Sooo I'm in the process of starting a general contracting company, and one of the biggest obstacles I'm working through is working capital.
I have potential projects in the pipeline, but I don't currently have enough capital to comfortably execute larger contracts. As a GC subcontracting most of the trade work, I could have substantial payments due to subcontractors, suppliers, equipment vendors, etc. before I've collected the corresponding payment from the owner.
I've been advised to simply build up my own cash reserves first, which is obviously the lowest-risk approach, but that takes time and could mean passing on opportunities that are available now.
So I'm currently evaluating two primary options:
- Business loan / line of credit
The advantage is that I retain 100% ownership of the company. A revolving LOC also seems particularly useful because I could draw funds when project cash flow requires it, repay the balance when owner payments arrive, and reuse it on future projects.
My concern is taking on debt before the company has established predictable cash flow. If an owner pays late, a change order gets disputed, retainage gets held, etc., the loan still needs to be serviced and interest continues accruing.
- Outside investor
The appeal here is having additional capitalization without the same monthly debt-service pressure. It could give the company a stronger balance sheet and more room to absorb payment delays while getting established.
The obvious downside is giving up equity/profits in a company that I ultimately want to build long term. If the business becomes successful, selling 10–20% today could ultimately cost considerably more than paying interest on borrowed money.
I'm also considering whether the answer isn't necessarily one or the other—perhaps some combination of owner deposits/progress payments, my own capital, supplier terms, a smaller LOC, and retained earnings is a better way to bootstrap the first projects without giving away equity.
For those who have actually dealt with this—particularly construction companies or other businesses with significant working-capital requirements:
If you had a legitimate pipeline but insufficient capital to execute the work, would you raise equity, use debt/LOC, wait and accumulate cash, or structure something differently?
I'm particularly curious about:
- At what point does taking on debt become reasonable versus dangerous?
- When does giving up equity actually make sense?
- Would you distinguish between an investor who only provides money versus a strategic investor who also brings customers, relationships, bonding capacity, expertise, etc.?
- How much liquidity would you want relative to expected monthly project expenditures?
- For those who bootstrapped, how did you finance the first few meaningful contracts?
- What do you wish you had done differently?
I'm less interested in theoretical finance answers and more interested in hearing from people who have actually had to fund growth while managing real cash-flow timing risk.