Washington County, UT general contractors cover draw delays with a line of credit or a working capital loan sized to the payrolls and material bills that fall inside the wait, and they keep equipment payments on separate equipment financing.
Draw delays are the subject of this Tealwood Funding Group article for Washington County, Utah: how contractors and trades carry payroll and material through draw delays, with Washington County Census figures, an invented example and a checklist.
The Short Answer: Separate the Wait From the Machine
Separate the two costs. A draw delay is temporary: it ends when the draw is paid. An equipment payment lasts as long as the machine. Put the delay on a line of credit or working capital and the machine on equipment financing, so the payment schedule matches the life of each cost.
Contractors who mix them, using a line to buy a skid steer or a long loan to carry payroll, end up with a line that never comes down or interest on money they no longer need.
Illustration only, invented figures: a general contractor with a biweekly payroll of $26,400 waits 52 days for a draw and owes a supplier $31,000 for materials in the same stretch. Payrolls inside 52 days: 4 (our arithmetic: 52 / 14, rounded up). Wages plus materials total $136,600 (our arithmetic). With $40,000 on hand, the gap is $96,600 (our arithmetic).
The same logic applies to change orders. Extra work approved mid-job is often billed with the next draw, so the contractor pays for it weeks before being paid. Add approved change orders to the gap when they are large.
HVAC Contractor Financing When a Washington County, UT HVAC Company Needs Equipment Stock
HVAC contractors on a commercial job order rooftop units, ductwork and controls before the first progress payment. Those are job costs, paid back by that job's draws. A line of credit drawn for the order and paid down from the draw fits the pattern.
The company's own equipment stock (van parts, refrigerant, fittings) is different: it turns over on every job. A standing line covers it, separate from any job-specific draw.
Recovery machines, vacuum pumps and service vans finance as equipment. The plumbing and HVAC page covers both.
Contractor Financing Programs for St. George, UT General Contractors
Contractor financing programs come from banks, equipment finance companies, supplier credit and online lenders. Supplier credit (net-30 or net-60 terms at the lumber yard or supply house) is a program many contractors already use.
Programs differ on what they read. Banks read returns and the contractor's balance sheet; equipment finance companies read the machine; online lenders read recent deposits. A contractor with uneven deposits because of draw timing should explain the pattern up front.
Bonding capacity matters too. A surety reading the contractor's financial statements sees new debt, so ask the surety before taking on a large loan.
Ask each program how a draw delay affects its review. A partner who understands that deposits arrive in lumps after draws reads the statements differently from one expecting steady weekly revenue.
General Contractor Loans for St. George, UT General Contractors
General contractor loans pay for what a general contractor carries that subcontractors do not: the whole project's cash flow between the owner's draws and the subs' invoices, plus the company's own trucks, trailers and machines.
Illustration only, invented figures: a $74,000 skid steer on a 60-month loan at an annual rate of 9.75% costs about $1,563 a month and $19,792 in interest over the term (our arithmetic). That payment belongs in the company's overhead, not in any one job.
The construction page covers roofing, concrete and plumbing contractors as well.
Fuel cards and supply house accounts are part of the same picture. Paying them late to cover payroll costs the contractor its trade terms; a line that covers payroll keeps those accounts current.
What Washington County, UT Figures Show About HVAC and Plumbing Contractors
Washington County, UT had 144 plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors with 1,014 paid employees in 2023, and 1,335 construction employer establishments in all (County Business Patterns). Specialty trade contractors numbered 944.
Building permits authorized 2,857 new housing units in the county in 2025, 3,152 in 2024 and 2,820 in 2023 (Census Building Permits Survey). Those counts describe permits, not any contractor's workload.
County figures are on the St. George, UT page.
Nonemployer Statistics counted 1,931 construction businesses without paid employees in Washington County, UT in 2024, a separate program from the employer count. A subcontractor without employees still feels a draw delay through the general contractor's payments.
A Draw-Delay Checklist for a Washington County, UT Builder
- List every draw outstanding, its amount and the date it was submitted.
- Note how long each draw on the last few jobs took to pay.
- Count the payrolls that fall inside the expected wait: days divided by 14 for biweekly payroll; round down for the usual count and up for the most that can land in the wait.
- Add supplier bills due in the same stretch.
- Subtract cash on hand; the remainder is the gap.
- Check retainage: amounts withheld until closeout lengthen the gap.
- Keep equipment payments separate from the gap.
Bring the list, the contracts and recent statements when you call (435) 269-1699. The equipment financing page covers machines.
By Tealwood Funding Group · Updated
