The Breva® Blog.

Writing for contractors who'd rather be in the field. Practical, tactical, and short enough to read on a tailgate.

Founder Posts

Why We Built Breva®: The $280 Billion Problem Nobody Talks About

Slow payments cost the US construction industry $280 billion a year. Most of that loss…

Charles Inokon

March 24, 2026

8 min read

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Capital

Overpriced Credit Is Costing Georgia Small Businesses $470 Million a Year

Breva’s Georgia analysis estimates that small businesses in the state pay approximately $470 million per year in excess costs because they can’t access fairly priced credit. Georgia’s construction firms bear roughly $100 million of that.

How Long Should a Construction Pay App Take to Get Paid? (2026 Benchmarks)

On a typical commercial project, your contract says you’ll be paid about 30 days after you submit a pay application. The data says you’ll actually wait closer to 56 days — and your GC probably thinks they’re paying you on time. That gap between the contracted clock and the real clock is where most subcontractors lose their working capital.

Prompt Payment Laws by State: What Subcontractors Can Actually Collect in 2026

A state-by-state operator's guide to construction prompt payment laws in 2026: payment deadlines, interest rates, and what subcontractors can actually enforce on private projects in all 50 states and DC.

"I Can Just Use Claude or ChatGPT for That" — And Why That Answer Is Costing Subcontractors More Than They Think

A general-purpose AI subscription — whether that's Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok, or Copilot — is not the same category of tool as a purpose-built construction finance platform. The difference isn't the price. It's the data protection, the domain context, and the connected workflow. For subcontractors running real jobs, the gap between those two things is the gap between a tool that helps and one that quietly creates liability.

Your State Decides How Much of Your Money They Can Hold: A 50-State Retainage Survey

Retainage rules are set state by state and they're not uniform. A clickable map and full table of public vs. private retainage caps, release timing, and interest rules for all 50 states.

The True Cost of Capital for Contractors

The cost of capital runs from nearly free to over 300% a year — and most contractors never see the real number, because it hides behind factor rates, discounts, and “no monthly payment.” Cheapest to most expensive: customer deposits and supplier early-pay discounts (near zero, or even a gain), then SBA and bank debt (6–12%), lines of credit (8–13%), equipment financing (6–14%), cards and online loans (18–45%), invoice factoring (typically ~24%, up to 60%+), merchant cash advances (40–350%+), and finally equity — which looks cheap because nothing is due monthly, but costs a permanent share of every dollar you earn from here on.

Charles Inokon

June 18, 2026

7 Min Read

The Breva® Blog.

Why We Built Breva®: The $280 Billion Problem Nobody Talks About

Overpriced Credit Is Costing Georgia Small Businesses $470 Million a Year

How Long Should a Construction Pay App Take to Get Paid? (2026 Benchmarks)

Prompt Payment Laws by State: What Subcontractors Can Actually Collect in 2026

"I Can Just Use Claude or ChatGPT for That" — And Why That Answer Is Costing Subcontractors More Than They Think

Your State Decides How Much of Your Money They Can Hold: A 50-State Retainage Survey

The True Cost of Capital for Contractors

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