AFO · Construction & trades
Equipment, holdbacks, and the working-capital squeeze.
Construction and trades businesses share a tough working-capital profile: equipment-heavy balance sheets, long holdbacks on completed projects, and lumpy payment cycles tied to the general contractor's release schedule. The right capital stack matches the structure of those cash flows — equipment finance on the asset side, factoring or ABL on the receivables side, and CSBFP underneath both when the business qualifies.
What makes this industry vertical distinct
- Equipment finance + CSBFP equipment stream sized together.
- Factoring vs ABL chosen on deal size and AR-ageing profile.
- CSBFP real-property funds the shop, yard, or warehouse purchase.
How the capital stack works for construction & trades
Construction & trades, in practice.
Equipment is the first capital conversation. CSBFP funds equipment + real property up to a combined $1.15M at Prime + 3% — usually the cheapest dollar for an owner-operator buying trucks, machinery, or a shop building. Above the ceiling, conventional equipment finance and leases handle the rest at 75–90% LTV on the asset itself. Mixed-fleet operators (trucks, trailers, attachments, light equipment) often run a single equipment line with the equipment lender rather than collecting separate facilities per asset class.
Receivables and holdbacks are the second. Sub-trades waiting 60–90 days for progress draws (and another 30–60 days for holdback release) are a clean fit for invoice factoring — 1–4% per invoice, cash in days rather than weeks. ABL revolvers work for larger contractors with strong AR ageing and inventory of materials, advancing 85% on eligible AR and 50–65% on materials inventory. The choice between factoring and ABL is driven by deal size and customer-credit profile, not by the trade itself.
CSBFP real-property handles owner-occupied real estate — the contractor's yard, the shop, the warehouse — up to $650K of the combined $1.15M ceiling at Prime + 3%. Above that, conventional commercial mortgages take over at 65–75% LTV with coverage tested on the combined property + operating business cash flow. Regional development agencies fill the local-economic-impact layer where a project (a new shop, an expansion into a new town) qualifies under the agency's program criteria.
6 programs in the catalog · 4 live
Programs that fit construction & trades.
Curated by underwriting profile, not by tagging — each card links to the program profile. Coming-soon programs are surfaced honestly: the screener routes there with a consultation CTA instead of a self-serve apply link until the integration is wired through.
Government-backed term loan for equipment, leasehold, and real property. Up to $1.15M.
Equipment-specific term loan or lease at 75–90% LTV on the equipment.
Immediate cash against outstanding receivables. Suits B2B businesses with long DSO.
ABL Revolver (Asset-Based Lending)
Coming soonRevolving line tied to eligible receivables and inventory. Scales with the business.
Cash-flow-underwritten facility from a chartered bank, credit union, or Schedule II lender.
Regional Development Agency Programs
Coming soonFederal regional programs (ACOA, FedDev Ontario, PrairiesCan, PacifiCan, CED-Q, CanNor).
Common stacks for this vertical
The combinations a CPA usually assembles for construction & trades.
A stack combines two or more of the programs above into a single capital-structuring answer — equipment + working capital, non-dilutive R&D, grant + debt. Each card names the programs AND the role each one plays.
- 3 layers
CSBFP + working-capital line
The single most common owner-operator capital stack in Canada layers a CSBFP equipment + leasehold loan with a conventional working-capital revolver. CSBFP covers the asset purchases at the cheapest available rate (Prime + 3%, government-guaranteed); the revolver handles the AR + inventory cycle. The two facilities never compete for the same dollar — they fund different parts of the business — but the package needs to be designed together so the lender sees a coherent overall ask.
Read the stack
- 8 layers
Manufacturer growth stack
Manufacturers carry hard assets, long working-capital cycles, and a programmatic R&D spend — three traits that open distinct funding pools in the Canadian system. The default growth-stage stack layers equipment finance (the asset side), ABL or senior revolvers (the working-capital cycle), and the non-dilutive R&D layer (SR&ED + IRAP + Clean Tech ITC where applicable). Each piece is independently underwritten but designed against a single business case so the lenders and the grant programs see a coherent overall plan.
Read the stack
Other industries
Different industry, different stack.
Each vertical has its own structuring conversation. A manufacturer’s balance sheet drives a different mix than a SaaS company’s payroll-heavy R&D — the programs that fit each shouldn’t be the same.
- 6 programs
Professional services
Professional-services firms — accounting, law, engineering, consulting, design, healthcare practices, agencies — share a hard underwriting profile from a conventional lender's perspective: low hard-asset coverage, payroll-heavy fixed cost, lumpy project economics. The right capital stack works around that profile rather than against it: leasehold financing where the asset is the office build-out, equipment finance for tech and infrastructure, and structures that underwrite on cash flow rather than collateral.
Explore the vertical
- 12 programs
Manufacturing
Manufacturers carry hard assets, long working-capital cycles, and a programmatic R&D spend — three traits that open distinct funding pools in the Canadian system. The hard assets unlock equipment finance and asset-based revolvers; the working-capital cycle drives the ABL or factoring conversation; the R&D spend pulls SR&ED, IRAP, SIF, and Clean Tech ITC into the stack.
Explore the vertical
- 9 programs
Technology & SaaS
Tech and SaaS businesses have an inverted balance sheet: little hard collateral, lots of payroll-heavy R&D, recurring revenue that scales faster than the company can self-fund. Most conventional debt structures don't fit. What does fit is the Canadian non-dilutive stack — SR&ED, IRAP, SDTC, digital media credits — followed by revenue-based financing on the working-capital side and equity only when the round is the right use of capital.
Explore the vertical
Match the structure to the industry, not the other way round.
Twenty-minute call. Bring the business profile and the project; we’ll walk through which programs in this vertical fit, which grants and credits stack underneath, and how long the engagement takes.