Heathbend Credit helps contractors and builders in Minot, ND request funding for materials, payroll between draws, retainage gaps and equipment. The page covers the construction cash cycle, which options fit, what partners commonly review, and Ward County construction figures from the Census.
| Builders and trades with payroll, Ward County, ND | 253 (CBP 2023) |
|---|---|
| Under five employees | 70.4% |
| Builders and trades inside ZIP 58701 | 139 (ZBP 2023) |
| Nonemployer construction firms | 457 (NES 2024) |
Business Loans for Contractors, Not Construction Loans
A construction loan, in banking language, usually means real-estate financing for a building project, paid out in stages to the property owner. Different product, different borrower. This page is about contractor business loans: funding for the company doing the work, its payroll, its materials and its machines.
If you own a lot and want to build on it, talk to a real-estate lender. If you are the builder or the trade on the job and the problem is cash between payments, read on.
How Money Moves Through a Construction Business
Costs arrive early and in a lump: a materials order at the start, wages every week, fuel and equipment rental daily. Income arrives late and in pieces: a deposit, progress draws tied to inspections or milestones, and a final payment after punch-list work. On commercial jobs the general contractor may pay subs only after the owner pays the GC.
On top of that, retainage holds back a share of each payment until the project is complete. A busy contractor can be profitable on paper and short of cash in practice, because the more jobs it runs, the more money it has sitting in unpaid draws and retainage.
Retainage in a Construction Contract, Step by Step
The contract sets a percentage that the paying party keeps from each progress payment as security that the work will be finished properly. Release terms are set in the contract and may depend on completion, inspection and lien waivers. Until then, it is the contractor's money that the contractor cannot use.
We wrote a longer explanation, including lien waivers, in our article on lien waivers and retainage for Ward County, ND subcontractors.
Which Funding Options Fit Contractors
| Need | Option | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Payroll between draws | Line of credit | Draw when a payment is late, repay when it lands, draw again |
| Materials for a large job | Working capital | A lump sum repaid from the job's payments |
| A loader, a skid steer, a gooseneck or a crew truck | Equipment financing | The machine secures it; payments match its working life |
| Shop or yard expansion | Term loan | A long-lived project with a longer payoff |
A merchant cash advance is collected from daily receipts, which may not match a contractor's income arriving in large, irregular payments.
Construction Company Working Capital: An Illustrative Example
Illustrative only, not a quote. A framing contractor wins a job worth $180,000, paid in four draws. Before the first draw it spends $40,000 on materials and $25,000 on four weeks of wages. Each draw carries 10% retainage, so by the time the job is finished $18,000 is still held back. If the contractor starts a second job before the first finishes, it may need $60,000 or more of its own cash in the ground at once.
A credit line sized to that peak lets the contractor take the second job instead of turning it down. The test is whether the draws, when they arrive, comfortably repay what was drawn.
Five Habits That Ease a Builder's Cash Squeeze
- Bill promptly at every milestone the contract allows, with complete paperwork
- Track retainage owed to you by job and chase its release at completion
- Negotiate deposits or material advances on large jobs
- Match equipment payments to the machine's life rather than paying cash
- Keep a line of credit open before you need it, not after a draw is late
The Contractor File a Partner Reads
- Business bank statements showing deposits and draws
- A job schedule: each contract's value and what has been billed so far
- Receivables, with retainage listed by job
- Equipment owned and existing equipment loans
- Tax returns for the business
No partner publishes fixed thresholds. A clear schedule of jobs and what each is owed can matter as much as the bank balance.
Construction in Ward County, ND: The Census Picture
County Business Patterns counted 253 construction employer establishments in Ward County, ND in 2023, second only to retail, with 1,507 employees. Seven in ten (70.4%) ran with fewer than five on payroll. Building construction (NAICS 236) accounted for 55 establishments and specialty trades (NAICS 238) for 177. In ZIP 58701, ZBP counted 139 construction employers in 2023.
Separately, Nonemployer Statistics counted 457 construction businesses without payroll in Ward County, ND in 2024, including 314 specialty trade contractors. The Building Permits Survey recorded 120 new housing units authorized in the county in 2023, 130 in 2024 and 128 in 2025; in 2025, 65 were single-family and 41 were in buildings of five or more units.
Trade-specific pages: electrical contractors and plumbing and HVAC contractors. More county figures on the Minot, ND page; all sectors on the industries page.
By Heathbend Credit · Updated
