Siteline, a billing and collections software built for commercial trade contractors, released The State of Subcontractor Billing in 2026, an industry report based on a survey of 492 construction finance and operations professionals conducted in May 2026. The findings show subcontractors are still financing the jobs they build—floating payroll, waiting the longest on retainage, and running much of the billing and collections process manually through spreadsheets and email.
The survey found that 92% of subcontractors floated payroll from their own pockets in the past year while waiting for payment, and 28% do it most months. For a trade that's first on the job and last to be paid, the company itself becomes the lender—without any of the protections a real bank would require. And as the business grows, so does the amount of cash it has tied up in the work, says Siteline.
