Construction and contracting owners we help
Construction has a payment structure that almost guarantees cash flow stress, and MCA funders have built their products around it. A general contractor or subcontractor finishes a phase, submits a draw, waits 30-to-60 days for payment, has 5-to-10% held in retention until project completion — and in the meantime owes labor, materials, fuel, equipment payments, and insurance on a continuous schedule.
The contractors and subs we see typically share some combination of:
- Stacked MCAs taken to bridge progress-payment gaps — three to six positions accumulated over a year or two as job sizes grew faster than working capital.
- Equipment financing on top of MCA stack — excavators, trucks, lifts, or specialty tools financed on multi-year notes that don't flex when the MCA debits hit.
- Retention exposure — significant receivables tied up in retention holds, available on paper but not in the bank.
- Labor cost pressure — skilled trades wages have risen sharply, and a contractor underbidding to win work can be profitable on paper while running negative on cash.
- Tax exposure — payroll tax obligations or quarterly estimated taxes deferred to cover MCA debits, which is one of the most damaging trades a contractor can make.
Why construction owners work with us
Construction is capital-intensive, project-driven, and dependent on a payment cycle the contractor doesn't fully control. That combination is what makes MCA marketing so effective in this industry — and what makes the stacking problem so destructive when the work slows or a major customer pays late.
We are not lenders, not factoring companies, not contingency-fee debt firms. We are independent business consultants paid a flat fee by you. That means we have no reason to push you toward any particular product — no MCA refinancing, no SBA application, no specific settlement firm. Our role is to map your actual position, including the receivables tied up in retention and progress, and tell you which paths are realistic given where you genuinely are.
For some contractors that's restructuring with current funders. For others it's refinancing into SBA or bank lines if cash flow and credit support it. For others — the honest answer — it's settlement or a court-supervised reorganization because the business cannot service even restructured terms. We tell you which, with the numbers behind it.
How a construction consultation works
Step 1 — Position review. We map every open MCA, equipment note, line of credit, current job receivables (including retention), payroll obligations, and any tax exposure. The full picture matters because retention and progress-payment receivables look like assets on paper but don't pay daily MCA debits.
Step 2 — Options modeling. We model realistic paths — restructuring with current funders, refinancing if your credit and cash flow support SBA or bank-term financing, settlement on specific positions, or court-supervised reorganization if the business can't service restructured terms. Each path includes cost, timeline, and risk.
Step 3 — Written decision framework. You leave with a written plan that fits your priorities — finishing current jobs cleanly, preserving licensing and bonding, protecting personal credit, or making the call to wind down responsibly. You can execute it with us, with your attorney, or on your own.
What construction owners should know about MCA debt
A few specifics worth understanding before you negotiate or sign anything.
Mechanic's liens and prompt payment laws. Most states have prompt-payment statutes governing how quickly contractors and subs must be paid on private and public projects. They don't eliminate cash flow gaps, but they can be a meaningful lever if a major project is genuinely past-due — particularly if you have unpaid invoices crowding out cash that's instead going to MCA debits. State laws vary; the U.S. Small Business Administration publishes general contracting and small business guidance, and your state's contractor licensing board or attorney general is the right source on prompt-payment specifics.
MCA reconciliation clauses matter. Many MCA contracts include reconciliation provisions allowing daily debits to be adjusted when revenue drops — useful if a project delay creates a documented revenue dip. They are rarely volunteered by the funder and must be invoked correctly. Our guide to evaluating an MCA stack covers what to look for in your contracts.
Confession of judgment exposure. Some MCA contracts include confession-of-judgment clauses that let a funder obtain a judgment without notice. Several states have restricted these in commercial financing — the Federal Trade Commission banned them in consumer contracts and several states have followed in commercial — but rules vary, and the clause in your contract is what controls. None of this is legal advice; it's context to ask sharper questions of your attorney.