Funding for your situation
How a cleaning company can finance materials and payroll ahead of a large contract, with a worked example using illustrative numbers.
✓ Checking what you qualify for does not affect your credit score.
Winning the bid is the easy part. A property manager is offering three buildings, and a second crew has to be paid before the first invoice. A cleaning company then has to float the work until the customer pays, and recurring commercial invoices on net terms alongside residential card payments.
Merchant Fund Express is a funding marketplace: you apply once, and the file is matched to the structure that fits it. The sections below show what this situation usually costs, how a funder reads it, and what to prepare.
Compliance touchpoints for a cleaning company often include business license and insurance and bonding, which can come up when the request involves a new site, a purchase or a significant change.
A cleaning company file is read through contract mix and receivable timing, crew count and utilization and payroll as a share of deposits.
Recurring commercial invoices on net terms alongside residential card payments. A reviewer sees that pattern in the statements before reading a word of the application.
Equipment is part of the picture. A failure such as a floor machine or a vehicle repair can run $3,800 to $3,800 and interrupt revenue while it is down.
These are the same factors described on revenue and deposit requirements and time in business. Merchant Fund Express walks you through how your own file reads before you apply.
| Cost item | Illustrative amount |
|---|---|
| Materials and supplies for the first phase | $12,500 |
| Labor and payroll until the first draw (4 weeks) | $10,000 |
| Business license and insurance tied to the job | $3,000 |
| Equipment and supplies for a crew or rental for the job | $4,000 |
| Cushion for overruns and slow early weeks (about 10%) | $3,000 |
| Cash needed before the first payment | $32,500 |
Sizing check. If the full repayment shown in an offer were $42,000 over about 26 weeks, the weekly debit would be about $1,615. Against illustrative monthly deposits of $40,000 (about $9,231 a week), that is roughly 18% of weekly deposits. Your own offer states the real repayment amount in dollars; run your numbers on the factor rate calculator before you accept anything.
Source: worksheet by Merchant Fund Express. Illustrative only: these figures are not an offer, and real amounts depend on your file and the funder.
Bought ahead of the first sale and sitting as cash until it turns.
People are paid on a schedule that does not wait for new revenue to ramp.
Often front-loaded and easy to leave out of the first estimate.
Bought ahead of the first sale and sitting as cash until it turns.
A complete file is what makes a same-day decision possible. If something is missing, tell us and we will work around it.
Options include working capital sized to the up-front costs, a line of credit to draw as phases begin, and invoice factoring once invoices exist.
It supports the file by showing demand and timing, but funding is typically sized on your deposits and existing obligations. Bring the contract with the statements.
Then bridging the gap is the point of the funding. The contract schedule shows how long the bridge needs to last.
The minimum FICO is 500, and better credit means better products and terms. See credit score requirements for how the tiers work.
Merchant Fund Express gives a same-day decision on a complete file. Applying takes a few minutes and will not affect your credit score.
