Guide · If you need money this week
You landed a commercial cleaning contract that pays net-60. How do you cover eight weeks of payroll first?
By Alex Makowski Published
A working capital loan sized to eight weeks of the new contract's payroll and supplies, funded in one to three business days on your existing deposits, with the signed contract sent alongside the statements. Once the property manager's first check lands, the gap becomes a rolling one — every month you front the next month — and that is what a business line of credit is for.
In this guide
- 01The arithmetic of a net-60 account
- 02Funding the first sixty days
- 03After the first check, it is a line-of-credit problem
- 04Equipment on this contract
- Won't affect your credit
- Free, no obligation
- Up to $500K
01
The arithmetic of a net-60 account
A commercial cleaning company invoices at the end of the month for that month's service, and the property manager pays 60 days later. By the time the first check arrives, the company has paid four to eight weeks of wages, supplies and fuel on that building, and started the next month. Across a dozen accounts, that is a business that is profitable on paper and short every Friday. Owners describe it as the defining cash problem of the trade.
Winning a big account makes it acute. A new building with six cleaners on it is six new paychecks a week for two months before it pays a dollar.
Application to funded
02
Funding the first sixty days
A working capital loan or a cash advance on your existing deposits, sized to two months of the new account's cost — wages, payroll tax, supplies, equipment for the site — and funded in one to three business days. Amounts run half to one and a half times a month's deposits, so a company depositing $40,000 a month can typically raise the ramp for a $12,000-a-month account in one offer.
Send the contract. A cleaning company with $40,000 a month of history and a signed agreement adding $12,000 a month from a named property manager is a growth story, and underwriters size offers to growth stories. Statements alone are a $40,000-a-month company asking for money.
Weekly payments, matched to the day your other accounts pay, not daily.
03
After the first check, it is a line-of-credit problem
The first payment does not end the gap; it turns it into a permanent one, sixty days wide, that grows with every account you win. A business line of credit sized to two months of payroll across all accounts, drawn on payday and repaid as invoices clear, is the shape of a cleaning business that stops living on advances. Apply for it once the new account has paid twice and the statements show the higher run rate.
In the meantime, ask new accounts for net-30 or a first-month deposit. Some property managers will not move. Some will, and every one that does shrinks the line you need.
04
Equipment on this contract
A floor scrubber or a carpet extractor for the new site is an asset and finances as equipment over two to five years at a far lower cost than working capital. Do not fund a $6,000 auto-scrubber on the same advance as payroll; two applications, two days apart, and the machine gets the cheap money.
Written by
Alex Makowski, Owner
Alex Makowski owns and runs Business Loans for America and has been placing funding for U.S. small businesses since 2021. Businesses he has worked with have secured $50M+ in financing across 1,200+ placements. He writes and reviews every guide on this site.
FAQ
Related questions.
- Will a funder lend on a contract that has not paid yet?
- It lends on your deposits and reads the contract as the reason for the request. The contract raises the offer; it does not replace the statements. A brand-new company with no history and one contract is a harder file.
- Is invoice factoring common in commercial cleaning?
- Yes — many cleaning companies factor property-manager invoices to collect in days rather than sixty. It costs a percentage of each invoice and some property managers dislike it. We do not place factoring; the products here fund on deposits and leave the invoice alone.
- Can I get funding for the bond or insurance the contract requires?
- Yes, and it is a common use. A janitorial bond and a general liability certificate are often conditions of a commercial contract, and the premium is due before the first invoice. Include them in the ramp figure.
Guides
More on if you need money this week
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A deposit covers some of it. A corporate client paying in 60 days covers none of it on time.
Between closings
Commission advances cost 10 to 30 percent of the check. A brokerage has cheaper options.
Customer went bankrupt
This is a loss, not a delay. Fund the hole it leaves, file the claim, and stop selling on open terms to anyone that size.
Sources
- U.S. Small Business Administration — LoansFederal loan programmes, eligibility and what the SBA does and does not guarantee.
- U.S. Department of Labor — Fair Labor Standards ActThe federal law behind the rule that wages are due on the regular payday, whatever the cash position.
One application, every lender we work with
Find out what you qualify for before you need it.
Eleven questions, about two minutes. You see offers side by side and take one, or none.
- Won't affect your credit
- Free, no obligation
- Decisions usually inside 24 hours
- Up to $500K