of them ran with under five employees. The construction page sets out the trades.
Construction Financing
Construction financing for a property owner pays for the building; a contractor's line pays for running the business that builds it. Lakemont helps contractors with the second.
Construction Cash Flow Around Gainesville, GA
A contractor's cash flow is shaped by the draw schedule and retainage. Illustration only, invented figures: a framing subcontractor bills $120,000 on a job with 10% retainage. Each draw pays 90% of the billed amount, and $12,000 is held until completion by our arithmetic. In this invented example, payroll of $14,000 a week runs throughout.
What Is a Contractors Loan? Explained for Gainesville, GA Owners
A contractor's loan can be a term loan, equipment financing or a line, depending on the need. The line covers the recurring gap; equipment financing covers the machines.
Construction Company Loans: What Hall County, GA Owners Compare
Construction company loans are read on job history, current contracts, receivables aging and bank statements. A partner wants to see that draws have been paid in the past and how long they took.
Contractor Working Capital for Gainesville, GA Owners
Size the line to a typical month of labor and materials across your active jobs, not to the largest job. Call (470) 480-3422 or send the request form with the draw schedules. Construction and housing-permit figures for Hall County, GA are collected on the Gainesville, GA page.
Sizing a Contractor's Line in Hall County, GA
Start with your own numbers: weekly payroll, materials per job and the weeks between starting a phase and collecting the draw. Multiply payroll by those weeks, add the materials, and do it for the jobs typically running at the same time. That total is the gap a line should cover.
Illustration only, invented figures: three jobs running together, each with $6,000 a week in labor and $12,000 in materials per phase, and draws paid five weeks after a phase starts, give a gap of about $126,000 by our arithmetic.
Gaps in a Gainesville, GA Contractor's Paperwork
- A receivables aging that does not show retainage separately
- No draw schedules for the current jobs
- Business and personal money in the same account
- A lapsed state license or local license
Fix these before applying. The Georgia contractor license lookup guide covers the state license record.
A Line Next to Equipment Financing
A line works best for the recurring gap; it is a poor fit for a skid steer or truck that will run for years. Finance machines on equipment financing and keep the line available for labor and materials, so a machine payment does not use up the limit the crews depend on.
Renewal and Review of a Contractor's Line
Lines are reviewed at renewal, for example once a year. Keep the aging current, the license active and the account in good standing so the renewal review reads cleanly. A line used and paid down regularly shows the pattern it was set up for; one that stays fully drawn for months looks like long-term debt and may be reviewed as such.
By Lakemont Business Funding · Updated
