Every commercial subcontractor creates a capital stack made of different forms of working capital to cover the business’s expenses. The most common forms of capital in a subcontractors’ capital stack are cash, supplier terms, and bank lines of credit. However, what separates reactive subcontractors from forward-thinking subcontractors is both the diversity and the capacity they create in their capital stack with multiple forms of working capital.
That mindset shift from reactive to proactive is what allows subcontractors to protect their profitability, reach their growth goals, and allow owners to take distributions—something only 22% of business owners were able to do in 2025*.
In a recent session with Turner Construction, Billd’s Travis Mayor and Turner’s Nate Ware walked through what a proactive capital stack looks like for commercial subcontractors, where the Turner Accelerated Payment Program Powered by Billd fits into a subcontractor’s capital strategy, and why how you deploy your capital matters as much as what you have access to.
Here’s their advice for subcontractors to move past simply covering their expenses to being able to create a roadmap that supports future goals.
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The Status Quo in Construction and How It Affects Cash Flow for Subcontractors
No matter how long a subcontractor has been in business, how much revenue they make, or their trade, one thing is the same across the industry: Subcontractors are covering expenses for every project they work on and then waiting months for payment from their general contractors.
According to Billd’s 2026 National Subcontractor Market Report, trade contractors wait an average of 51 days for payment, and 78% report supplier terms of 45 days or less. The 51-day wait already stretches limited capital resources, but what makes managing cash flow even more challenging is the often unpredictable nature of payments.
“The duration itself is not necessarily the main issue. If everybody got paid in 90 days for every single project, every single month, we could build processes around that predictability. But the unpredictability or inconsistency of payments month over month, project to project is really what creates cash flow forecasting challenges,” Travis said.
In addition to prolonged and unpredictable payment timelines, traditional forms of capital often don’t offer enough capacity to cover large expenses for construction projects. More than half of trade contractors have a bank line of credit that covers less than 10% of their annual revenue and credit cards can often only cover smaller expenses, offering little relief for larger expenses like materials or payroll. For commercial subs, even a well-run business often has only three to six weeks of operating expenses on hand at any given moment.
“I would typically only see enough working capital available to cover three to six weeks of operating expenses. You would never apply that same logic to your personal savings account. For that to be the day-to-day norm for most trade contractors in the U.S. is a reality that is sometimes tough to believe,” Travis said.
The Problem With How Most Subcontractors Use Their Capital
When Travis walks through capital strategy with subcontractor owners and CFOs, he sees the same pattern in roughly seven out of 10 conversations: their cash gets used first, the bank line gets treated as emergency-only, and supplier terms and credit cards fill in wherever needed.
Cash feels like the best option to use first because it’s considered free with no finance charges attached. However, there is an opportunity cost to using cash frequently. Cash is the most flexible source of capital, so it’s one that should be protected. It’s what lets you take on the next project, get better unit costs with suppliers, replace a piece of equipment when it goes down, or weather a slow-paying project without missing payroll.
The second you spend that cash on a project-specific expense, it’s gone—and the runway behind it gets shorter.
The bank line of credit is also a popular, yet misused, form of capital. Banks provide lines of credit to trade contractors, but often reluctantly. They prefer to see close to 0% utilization, and almost always less than 30%. Higher draws trigger more scrutiny, tighter covenants, and reporting requirements. Most subcontractors also have to save capacity for bonding, surety capacity, and underwriting, which means the subcontractor looks like they have available capital on paper but it’s effectively out of reach.
Both of these commonly used options highlight why subcontractors need a strategy for what to use and how to use it.
An Untapped Resource The Belongs in A Subcontractor’s Capital Stack
The Turner Accelerated Payment Program Powered by Billd is a source of working capital that can directly address payment unpredictability on Turner projects. For subcontractors who elect to use this early pay program, once Turner approves an invoice in Textura, subcontractors receive payment within five business days of the period-through date of the draw, regardless of when the owner pays Turner.
“How many times have we signed up for a project where we’re expecting to be paid in 30 days and that 30 days came and we weren’t paid? By enrolling into this program, what you’re doing is essentially taking that control back into your hands,” Nate said.
