Meridian, ID home builders and finish contractors carry payroll and materials between draws with a credit line drawn job by job, a working capital loan for one large job, or both. Machines stay on equipment financing, so the line is left for the costs that come before each check.
An article from Eastgrove Business Loans in Meridian, Idaho on funding the gap between paying crews and suppliers and receiving builder draws, with Ada County, ID construction and permit counts and an invented tile crew.
Home builders: materials and payroll between draws
A home builder pays for lumber, concrete, subcontractors and its own crew as each phase goes up, and is paid in draws from the construction lender or the buyer as phases pass inspection. Between draws the builder carries the cost. A line of credit sized to the largest gap, drawn as costs come due and paid down when each draw arrives, matches that cycle.
Builders with several homes going up at once may have draws overlapping, which smooths the gap; a builder starting a new phase may have several homes' costs out before any draw. Partners read the draw schedule and the history of draws in the bank statements to size a line.
Finish contractors: tile, flooring and paint crews
Tile, flooring and paint crews are paid by the builder after their stage is done, often on the builder's own schedule. A tile crew may buy tile, backer board and thinset, work for weeks, and wait for the builder's check after the walkthrough. That makes finish contractors carry both wages and materials, sometimes for several builders at once.
Financing for contractors covers the trade in more detail, and equipment financing covers vans, saws and scrapers.
Credit line or working capital loan for slow-paying jobs
A credit line suits a contractor whose jobs keep coming and whose builders pay weeks after the work: draw for each job, pay down at each check, draw again. A working capital loan suits one large job with a known pay date, or a contractor who wants a fixed payment and no renewal. Some contractors use both: a loan for a big subdivision contract, a line for everyday jobs.
Business lines of credit and working capital loans compare the two in more depth.
What a lender wants from a contractor
A lender reading a contractor's request wants to see that the work is real and that builders pay. That means signed contracts or purchase orders, a receivables aging showing who owes what and for how long, bank statements showing past builder payments, and the contractor's tax returns. Retainage, if any, should be listed separately.
- Signed contracts or purchase orders from builders.
- A receivables aging, with retainage shown separately.
- Statements on which each builder payment can be matched to a job.
- The business tax return for the last two years and a current profit and loss.
- A list of existing loans, leases and lines.
Builders and Finish Trades in the Ada County, ID Counts
County Business Patterns counted 2,214 construction employer establishments in Ada County, ID for 2023, second only to professional services among the county's sectors. Residential building construction made up 550 of them, 294 of those residential remodelers; building finishing contractors, the drywall, flooring, tile and painting trades, numbered 455, with 2,564 paid employees.
Building finishing contractors are small businesses for the most part: 71.2% had fewer than five employees, and ZIP 83642 had 90 of them (ZIP Code Business Patterns).
An Invented Tile Crew Waiting on Two Builder Draws
Illustration only, invented figures: a tile crew of 6 installers paid $27 an hour for 40 hours a week works 42 days on two builders' homes before either builder pays. Paid every two weeks, the crew draws 3 payrolls in that time (our arithmetic: 42 days over 14-day pay periods, rounded up), each about $12,960.
Add $21,000 of tile and setting materials and the crew carries about $59,880 before the first check (our arithmetic). On a line at an annual rate of 13.5%, carrying that full amount for 42 days would cost about $930 in interest (our arithmetic, simple daily interest, before fees), less if part is paid down sooner.
If one builder pays on time and the other slips by two weeks, the line stays drawn longer on half the gap. That is why a partner asks how each builder has paid in the past.
Three Years of Ada County, ID Housing Permits and What They Mean for Trade Crews
Census Building Permits Survey figures for Ada County, ID show 6,089 new privately owned housing units authorized in 2023, 5,137 in 2024 and 5,221 in 2025. Single-unit buildings held 4,637 of the 2025 units, and buildings of five or more units held 528.
Those counts cover new homes and apartments only, not remodels or commercial work, and they count units authorized, not finished. They describe the county's residential permit volume; they do not say how much work any one contractor will get.
With the records gathered, call (208) 273-8536 or send the request form.
Other trades get the same week-by-week treatment on the articles page.
By Eastgrove Business Loans · Updated
