CONSTRUCTION CASH EMERGENCY PLAYBOOK.
If your construction company is running out of cash right now, the sequence matters more than the tactics. First: know exactly what you have and what's coming in the next 14 days. Second: your AR aging report is your fastest lever — call the top overdue accounts today, not tomorrow. Third: slow what's going out while you bring what's owed in. This page covers the full triage sequence, step by step.
Most cash problems in construction are survivable if you move fast and in the right order. The ones that aren't survivable are usually the ones where the owner waited two weeks hoping a check was coming before admitting it wasn't. This playbook is for the moment you stop hoping and start fixing.
If payroll is due in less than 5 days and cash isn't there: Stop reading the intro and jump to Step 3 — AR Collections Call List. Your fastest path to cash in the next 72 hours is a phone call, not a bank loan application.
YOU CAN'T FIX WHAT YOU CAN'T SEE.
Before you make any calls or move any money, you need a clear picture of the actual numbers. Not your gut feel. Not a rough estimate. The actual numbers. Cash problems get worse when owners are moving on incomplete information.
Pull these four things right now — before you do anything else:
1. BANK BALANCE RIGHT NOW — Not yesterday, not what you think it is. The actual current balance including any pending deposits and pending debits.
2. PAYROLL DUE DATES AND AMOUNTS — Next payroll date, exact dollar amount, date after that, dollar amount. Two payroll cycles out minimum.
3. AR AGING REPORT — Every open invoice, the amount, and how many days past due. If you don't have this pulled in the next 10 minutes, that's the first problem to fix.
4. LOC AVAILABLE BALANCE — What's your line of credit limit and what's the current available draw amount. This is your emergency bridge, not your solution.
STEP BY STEP — DO THESE IN ORDER.
The sequence matters. Most owners jump to the bank or a lender first. That's the wrong move. Your fastest cash is sitting in your AR aging report — and it doesn't cost you anything to collect it.
Build Your 14-Day Cash Map
On a single sheet of paper or spreadsheet: list every dollar coming in over the next 14 days (pay apps submitted, checks you know are coming, draw requests pending) and every dollar going out (payroll, subcontractor payments due, material invoices due). Total both columns. That gap is your problem to solve.
Sort Your AR Aging by Dollar Amount
Take your AR aging report. Sort it by dollar amount, largest to smallest. The top 5 accounts on that list are your first calls. Do not start with the easiest relationship or the oldest invoice. Start with the biggest dollar amount that is more than 30 days past due. That is your fastest path to cash.
Make the AR Collections Calls
Not emails. Calls. Call each of the top 5 AR accounts. The conversation is simple: "I'm following up on invoice [number] for [amount] from [date]. When can I expect payment?" Get a specific date. Write it down. If they say "it's in process" ask for the check number or EFT confirmation. Vague answers are not answers.
Submit Any Outstanding Pay Apps Immediately
Check every active project. Are there pay apps you haven't submitted yet? Is there work performed in the last billing cycle that hasn't been billed? If you have $80,000 in billable work sitting unsubmitted because you were waiting to "get to it" — submit it today. Every day that pay app sits unsubmitted is a day later you get paid.
Slow Outbound Cash to Match Inbound Reality
Call your top 3 vendors and subcontractors. Explain that a large receivable is delayed and you need 15–30 days on the current invoice. Most will work with you — especially if you've paid on time in the past. This buys time without costing you anything. Do not disappear on vendors. Communicate before they call you.
Draw Your LOC — But Use It as a Bridge, Not a Solution
If the gap between your inbound and outbound cash in the next 14 days can't be closed by collections alone, draw your line of credit. Draw what you need to cover payroll and critical vendor payments only — not to normalize operations. The LOC is a bridge to get you from here to when your AR comes in. Using it to fund new project costs while existing AR sits uncollected is how the line gets maxed and stays maxed.
THE MOVES THAT MAKE IT WORSE.
Take a Merchant Cash Advance
MCA loans charge effective APRs of 40–150% and pull from your bank account daily. They solve a 30-day problem and create a 12-month one. If you're already looking at an MCA, the underlying cash structure is broken — an MCA funds the broken system for another few months and leaves you worse off. Fix the AR and billing first.
Stop Work Without Written Notice
Stopping work without proper written notice is a breach of contract, regardless of whether you're owed money. In most states you need to provide a formal notice and a cure period before stopping work. Do this wrong and you lose the legal high ground on every dollar you're owed.
Pay Vendors Before Payroll
Material vendors can wait. They can put you on credit hold. Employees cannot wait. Payroll taxes cannot wait. Workers comp cannot wait. Any decision that trades payroll for vendor payments creates bigger problems than the ones it solves.
Take On New Work to Fund Current Cash Problems
Winning a new contract to fund today's cash gap is the fastest way to bury yourself. New work requires mobilization cash before the first pay app comes in — it makes the gap wider before it narrows. Fix the existing cash problem first. Then bid new work from a position of strength.
WHAT PREVENTS THE NEXT ONE.
A cash crisis that gets resolved is still a warning. The same structural conditions that created this one — billing lag, uncollected AR, no cash forecast — will create the next one in 3–6 months if nothing changes.
The three structural fixes that prevent recurrence:
13-week cash flow forecast — Built and updated monthly. Shows exactly when cash is tight 8–10 weeks before it becomes a problem. You stop reacting and start managing.
Collections process on a schedule — Not when someone remembers. Every invoice reviewed weekly. Anything over 30 days gets a call. Not an email. A call.
Billing cut-off discipline — Pay apps submitted on the same day every month. T&M work billed within 48 hours of completion. No billing that sits because someone was busy.
A $6.7M civil contractor came to us with $348K in maxed lines of credit, four MCA loans, and payroll three weeks from missing. Within 30 days there was $309K in the bank. LOC fully paid off within 60 days. The owner paid out $65K in bonuses six months later. The fix wasn't magic — it was collections, billing structure, and a cash forecast that showed what was coming before it arrived.
FREQUENTLY ASKED.
