Cliffbank Lenders, a small-business funding service in Merced, California, explains business loans for Merced County painting, drywall, flooring and tile contractors: working capital for crews and materials, lines of credit for repeat jobs, and financing for sprayers, lifts and floor equipment. It uses Census counts of local finishing contractors. Funding partners make each decision.
| Finishing contractors with employees, county (2023) | 73 |
|---|---|
| Share under five on payroll | 71.2% |
| Without employees, county (2024) | 214 |
| Paid employees, county (2023) | 359 |
| Uses to compare | Materials, payroll, equipment |
| Who decides | The funding partner |
First to leave the site, last to see a check
Painters, drywall hangers and finishers, flooring and tile installers work at the end of a project. On new construction they can be subcontractors paid after the general contractor receives a draw, and retainage may hold back part of each payment until the job is closed out. On remodels and repaints the customer may pay on completion. Either way, paint, drywall, flooring and labor are paid for weeks before the money comes in.
Flooring adds a stock problem: material may be ordered weeks ahead, with a deposit, and the job cannot start until it arrives.
Working capital for painting contractors carrying crews between draws
Working capital for a painting company can cover two things: materials for a large job and payroll while waiting on the general contractor. A working capital loan sized to one job's gap and repaid when that job pays is the cleanest structure. Business loans for painting companies that take on several jobs at once may suit a line.
Painting business loans that fund growth, such as a second crew, should be sized to the payroll of that crew for the time it takes its first jobs to pay. Whether that is two or three pay cycles or longer depends on the job.
Lines of credit for finishing trades
A line of credit suits contractors who repeat the same gap on every job: draw for materials and payroll, repay when the invoice is paid, draw again. The post on how contractors pay for materials covers supplier accounts, deposits and the role of a line in more detail.
Painting and flooring equipment financing
Painting equipment financing options include airless sprayers, scissor and boom lifts, scaffolding and work vans. Flooring company financing often covers sanders, saws and a box truck. Equipment financing uses the equipment as security; for lifts used only a few weeks a year, renting may cost less than owning.
Finishing contractors in Merced County, CA, counted by the Census
County Business Patterns counted 73 building finishing contractors with employees in Merced County, CA in 2023, covering drywall, painting, flooring, tile and finish carpentry. 52 (71.2%) had fewer than five employees, a higher share than construction overall (62.2%). They employed 359 people with $12.9 million in annual payroll. Seven were in ZIP 95340.
Nonemployer Statistics counted 214 finishing contractors without employees in 2024, a separate count from a separate program. For context, new homes authorized across the county rose to 780 in 2025 (Building Permits Survey).
The parent page for contractors and builders covers draws and retainage; plumbing and HVAC has its own page. The county-wide picture sits on the Merced, CA figures page.
What partners usually read for a finishing contractor
- Business bank statements
- Contracts or purchase orders for the jobs being funded
- Accounts receivable, including retainage
- The contractor license record
- Equipment quotes
Illustration only: a drywall contractor with a $74,000 subcontract buys $18,300 in board and mud and pays $6,900 a week in wages for four weeks before the first payment, net of retainage, arrives. The gap is about $45,900; that, not the contract value, is the amount to request.
Questions finishing contractors should ask
- How quickly does the general contractor pay after a draw, by contract?
- Is retainage released at substantial completion or final close-out?
- Will a supplier extend a trade account before borrowing is needed?
- Does the line renew each year, and on what review?
The answers set the size of the gap. A contractor paid ten days after the draw needs far less than one paid forty-five days after.
By Cliffbank Lenders · Updated
