Bolster gives contractors a new way to do finance growth

TLDR
Bolster Capital is a built-in online financing portal inside the Bolster platform that helps contractors fund materials, labor, equipment, and working capital quickly. You apply once online, get matched with multiple construction-friendly lenders, compare offers in one place, and often access funds in as little as 24 hours. Used alongside solid estimating, deposits, and supplier terms, it gives growing contractors a flexible way to keep projects moving and cash flow positive in 2026.

How Bolster Capital Helps Contractors Fund Fast Growth in 2026

In construction, growth and cash flow do not always move in the same direction.

If you are winning more work, adding crews, and taking on larger projects, 2026 can feel like your best year on paper and your most stressful in the bank account. Material prices are still volatile, subs want to be paid quickly, and owners are pushing for longer payment terms. That gap between “we won the job” and “we got paid” is where a lot of good contractors get stuck.

That is exactly why we built Bolster Capital.

Bolster started as a Calgary-based construction estimating platform that helps residential contractors price and sell work with interactive, client-friendly quotes. Over the past few years, we have watched many contractors double or even triple their order book using our software. That kind of growth is fantastic, until you have to finance all those projects.

So we decided to connect the dots between winning the work and funding the work.

The Cash Flow Problem Behind Rapid Growth

From conversations with thousands of contractors, the pattern is almost always the same:

• You start using better estimating tools, your quotes look sharper, and your close rate jumps.
• Your pipeline fills up with larger, better quality projects.
• Suddenly, you are fronting more money for materials, labour, and equipment than ever before.

You can use tools like:

• Deposits and progress draws
• Extended supplier terms
• Construction factoring, where you sell invoices at a discount to get cash faster

Those all help, but they also come with trade-offs, such as cost, complexity, or limits based on your credit and your customer’s credit.

What has been missing is a simple, fast, contractor-focused way to explore funding options without having to become a full-time banker yourself.

Meet Bolster Capital: Financing Built Into the Way You Already Work

Bolster Capital is an online financing portal built into the Bolster ecosystem. Instead of calling around, booking bank meetings, or filling out separate applications for every lender, you can:

1. Apply online in minutes
   Answer a short set of questions about your business, your funding needs, and the type of projects you are running.

2. Get matched with multiple funding offers
   Behind the scenes, Bolster Capital acts as an aggregator, routing your application to preapproved financing partners who specialize in construction. These can include banks as well as nonbank lenders that understand contractor cash flow.

3. Compare options in one place
   You see offers based on your risk profile, funding needs, and other criteria, without ten different sales calls or office visits.

4. Access funding fast
   For qualifying contractors, funding decisions and disbursements can happen in as little as 24 hours, so you are not waiting weeks for an answer while a start date keeps creeping closer.

You do not have to visit a branch, wait for quarterly reviews, or lose time chasing bankers when you should be focused on jobsites and scheduling.

What You Can Finance With Bolster Capital

Contractors use Bolster Capital to unlock cash for the things that actually move projects forward, such as:

• Materials and takeoffs for bigger jobs or overlapping projects
• Labour and staffing when you need to bring on more crews sooner
• Equipment you need to mobilize or scale, including rentals and purchases
• Short term working capital to manage slow paying customers or longer payment terms

In other words, the everyday working capital that keeps your projects on schedule and your relationships with subs and suppliers strong.

How Bolster Capital Works With Banks and Other Lenders

Bolster Capital does not replace banks. Instead, it connects you to banks and other construction-friendly lenders in a way that respects your time.

Here is how it works:

• We partner with professional lenders who already work with contractors and construction companies.
• When you submit a funding request, Bolster Capital automatically matches you with lenders whose products fit your needs.
• You complete the rest of the process through the online portal, without extra phone tag or sales calls unless you want them.

Think of it as similar to an insurance quote comparison site, but focused on growth financing that is purpose-built for construction.

Where Factoring Fits, And Where Bolster Capital Shines

In other content, we have talked about construction factoring as one option in the financing toolbox. You sell your invoices to a factor, they advance you most of the cash, and collect from your customer later. It is fast and can be very useful with slow paying clients, but it can also be expensive and is often limited to customers with strong credit.

Bolster Capital gives you a broader set of options:

• Factoring might be right for one project with a reliable commercial client.
• A short term working capital facility might be better for a cluster of smaller residential jobs.
• You might want to keep your line of credit free for emergencies while still financing a large material purchase.

Instead of guessing, you can see multiple offers side by side, compare costs, and choose the approach that fits your cash flow strategy, without rebuilding your entire financial model every time.

A Practical Playbook for Contractors in 2026

Whether you are doing 500 thousand or 10 million plus in annual volume, the fundamentals have not changed.

1. Price your work accurately
   Use modern estimating tools like Bolster to build reality into your quotes. That means real material and labour costs, realistic contingencies, and, when needed, the true cost of financing.

2. Protect cash flow before you rely on financing

   • Take meaningful deposits on projects.

   • Bill for stored materials on site.

   • Negotiate supplier terms that line up with your typical payment cycles.

3. Use financing strategically, not reactively
   Bolster Capital is most powerful when you use it intentionally, for example:

   • When growth is outpacing your cash reserves.

   • When you are stacking larger projects or overlapping timelines.

   • When a great opportunity appears that you would otherwise have to turn down.

4. Do not wait until cash flow is an emergency
   The best time to explore financing is before you are in a crisis. With Bolster Capital, you can understand your options early, so you are making calm decisions instead of emergency decisions.

From Better Estimates To Better Outcomes

Bolster was originally founded to fix one core problem in construction, outdated and manual estimating processes that made life harder for both contractors and homeowners. Today, it has grown into an all-in-one platform that helps you:

• Estimate faster and more accurately.
• Present interactive quotes that customers actually understand.
• Manage budgets, schedules, and payments in a single environment.

Bolster Capital is the next step in that evolution. If the software helps you win more and better work, the financing portal helps you actually deliver that work without choking your cash flow.

If you are planning to grow in 2026, with more projects, bigger scopes, or new markets, now is the time to:

• Tighten your estimating.
• Clarify your cash flow strategy.
• Put flexible financing options like Bolster Capital within reach before you are scrambling.

The goal is not just to win more jobs.
The goal is to win more jobs, finish them with confidence, and keep your business cash flow positive at every step.

Learn more about how contractor financing is evolving here.