Mossdale Lending Group, a small-business funding broker in Pasco, Washington, works with contractors on equipment financing, working capital for materials and wages, and lines of credit for the wait between progress payments. Construction had the most employer establishments of any Franklin County, WA sector in 2023. Every request gets its yes or no from a lending partner.
| Contractors with payroll, Franklin County, WA | 380 establishments (CBP 2023) |
|---|---|
| With fewer than 5 employees | 253, or 66.6% (CBP 2023) |
| Specialty trade contractors | 266 establishments (CBP 2023) |
| Contractors working without employees | 374 (Nonemployer Statistics 2024) |
| Housing units permitted in 2025 | 768 county-wide (Building Permits Survey) |
| Who decides | The lending partner |
How many contractors Franklin County, WA had in 2023
Construction had 380 employer establishments in Franklin County in 2023, more than any other sector, with 2,969 paid employees and about $195.5 million in annual payroll (U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023). Most were small: 253 (66.6%) had fewer than five employees.
Specialty trade contractors, such as electricians, plumbers, framers and concrete crews, made up 266 of those establishments, and builders of buildings another 106. Among the builders, 81.1% had fewer than five employees (U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023). Separately, 374 construction businesses with no paid employees reported receipts in 2024 (U.S. Census Bureau, Nonemployer Statistics 2024), a different program and year.
The three funding needs contractors raise
Equipment
Excavators, skid steers, compactors, trailers and work pickups. Equipment financing usually uses the machine as collateral, which can make it easier to arrange than unsecured money. The mini excavator payment calculator gives a monthly payment and total cost from your own figures.
Paying crews and suppliers ahead of the draw
On many jobs, materials and payroll go out weeks before the first progress payment. Working capital covers a single gap; a line of credit suits contractors who face the gap on every job.
Retainage
When a customer holds back part of each payment until the job is finished, a contractor can be owed money it cannot yet collect. Partners may look at retainage receivable when reviewing a request, but they generally will not count it as available cash.
Builders and specialty trades fund different things
A builder of houses or commercial buildings carries the whole project: materials, subcontractors, insurance and the long wait for draws. Its funding questions are about the size and timing of the gap. A specialty trade contractor, such as an electrician or a concrete crew, usually works on shorter jobs for a general contractor and needs tools, vehicles and a machine or two. Its questions are mostly about equipment.
In Franklin County, specialty trade contractors employed 2,514 people across 266 establishments in 2023, and 163 of those establishments had fewer than five employees (U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023). Many of them are the two-, three- and four-person firms that finance their first excavator or trailer.
How a GC uses a revolving line across jobs
General contractors often juggle several jobs at once, each with its own draw schedule. A revolving line lets them draw for one job's materials and repay when that job's draw arrives, then draw again for the next. Partners reviewing a contractor's line look at:
- Bank statements showing draws repaid between jobs.
- A schedule of current jobs with contract values and billing status.
- An aging report of what customers owe, retainage included.
- Equipment and other debts already in place.
A line that never comes down between jobs is a sign of a margin problem, not a timing gap.
A hypothetical job, step by step
A small concrete contractor signs a commercial job. Materials and a rented pump are due in the first two weeks, wages every week, and the first progress payment arrives about six weeks in, less retainage. The gap is the materials plus six weeks of wages. A working capital request sized to that gap, with the contract attached, reads very differently from an open-ended request for cash.
If the contractor faces the same pattern on every job, a revolving line is the better tool, because it can be drawn and repaid each time. If the job needs a machine the contractor will keep using, that part belongs in an equipment deal.
Permits as context, not a forecast
Builders in Franklin County were authorized to start 923 new housing units in 2023, 974 in 2024 and 768 in 2025 (U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey). Those totals describe past activity across the county. They do not predict how busy any one contractor will be, and they are no reason to buy a machine by themselves. Our post on county permits and a contractor equipment plan covers how to use them sensibly.
Records partners ask contractors for
- Statements from the business checking account.
- A current job list with contract amounts and billing status.
- Equipment quotes, with year, hours and serial numbers.
- Entity status and the business license.
- Proof of any contractor registration and insurance the partner requires.
What contractors should compare
Compare offers on the total paid, the payment frequency and what collateral is pledged. A blanket lien on all business assets can make it harder to finance the next machine separately. A daily remittance can be hard to sustain for a contractor whose income arrives monthly in draws.
For the wider local picture, see Census data for Franklin County; for other sectors, see the industries page.
By Mossdale Lending Group · Updated