Funding a 90-Day Construction Draw Gap When Payroll Is Weekly

You've already done the work. Your pay application is sitting with the architect for certification, the schedule of values says you've earned it, and the draw is coming — in 30, 60, sometimes 90 days. Payroll doesn't wait for that. Neither does your lumber yard. The fix isn't a loan against a slow-paying customer — it's funding sized to your actual draw cadence and deposit history, moving on your payroll clock instead of the GC's approval clock.

Byzfunder is a direct lender — we fund from our own balance sheet, not a warehouse of investor committees reviewing your job file. For a contractor whose cash need is tied to a specific draw cycle, that matters: one application, one decision, and a funding structure built around deposit and revenue patterns instead of a stack of job documentation a bank would need weeks to review.

Why the draw gap is different from a slow-paying customer

Most cash-flow financing content treats "customer pays slow" as one problem with one fix. Construction draws aren't that. They're a financing structure with built-in delay, and it helps to know exactly where the time goes.

How a draw actually moves through the system

A typical commercial job runs on a schedule of values — the contract broken into line items (site work, framing, MEP rough-in, drywall, finishes) with a dollar value assigned to each. As work is completed, the contractor submits a pay application, most commonly the AIA G702/G703 form pair: G702 is the summary application and certificate for payment, G703 is the continuation sheet showing percent-complete by line item.

That pay app doesn't get paid on submission. It goes to the architect or owner's representative for certification — a site walk or desk review confirming the claimed percent-complete matches actual progress. Only after certification does it move into the owner's or GC's payment processing, which runs on its own internal cycle. Add it up: submission, certification, and processing routinely stack into a 30-, 60-, or 90-day lag between "work done" and "cash in the account" — and that's before anything goes wrong with the paperwork.

Retainage compounds the lag

Most commercial contracts hold back retainage, commonly 5-10% of each draw, until substantial completion or final punch-list sign-off. So even a "paid" draw isn't the full amount — a meaningful slice of every dollar you've earned sits parked until the very end of the job, sometimes months after the work that generated it. On a job with a 90-day draw cycle and 10% retainage, a contractor can be carrying two layers of delay at once: the draw lag itself, and the retainage tail behind it.

It's structural, not a red flag

This is the part that gets missed. A draw gap isn't evidence of a struggling business or a customer who won't pay — it's how the entire industry certifies and releases payment on every job, on every contract, with every legitimate GC. Payroll and material suppliers don't run on the same clock. Weekly or biweekly payroll and 30-day material terms are fixed obligations; the draw is a variable-timing asset. That mismatch is the actual problem to solve, not a symptom of something being wrong with the job.

Why banks can't move at draw speed

A bank line of credit or SBA product is underwritten for a business's overall balance sheet, not for the timing of an individual job's draw schedule. That mismatch shows up in three ways:

• Underwriting timelines don't fit the gap. Bank underwriting commonly runs 60-90 days once you count committee review, collateral appraisal, and documentation — which is close to the entire length of the draw cycle you're trying to bridge. By the time the line is approved, the payroll runs it was meant to cover have already happened.
• Collateral requirements don't match construction cash flow. Banks want hard collateral or a personal guarantee tied to fixed assets. A contractor's real asset here is a certified-but-unpaid draw and a pattern of deposits — not equipment or real estate.
• It's a company-level facility, not a job-level one. A bank line is sized once, annually, against trailing financials. It doesn't flex to "this specific job has a 90-day draw and payroll is due Friday" — it's the wrong tool shape for a recurring, job-by-job timing gap.

How Byzfunder's approach fits the draw-gap problem

Instead of underwriting the draw schedule itself, Byzfunder looks at what the business's bank account already shows: deposit volume, frequency, and consistency over recent months. That's the signal for a contractor whose draws land on a predictable, if lagged, cadence. It's also why this works when a traditional underwriting file — built around audited job cost reports and GC payment history — would take longer to assemble than the gap itself lasts.

