To get a business line of credit in Oregon City, OR, a builder calls Silverfield Credit or sends the request form with its job list and bank statements ready, and independent funding partners review it. A line of credit then covers lumber, windows and subcontractors between construction draws, and is paid down when each draw lands.
How a home builder in Oregon City, OR can use a business line of credit between construction draws: why draws trail material purchases, an invented draw-gap example with interest computed by the day, paying the line down when the draw arrives, and what a partner reads at renewal. Clackamas County, OR permit and Census figures.
Why construction draws lag behind material buys
Each construction draw pays for a stage the crew has already finished. Under a draw schedule the project's financing releases money stage by stage, after the stage is finished and checked, while the builder has to order the materials for that stage weeks before. The gap between the supplier invoice and the draw is the problem a credit line solves.
Some contracts also hold back part of each draw as retainage until the whole job is finished. The builder then waits twice: for each draw, and for the retained part at the end. A forecast that shows both waits gives the size of the line a builder can ask about.
The draw itself comes from the project owner or the project financing, not from this site. Funding for the land or the house is a property loan outside this site; a business line of credit covers the builder's own running costs while it waits.
In 2025 the county authorized 1,235 new housing units by building permit, up 95 from 1,140 in 2024 (Census Building Permits Survey, Clackamas County, OR; our arithmetic). Of the 2025 units, 960 (77.7%) were in one-unit buildings, the kind of house a small builder draws on stage by stage.
Drawing for lumber, windows and subs
Illustration only, invented figures: a builder with a credit line pays three bills for one stage of a house, and the draw for that stage arrives on day 38. Interest runs only on what is drawn, at an annual rate of 11.9%, counted by the day on a 365-day year.
| Bill | Drawn on day | Amount | Days out | Interest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lumber package | 0 | $31,500 | 38 | $390.25 |
| Windows and exterior doors | 12 | $14,200 | 26 | $120.37 |
| Framing subcontractor | 20 | $18,600 | 18 | $109.15 |
| Stage total | $64,300 | $619.77 |
In this invented case the line peaks at $64,300, inside a $75,000 limit, and the three line draws cost $619.77 in interest across the wait. Paying the same bills from the bank account instead would have tied up $64,300 of the builder's own cash for most of that stretch.
Drawing each bill on the day it is paid, not all at once, keeps the interest down: the lumber in this case is out the longest and costs the most, while the framing crew, paid last, costs the least.
Clackamas County, OR had 672 residential building construction establishments with paid staff in 2023 (County Business Patterns, NAICS 2361), and ZIP Code Business Patterns put 96 of that code at ZIP 97045 addresses.
Paying the line down when the draw lands
When the $68,000 draw lands in the invented case, the builder pays $64,919.77 back to the line: the $64,300 drawn plus $619.77 of interest. That leaves $3,080.23 from the draw in the account, and the full $75,000 limit is open again for the next stage.
- Pay the line from the draw the day it clears, before other spending takes it
- Keep a short ledger that ties each line draw to a job and a stage
- Leave room under the limit for a late draw instead of drawing to the top
- Ask whether the line can be paid down at any time without a fee
Costs that are not tied to a draw, such as a new hire or a month when customer payments run late, fit working capital better than the line, since a fixed schedule does not depend on the next draw.
Reviews, renewals and job backlog
A credit line can be reviewed at renewal. A partner can look at how the line was used over the term, and at the work ahead that will keep it moving. For a builder, that means:
- The job backlog: signed contracts, start dates and contract values
- Draw schedules for the jobs underway
- A record of line draws and paydowns matched to those draws
- Business bank statements and the last two tax returns
- Any other debt, such as equipment payments on a van or a lift
Specialty trade contractors with paid staff numbered 1,155 in the county in 2023 (County Business Patterns, NAICS 238), 60.3% of them under five employees. The subs a builder pays from the line are often in that code.
The construction page covers the trade itself, and the line of credit page explains limits, draws and renewals in more detail. Other posts are on the articles list.
By Silverfield Credit · Updated
