Aspenhollow Business Capital, based in Olympia, WA, arranges painting business loans and working capital for painting, drywall and flooring contractors through funding partners. Thurston County, WA had 149 building finishing contractor establishments in 2023, 70.5% with fewer than five employees. This page covers payroll timing, materials, sprayers and flooring equipment.
| Building finishing contractors | 149 (CBP 2023, NAICS 2383) |
|---|---|
| Share under 5 employees | 70.5% |
| Paid employees | 760 |
| Finishing contractors with no employees | 256 (NES 2024, NAICS 2383) |
| In the city's main ZIP | 19 establishments (ZBP 2023) |
Where finishing trades sit in the payment order
Painters, drywall hangers and finishers, flooring installers, tile setters and finish carpenters share a census code (NAICS 2383) and a position on the job: they arrive after framing and mechanical work, and their invoices can sit behind everyone else's. On new construction, a general contractor may pay subs only after the owner pays the GC. On residential repaints, the homeowner may pay at the end. Wages and materials go out long before.
Working capital for painting contractors waiting on a GC
Working capital for a painting company covers payroll and paint while invoices are outstanding. A line of credit suits a company with steady GC work, where every job creates the same gap. A lump-sum working capital loan suits a single big job, such as a multi-unit repaint, where the gap is larger than usual but ends on a known date.
Painting equipment financing options
Painting equipment financing can mean airless and HVLP sprayers, lifts, scaffolding, and a van or trailer. Flooring company financing adds sanders, saws and moisture meters. Drywall crews can finance texture sprayers, lifts and trucks. Individually these items are small, so they can be bundled into one request for equipment financing.
Illustrative example: a multi-unit repaint
A hypothetical example, for illustration only. A four-person painting company wins a $52,000 exterior repaint of an apartment complex, paid in two installments: half when the work is finished, half 30 days later. Payroll is $6,400 a week; paint and supplies are $11,000 up front. Over six weeks the company spends about $49,400 before the first $26,000 arrives. Without funding, the owner might turn down other work or struggle to cover payroll.
Finishing contractors in Thurston County, WA
Building finishing contractors (NAICS 2383) counted 149 employer establishments in Thurston County, WA in 2023, with 760 paid employees and $41.6 million in payroll. 105 of them (70.5%) had fewer than five employees, and 19 had a ZIP 98501 address (County Business Patterns 2023; ZIP Code Business Patterns 2023).
The separate Nonemployer Statistics program counted 256 finishing businesses with no paid employees in 2024 (NAICS 2383). Those counts are not combined with or compared to the employer figures.
Materials on job accounts
Paint, drywall, flooring and tile can be bought on supplier job accounts, sometimes with 30-day terms. If a GC pays in 45 or 60 days, the supplier bill can come due first. A finisher might manage this with a line of credit drawn for the supplier payment, or by negotiating longer terms. Partners will ask what supplier credit you already use, because it is debt too.
What a finisher should know about its own jobs
- Which general contractors do you work for, and how quickly do they pay?
- What share of work is new construction versus repaints and remodels?
- How much is tied up in retainage right now?
- Which equipment is owned outright, and which is still being paid off?
Answers to these show a partner the size and rhythm of the gap better than a total does. The contractor registration guide covers the records side.
What partners commonly review
- Business bank statements with deposits from GCs or customers
- Open invoices and their due dates
- Contracts for current jobs
- Equipment quotes
- Existing debt; owner credit; time in business
Related trades
The parent page, funding for contractors and builders, covers draws and retainage in depth. Plumbing and HVAC contractors have their own page. County context is on the Olympia, WA page.
By Aspenhollow Business Capital · Updated