In construction, late payments are common, and it takes considerably longer for construction businesses to get paid. For construction businesses, the average daily sales outstanding (DSO)—the time it takes to collect on invoices—is 60 days. The general DSO average across various business sectors in the United States is 45 days.

Many construction companies operate on razor thin margins and most are definitely not strangers to cash flow issues. Compound those with a crisis and things can get rocky fast. However, dealing with financial hardships and challenging stretches in business life have given contractors and other construction business owners the skills and steadfastness to withstand difficult times.

It is no news that the global economy has been a bit shaky for years now, then the pandemic struck and everything went spiraling downward. Statistics show that unemployment was at 14.7% in April 2020, the highest rate in America since the Great Depression, and gross domestic product fell by 4.8%.