For MCA funding, that means:

• Deposit- and revenue-based underwriting, not a review of every job's schedule of values.
• Credit is still reviewed — a 525+ FICO is the floor for MCA — but a thin or imperfect credit file doesn't automatically disqualify a contractor with strong, consistent deposits.
• Funding decisions in days, not weeks, because the file doesn't depend on GC certification timing.
• ByzFlex, Byzfunder's revenue-based revolving capital, functions like a line of credit for contractors who want to draw repeatedly against upcoming receivables across multiple jobs rather than take a single advance.

This is an advance against future receivables — a purchase of a discounted portion of expected revenue at a set factor rate — not a loan, and not underwriting against the draw itself. The draw schedule and deposit history are read as evidence of a recurring, predictable business pattern, which is what the funding is priced and sized against.

A worked example (illustrative only)

Say a contractor submits a G702/G703 pay application for $180,000 of completed work on a commercial build-out. The GC's payment cycle runs 60 days from certification, and the contract holds 10% retainage — so the draw that actually lands is roughly $162,000, and it lands two months out. In the meantime, weekly payroll for the crew runs about $28,000, and a materials supplier invoice for $35,000 is due on 30-day terms. Over the 60-day wait, that's roughly $224,000 in fixed obligations against a draw that hasn't cleared yet.

An advance sized against the business's recent deposit pattern — say $60,000, funded in a couple of days rather than weeks — covers the payroll runs and the materials invoice as they come due, repaid out of ongoing revenue as the draw and subsequent deposits land. These numbers are illustrative only; every business's advance amount, factor rate, and repayment structure are quoted individually based on the actual file.

What Byzfunder looks at for a draw-gap file

• Recent bank deposit history — consistency and volume matter more than a single strong month.
• Time in business — an established pattern of deposits across multiple jobs strengthens the file.
• FICO — 525+ is the floor for MCA funding; credit is reviewed as part of the file, not skipped.
• Revenue trend — whether deposits are steady, growing, or seasonal shapes how an advance or ByzFlex facility is sized.

FAQ

Can I get funded before my draw is approved? Yes — funding is sized off your business's deposit history and revenue pattern, not off waiting for the specific draw to clear. A pay application in process or a certified-but-unpaid draw can support a file, but the underwriting doesn't depend on that single draw being paid first.

Does retainage count against me? Retainage doesn't disqualify a file, but it does affect timing — the portion held back until substantial completion isn't available cash yet. Byzfunder weighs your actual deposit pattern, which already reflects how retainage moves through your typical job cycle.

What if the GC is slow to certify the pay app? That's exactly the kind of timing risk this type of funding is built to bridge. Because underwriting is based on deposit history rather than a single GC's certification timeline, a slow-moving architect or owner's rep doesn't block access to capital for payroll or materials due now.

Is this a loan against my construction contract? No. MCA funding is a purchase of a discounted portion of future receivables at a factor rate — not a loan secured by your contract or draw. ByzFlex is revenue-based revolving capital that functions like a line of credit for repeat draws against upcoming revenue.

How fast can I actually get funded? Once a complete file is submitted — recent bank statements and basic business information — funding can move in as little as 24-48 hours. That speed is the point: it's built to move faster than a draw cycle, not on the same clock as one.

Will this hurt my relationship with my GC? No. This is financing between your business and Byzfunder — it has no bearing on your contract, your pay application, or your standing with the GC or owner. They're not a party to it and typically never know it exists.

What credit score do I need? 525+ FICO is the floor for MCA funding. Credit is still reviewed as part of the file — it isn't skipped — but deposits and time in business carry real weight alongside the score, so a thinner credit file doesn't automatically rule a contractor out.

The gap is structural. The fix should move at your speed.

A 90-day draw cycle isn't going anywhere — it's how commercial construction is financed, inspected, and paid. What can move faster is the capital that bridges it. Byzfunder funds directly from its own balance sheet, off your deposit history and draw pattern, so payroll and material terms don't have to wait on an architect's certification.

For California, term loans are arranged or made pursuant to the California Financing Law — License Number: 6031098.

ByzFunder NY LLC funds small businesses directly from its own balance sheet; advance amounts, factor rates, and terms vary by file and are not guaranteed. This is educational content, not an offer or commitment to fund.