Laurelwick Lenders passes contractor funding requests from Lake Havasu City, Arizona to funding partners. With 672 employer establishments in 2023, construction outnumbered every other sector in Mohave County, AZ. This page covers financing for contractors and site crews, what owning a construction company costs, construction cash flow, payroll for a young firm, and the records partners read.
At a glance
- Construction employers, Mohave County, AZ
672, 60.3% with fewer than five employees (County Business Patterns 2023)
- Residential building contractors
153 employers (County Business Patterns 2023)
- Construction businesses without paid employees
1,878 (Nonemployer Statistics 2024)
Financing for Contractors: What Excavation and Site Crews Compare
Construction is the largest sector in Mohave County, AZ by employer count. County Business Patterns counted 672 construction employers in 2023, with 4,296 employees and $223.9 million in annual payroll, about $52,116 per employee (our arithmetic); 60.3% had fewer than five employees (County Business Patterns 2023). Within it were 153 residential builders, 115 building finishing contractors, 102 plumbing and HVAC contractors, 76 other specialty trade contractors, 65 electrical contractors and 38 poured concrete contractors.
Excavation and site crews compare financing on three points: whether the machine itself secures the deal, how the payment sits against a month with no draw, and whether a personal guarantee comes with it.
| Need | Funding type | What a partner reads |
|---|---|---|
| Excavator, skid steer, dump truck | Equipment financing | Dealer quote, hours, bank statements |
| Wages and materials between draws | Line of credit | Receivables aging, draw schedule |
| One large job's start-up costs | Working capital | The contract, deposits, returns |
| Buying out a partner or a crew | Term loan | Returns, purchase terms, equipment list |
Financing Companies for Contractors: What Excavation and Site Crews Compare
Financing companies for contractors fall into three groups. Equipment finance companies, including the finance arms of machine makers working through dealers, fund machines against their resale value and read a quote and recent statements. Banks and credit unions offer lines of credit and term loans to contractors with several years of returns and clean financial statements. Online and specialty lenders fund working capital against deposits and receivables, with shorter terms.
Laurelwick passes a contractor's request to funding partners across those groups; the partner decides. Where builders finance excavators and skid steers compares dealer, bank and independent routes for machines.
How Much Does It Cost to Own a Construction Company? How It Plays Out Around Lake Havasu City, AZ
Owning a construction company costs more than the trucks in the yard. The fixed costs keep running in a slow month: vehicle and equipment payments, insurance, yard rent, software, licensing and the owner's own pay. The variable costs rise with each job: wages, materials, fuel and subcontractors.
Illustration only, invented figures: a small Lake Havasu City, AZ framing outfit carrying a $58,000 truck, $22,000 in tools and a trailer, $14,000 a year in insurance and $28,800 a year in yard rent has $122,800 tied up in the first year before a single wage is paid (our arithmetic). A crew of 3 at $26 an hour for 160 hours a month adds $12,480 a month in this invented case.
What Is Cash Flow in Construction? A Checklist for Builders and Subcontractors
Cash flow in construction is the timing between paying for a job and being paid for it. Wages are due weekly or every two weeks; materials are due on supplier terms; the builder or owner pays on a draw schedule, often after an inspection, and holds back retainage until the end. The gap between those dates is what a contractor funds.
- List each active job with its contract value and draw schedule.
- Mark when each draw is billed and when it is actually paid, from past jobs.
- Set weekly payroll and supplier due dates beside the draws.
- Note the retainage held on every job and when it is due back.
- Find the week with the deepest shortfall: that is the size of the need.
Illustration only, invented figures: a job worth $210,000 with 10% retainage leaves $21,000 unpaid until closeout (our arithmetic). If the crew's payroll of $9,400 a week runs 6 weeks before the first draw clears, the invented gap is $56,400.
How to Get Loan for Construction Business: What Lake Havasu City, AZ Owners Gather First
A construction business asking for a loan pulls together a file that shows both the company and its jobs:
- Business bank statements for the months a partner names.
- Two years of business tax returns, and the owners' returns.
- A work-in-progress schedule listing each job, its contract value, billed to date and cost to date.
- Receivables aging, including retainage owed back to the business.
- The Arizona contractor license number and the entity's Arizona Corporation Commission filings.
- For equipment, the dealer quote; for a line, the draw schedules of current jobs.
How to Fund Payroll for a New Contractor: Notes for Excavation and Site Crews
A contractor in its first years has a payroll problem that an older firm has outgrown: no cushion. The jobs may be profitable, but wages leave every week and the first draw may be weeks away. Options for excavation and site crews in that position include a modest line of credit, a working capital loan sized to one job's gap, or a payroll timing arrangement with the builder through a negotiated draw schedule.
Partners read time in business closely, so a young contractor should expect smaller limits and more questions. Nonemployer Statistics counted 1,878 construction businesses without paid employees in Mohave County, AZ for 2024, with $187.4 million in receipts (Nonemployer Statistics 2024); hiring a first employee is the step that turns one of those into a payroll business.
How to Improve Cash Flow in a Construction Business: Steps for Specialty Trade Contractors
- Bill every draw the day it becomes billable, with complete paperwork.
- Negotiate a deposit or mobilization payment on larger jobs.
- Ask suppliers for terms that line up with the draw schedule.
- Track retainage and invoice for it at closeout, in writing.
- Keep a line of credit for timing gaps rather than paying wages from the owner's card.
- Finance machines on schedules that match their working life, so cash is not tied up in equipment.
Specialty trade contractors who follow these steps still face gaps; the point is to make them predictable. Residential permits give a sense of demand: the Census Building Permits Survey recorded 1,817 new housing units authorized in Mohave County, AZ in 2025, against 2,543 in 2024 and 2,241 in 2023. The Lake Havasu City, AZ page has the wider county counts.
By Laurelwick Lenders · Updated