Frostdale Advances, a small-business funding service in Monroe, Louisiana, arranges contractor business loans for builders and trades: working capital for materials and crews before draws clear, lines of credit for recurring gaps, and equipment financing for trucks and machines. Ouachita Parish, LA had 352 construction employers in 2023 (CBP). Partners decide and set any terms.
| Builders with paid crews, Ouachita Parish, LA | 352 sites with payroll; 3,690 people on it (CBP, 2023 survey) |
|---|---|
| Annual construction payroll | $209.2 million paid out in wages over 2023 (CBP) |
| Construction employers under five people | 51.4% (CBP 2023) |
| Construction nonemployers, Ouachita Parish, LA | 1,241 no-payroll firms on the 2024 NES list |
Construction cash flow: why contractors run short while busy
A contractor's money moves in the wrong order. Lumber, wire, pipe and concrete are bought up front. Payroll for crews goes out every week. The customer pays in draws, often after an inspection, and holds back retainage, frequently a slice of each payment, until the job is finished and punch-list items are signed off. A builder with a full schedule can therefore be shorter on cash than one with an empty schedule.
Three gaps show up again and again: the start-up gap (materials and mobilization before the first draw), the draw gap (work done but the draw not yet released), and the retainage gap (money earned but held until closeout). Each points to a slightly different funding type.
Ouachita Parish, LA builders and trades by the count
Ouachita Parish, LA counted 352 construction employer establishments in 2023, employing 3,690 people with an annual payroll of $209.2 million. Just over half (51.4%) had fewer than five employees (County Business Patterns 2023). The office ZIP, 71201, held 52 of them (ZIP Business Patterns 2023). Separately, Nonemployer Statistics counted 1,241 construction businesses with no paid employees in the parish in 2024; that is a different program and year and is not added to the employer count.
| Industry | Payroll locations (CBP 2023) | Paid workers (CBP 2023) | Wages for the year (CBP 2023) | With 1-4 employees | Listed at ZIP 71201 addresses, ZBP 2023 | No-payroll firms (NES 2024) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Residential building construction, code 2361 in NAICS | 56 | 248 | $10.9 million | 69.6% | 13 | 287 (NAICS 2361) |
| Nonresidential building construction, code 2362 in NAICS | 29 | 349 | $19.6 million | 48.3% | 8 | 61 (NAICS 2362) |
| Plumbing, heating and AC contractors, code 238220 in NAICS | 53 | 627 | $37.8 million | 50.9% | 4 | 110 (NAICS 23822) |
| Electrical contractors, code 238210 in NAICS | 48 | 780 | $42.7 million | 43.8% | 4 | 80 (NAICS 23821) |
| Roofing contractors, code 238160 in NAICS | 15 | 155 | $8.7 million | 53.3% | 3 | 128 (NAICS 2381) |
Nonemployer counts use NAICS 2022 codes, sometimes at a broader level than the employer row, so the columns describe different groups.
Matching the contractor's need to a funding type
| Need | Usual fit | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Lumber and wire bought before draw one | Working capital | A one-off sum repaid as draws arrive |
| Draw and retainage gaps through the year | Line of credit | Draw only when a gap opens; pay down on release |
| Pickups, trailers, skid steers and boom lifts | Equipment financing | The machine secures the deal over its working life |
| A shop, yard or larger crew | Term loan | A planned cost spread over years |
A construction business line of credit fits because the same draw-and-retainage pattern repeats on every job.
Business loan for a general contractor: what partners commonly read
- Business bank statements, often six months or more
- A schedule of jobs in progress with contract values and amounts billed
- An aging report that lists retainage separately
- Equipment list and any liens already filed
- Insurance certificates and, where the job requires one, proof of the trade license
Partners publish no thresholds; each applies its own criteria. A clean jobs-in-progress schedule helps a contractor's request.
Construction cash flow, worked by hand
Hypothetical, for illustration only: a remodeler signs a $90,000 job paid in three draws of $30,000, each with 10% retainage held to closeout. The first draw releases $27,000 after the framing inspection, but the remodeler has already spent $22,000 on materials and $9,000 on two weeks of crew wages: $31,000 out against $27,000 in. By closeout, $9,000 of earned money is still held. A line sized to cover the start-up gap and the retainage tail lets the next job start on time.
Running the same three numbers for your own job (cash out before each draw, draw net of retainage, retainage held at the end) shows how large a line would need to be and how long each draw would sit on it.
Frostdale trade pages beneath the construction page
Two trades have their own pages. Landscaping and lawn care companies run crews and equipment on commercial contracts that pay monthly; Ouachita Parish, LA had 57 landscaping employers and 669 landscaping nonemployers on separate counts. Plumbing and HVAC contractors carry vans, parts stock and service agreements; the parish had 53 such employers in 2023.
Electrical, roofing, painting, concrete and excavation contractors appear on the industries page with short notes. For owners comparing machines, the equipment financing page covers used units and lease structures, and the Monroe, LA data page summarizes the parish figures.
Owners whose materials gap repeats on every job can read more on how a line of credit works and on working capital for payroll.
By Frostdale Advances · Updated
