WHY CONCRETE CONTRACTORS
ALWAYS FEEL CASH POOR.

Concrete labor goes out every Friday. The billing event for that work happens once a month when the pay app is submitted. On a $400K concrete contract with 40% labor content, you're paying $160K in labor before you've collected the first dollar. That gap is the definition of working capital requirement — and most concrete contractors are operating it without a line of credit sized to cover it.

Ready-mix suppliers typically run net-30 terms. The GC pays in 45–60 days. You're negative on concrete material cost for 15–30 days on every pour. Rebar suppliers often want faster payment or deposits on large orders. The timing gap between paying your suppliers and collecting from your GC is cash you're floating every single cycle.

Most concrete SOVs are structured around pour completions — foundations, slabs, elevated decks. You mobilize, form, place rebar, and then pour. By the time the billing event triggers, you've been on the job for 3–4 weeks with 100% of the material cost and 80% of the labor cost already spent. The billing structure creates a front-loaded cash burn that's invisible in the contract value.

10% retainage held through substantial completion. On a $2M concrete contract over 18 months, that's $200K sitting in retainage for the duration. It's real money you earned. It doesn't show up in the bank until final acceptance — which on large commercial projects can run 6–12 months after your last pour. Retainage is a mandatory loan to your GC at 0% interest.