Use case
Collect receivables faster
Construction gets paid slowly by default. Retainage sits, pay apps wait on approvals, and follow-up depends on someone remembering. Make collections a system instead of a memory, and get cash in weeks sooner.
Collecting construction receivables faster means tracking every open pay application and retainage balance, following up on a schedule instead of by memory, and clearing the paperwork that holds up payment. Done consistently, it lowers days sales outstanding and pulls cash forward.
- Construction DSO (industry surveys, no official figure)
- Commonly cited near 80 days
- Private retainage (ASA / Clemson study, Bausman 2004)
- 7.59 percent withheld
- State caps (CA and NY)
- Retainage capped at 5 percent
The workflow
How Buildalytic pulls cash forward
See every open dollar
Every unpaid pay application, invoice, and retainage balance is in one aging view, by job and by customer, not scattered across spreadsheets.
Follow up on a schedule
Reminders and follow-up go out on a cadence you set, so nothing waits on a person remembering to send an email.
Clear the paperwork blockers
The lien waivers, releases, and backup a customer needs before they pay are prepared and tracked, so payment is not stuck on missing documents.
Track retainage to release
Retainage is tracked per job with the release trigger, so held funds get billed the moment they are due instead of at the next cleanup.
Watch DSO move
Days sales outstanding is measured per customer and per job, so you can see which relationships are slow and act on them.
Why cash comes in slow
The money is not lost. It is waiting.
Contractors rarely lose receivables outright. The cash is owed and coming. It just arrives late, because collections runs on whoever has time to chase it. Retainage sits untracked until closeout. A pay app stalls because a lien waiver was never sent. Follow-up happens when a controller finally opens the aging report, which is not every week.
Every one of those delays is financing you are extending to your customer for free. Tightening the process does not require a hard conversation on every invoice. It requires the follow-up to be automatic, the paperwork to be ready, and the retainage to be visible, so payment is never waiting on your side of the table.
What does the work
The pieces behind faster collections
Frequently asked questions
What is a good DSO for a construction company?
Construction runs high, commonly cited near 80 days in industry surveys, because of retainage and slow pay-app approvals. There is no authoritative government figure and no single good number. What matters is a downward trend against your own baseline as collections tighten.
How does automated follow-up avoid annoying customers?
You set the cadence and the tone. The system handles timing and consistency, sending the right reminder at the right point in the aging, so follow-up is professional and predictable rather than sporadic.
Does it help release retainage?
Yes. Retainage is tracked per job with its release trigger, so held funds are billed the moment they are due. Many contractors leave retainage on the table simply because nobody was watching the date.
What paperwork usually blocks a payment?
Most stalls come from a missing conditional or unconditional lien waiver, a release, or backup the customer needs to cut the check. Preparing and tracking those alongside the invoice removes the excuse to wait.
Does this replace my accounting system?
No. Your accounting system stays the ledger. Buildalytic runs the collections process on top of it, from the aging view through follow-up, retainage, and DSO tracking.
See where your cash is stuck
Put your open receivables in one aging view and find the slow spots.