Travis and Nate emphasized a few more details into how the program works:
- It’s not a loan. There’s no underwriting, no impact on credit history, no balance sheet liability, and no covenant implications with your bank.
- Invoice approval remains with Turner, not the owner. Once Turner approves the invoice, the payment is set. Turner assumes the owner-side risk.
- You only pay for the days you actually accelerate. If compliance documents lag or payment gets delayed for any reason, you aren’t charged for the days you didn’t receive the benefit.
- No recourse. You’re not on the hook if the owner later disputes the payment.
- Two enrollment options. Subcontractors can select enterprise enrollment to auto-accelerate all future invoices or choose invoice-by-invoice enrollment. The enrollment in the program is free. The only charge is tied to the days of acceleration on invoices you elect.
What makes the program useful in a capital stack context isn’t the speed by itself. It’s the predictability. When AR on Turner projects converts to cash on a predictable cadence, subcontractors are able to take more control over their cash flow.
Nate said, “Turner values having strong cash flow as a risk eliminator and a schedule meter. We know that when subcontractors are able to manage their costs with a strong cash flow, they’re able to pay suppliers, maintain operations, and it ultimately minimizes Turner’s financial exposure by reducing disruptions on the job.”
The Ideal Way to Deploy Capital: From Least to Most Flexible
For subcontractors using their cash, bank lines of credit, and the Turner Accelerated Payment Program Powered by Billd, there is an ideal way to use each form of working capital. Instead of pulling from the most flexible capital first (cash), the cleaner framework is to use capital from least flexible to most flexible.
Here’s what that looks like in practice:
- Supplier terms. Project-specific, vendor-specific, material-specific. Useful, but rigid by design.
- Turner Accelerated Payment Program Powered by Billd (or a similar GC early pay program). Converts outstanding AR on Turner projects into cash on a timely, predictable cadence. The cash itself is flexible and you can deploy it anywhere. The rigidity is that it’s only available on eligible Turner projects.
- Billd Material Financing and Pay App Advance. Construction-specific capital that works across your project portfolio outside of the Turner relationship, with flexible terms made for construction timelines. Still has some structure around how and when it can be used.
- Bank line of credit. Necessary, strategic, and best protected. Draws should be the exception, not the default.
- Cash. Treat it as the opportunity and resilience fund. Protect it at all costs.
The goal is simple: use the less flexible options to cover project-specific spend, and keep the most flexible options intact for the moments when flexibility actually matters, whether that’s a growth opportunity, a market shift, a surety review, or a year-end balance sheet conversation.
What a Proactive Capital Strategy Actually Helps Subcontractors Accomplish
Subcontractors who have built a diversified capital stack consistently point to the same benefits:
- A stronger balance sheet heading into year-end, which matters for bonding capacity, surety review, and future underwriting.
- A wider operating buffer. Moving from three to six weeks of operating expenses on hand to eight to 12 weeks is achievable, but it takes intention. Billion-dollar contractors routinely operate in that range.
- Negotiating power with suppliers and sub-tiers. If you can pay in 10 days on a large material order, there’s usually a unit-cost conversation worth having. The same logic applies to your sub-tiers.
- Growth flexibility. When a GC you like working with slides a larger project across the desk, the question becomes “When can we start?” instead of “Can we float it?”
- Higher enterprise value. The exit runway for a trade business is typically around a decade. How money moves through the business, including profitability, working capital ratios, and balance sheet strength, is what drives multiples when the owner eventually goes to market.
The Bottom Line
The capital stack you already have is probably closer to optimized than you think. It just needs to be deployed in an optimal way. Protect your cash and bank line of credit. Use construction-specific capital and GC early pay programs to cover project-specific spend. Build the processes around when and how each option gets used, and the rest of the business plan gets easier to run.
Ready to take control of AR on your Turner projects? Learn more about the Turner Accelerated Payment Program Powered by Billd. For subcontractors working with other GCs, Billd’s Material Financing and Pay App Advance are built for the same capital stack logic across the rest of your portfolio.
Access the full on-demand webinar here.
*Source: 2026 National Subcontractor Market Report
