The construction business is fast-paced and ever-changing. One day, you’re just starting out with a handful of projects, and the next, you have an order book that’s overflowing and a job schedule that’s out of control. It’s a good problem to have, but it does mean that at some point, most people are going to need some kind of financing for contractors.
You might try your bank, but if you’re still building your company and your credit score, that might be more difficult than you hoped. Or you might look into factoring or private lines of credit, but those can be expensive and take time to set up. Fortunately, for Bolster users, there’s a simpler, better, and faster option: Bolster Capital. Here’s what that is and how you can use it to get working capital for contractors when you need it.
Balancing Growth and Capacity
When most people first start a construction business, they don’t realize just how quickly it can grow. Construction companies are one of the few types of businesses that can take you from day one to one hundred employees or more in just a few years.
That happens more often than you think too. The problem, however, is that traditional finance for contractors doesn’t always keep pace with growth. You might find that you need to buy more vehicles or equipment, invest in materials for a lot more jobs or hire more staff before you really have the cash in the bank to fund them.
You have the orders to justify the spending; you just have to wait for the jobs to be done before you get paid! This is one of the hardest things about growing a construction business. Balancing growth with capacity (and the capital to fund capacity) is a full-time job. But if you want to grow, it’s something you’ll have to get to grips with - sooner rather than later.
The last thing anyone wants is to delay or walk away from any project simply because you don’t have the capital to get it done. However, sometimes, through no fault of our own, that’s exactly what might be on the table.
What is Bolster Capital?
At Bolster, we’re all about making the business of construction easier for our customers. Our revolutionary estimating and quoting engines are already changing the way you get work done. But we realized that financing for contractors is another problem that our customers face. Sure, our estimating and quoting system will turn more leads into jobs, but once you have them, you still need working capital for contractors to get the jobs done and collect the checks. Loans for contractors aren’t always easy to come by.
They take longer and are often very restrictive. So, we found the industry-leading solution in the fintech loan space and integrated it directly into the Bolster platform. This makes it easy for our customers to quickly search multiple lenders that cater directly to small businesses in the construction industry so that they can secure working capital for contractors in a fraction of the time and from multiple lending offers. You don’t have to leave the Bolster site to apply, and the process is fast and super simple.
How does Bolster Capital work?
We know that in the construction world, your financial needs can change—literally overnight. One day you’re just getting by, and the next, you have a dozen orders lined up, waiting for materials and shovels in the ground. It can be tough to predict when things are going to go a little crazy, and when they do, you will need to get funding fast.
Loans for contractors are usually many things, but fast and straightforward are generally not on the list. Bolster Capital makes things a whole lot easier. The process is very straightforward, and you can get the money you need in as little as one day. Here’s what you will need:
- It takes about 15 minutes to apply
- At least $10,000 in monthly revenue
- At least six months in business
- A credit score of at least 550
Because we’ve built a clever financing solution right into Bolster, when you apply, you are automatically matched with funding options that meet your needs, your business profile, and your funding amount requirements. You’ll get all the information you need about interest, repayment requirements and more in an easy-to-use comparison, so all you have to do is choose the right kind of funding for your needs. It’s finance for contractors, but it’s about as easy as using an insurance quote comparison site.
What Can You Use Bolster Capital For?
When you’re in the construction business, there are endless reasons you might need to access working capital for contractors. Sometimes, you need to buy a large quantity of materials upfront for a big job that will be paid on monthly progress draws.
Once you get it built-in, you’ll get paid, but you still have to figure out how to get the material delivered to your site! Other times, construction companies find that when they have a lot of big orders in a short amount of time, they have to increase their staffing to get the jobs done.
Again, you know you’ll be paid for the work when you bill your customer, but you still have to get boots on the ground now. Or you might just be transitioning to bigger projects. Needing to create project management and quality assurance plans, put advanced health and safety measures, and more in place costs money you might not have in the budget. Many contractors also find that they need financing to invest in labor-saving equipment.
You know it will cut labor costs and installation time, but you’re in a catch-22 situation where you need to get the tools to do the job but also need to do the job to afford the tools. Or you might even be considering using a service like Bolster's clever cost-estimating software system to streamline your estimating and sales processes, improve accuracy, and convert more leads. You know it will pay off in the future too, but you’re worried about the upfront cost of the annual membership for our construction estimating software.
All of these things (and more) can be financed using the simple Bolster Capital system, and it only takes a few minutes to complete the process.
Good Debt in the Construction World
When you’re starting out in construction, whether it’s your first year or your fifth, there’s a good chance you’ve avoided the issue of finance for contractors.
Many people and companies take a lot of pride in doing things on their own and staying out of debt. However, in the construction world, as in every other aspect of your business and personal life, sometimes you have to balance the desire to stay out of debt with the need to grow and expand. There are good and bad kinds of debt. Good debts are things like mortgages and student loans in your personal life.
These are things that you borrow money for to get a tangible asset that will increase your worth over time. In business, it’s the same thing. When you use debt to finance profitable business activities and make enough profit off the deal, that’s considered a good kind of construction business debt.
Should you use Bolster Capital?
We don’t like to tell our customers how to run their businesses. You know what you’re doing; you’ve got this far already, and you’re at the top of your game. However, when it comes to services like Bolster Capital, there are always a few things you should consider.
Firstly, does your order book justify the investment? Do you have the jobs lined up to justify getting working capital for contractors, and will you make enough profit off that loan to justify the costs associated with it? Secondly, can you repay the loan in a relatively short time? The longer you carry any type of debt, the more it will cost you. So, it’s best to get any kind of funding for contractors as close as possible to when you will need it and repay it as quickly as possible.
Finally, do you need a quick solution? You might have gotten several jobs you weren’t expecting to get (thanks to our estimating and sales engine or on your own), and you might have limited time to figure out the financing. If the answer to all of these questions is yes, then you’re definitely in the right place.
Better Ways to Do Construction
One of the biggest reasons we created Bolster's cost-estimating software is that we’ve all been in the business ourselves. We know the problems and challenges facing contractors and how we can help you solve them. Bolster Capital is just another way our team has built extra functionality into our platform and system to make things easier for savvy contractors who are looking for better ways to run their businesses. You’ve got the skills, the talent and the industry experience. We’ve just built better, simpler and faster ways to get things done.
Learn more about Bolster Capital here.
Construction Estimating Software