We signed the lease in March and were serving customers in June. LNB walked the space with our drawings before we committed and told us exactly what the landlord's work letter did not cover.
Marisol Vega
Owner · Independent Cafe
How We Work
SBA-Funded Construction Projects
If your build-out is financed by an SBA 7(a) or 504 loan, your contractor has a second client: your lender.
- Licensed Texas General Contractor
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- On Site In All 50 States
- Escrow Services Available
Your Lender Is The Second Client
The lender doesn't release the money in a lump sum. They release it in draws, against documentation, on their schedule.
If your contractor can't produce that documentation cleanly, your draw stalls. A stalled draw stops the job, whether or not there is anything wrong with the construction. Everybody keeps working, nobody gets paid, and the schedule you built your opening around starts moving.
LNB has been building for SBA-funded owners for years. We have never had a draw request rejected.
How An SBA-Funded Build Out Pays Out
Five stages, in order. What your lender does at each one, and what we hand them so they can do it.
Pre-Close
Your Lender
The lender wants a construction contract, a cost breakdown and a schedule before they will fund anything at all.
What We Produce
Signed contract, line-item schedule of values, project schedule, and our licence and insurance certificates.
Mobilisation
Your Lender
First draw, sometimes covering deposits and long-lead items rather than work in place.
What We Produce
Initial payment application with the backup documentation behind every line of it.
Monthly Draws
Your Lender
The lender verifies percentage complete, then funds against it. This is the rhythm for most of the job.
What We Produce
AIA G702 payment application, G703 continuation sheet, and conditional lien waivers from every sub and supplier.
Inspections
Your Lender
The lender’s inspector visits to verify that the work in place matches what the draw claims.
What We Produce
Site access, an updated schedule, and photographs supporting the percentages claimed.
Final Draw
Your Lender
Released after completion, certificate of occupancy and final documentation. Retainage comes with it.
What We Produce
Final G702, unconditional lien waivers from all tiers, certificate of occupancy, warranties and as-builts.
What Keeps Draws Moving
None of this is difficult. It is just work somebody has to do every month, and it is the work that decides whether your money arrives.
We bill on AIA forms by default.
G702 and G703 are the standard the entire lending industry reads. A homemade invoice creates questions. A G702 does not, and it does not matter whether you asked for one.
We collect lien waivers from every tier.
Conditional on progress, unconditional on payment, from every subcontractor and every material supplier. Missing waivers are the single most common reason a draw sits on a desk.
Our schedule of values matches the lender’s cost breakdown.
If their approved budget has fourteen line items and our application has nine, somebody has to reconcile it by hand, and that person is not in a hurry. We build the schedule of values to match line for line at contract signing.
We document change orders before we bill them.
Executed with you and sent to the lender ahead of the application that carries them. A change order that appears first as an unexplained increase is how a clean file stops being clean.
We don’t front-load.
Overstating early percentages is a fast way to have every subsequent draw scrutinised. We bill what is actually in place, which is slower once and faster five times.
We handle the inspector.
Site access, a current schedule, and a walk that supports the percentages claimed. You should not be the one arranging that visit.
Things That Delay SBA Construction Draws
Every one of these is preventable, and every one of them is our job to prevent.
Missing or incorrectly dated lien waivers from a lower-tier subcontractor
A schedule of values that does not reconcile to the lender’s approved budget
Change orders executed but not documented to the lender before billing
Percentages claimed that the inspector cannot verify on site
Stored materials billed without the storage and insurance documentation the lender requires
A certificate of occupancy delayed, holding the final draw and the retainage with it
7(a) Versus 504, In One Paragraph Each
SBA 7(a).
The general-purpose loan. It can cover leasehold improvements, equipment, working capital and in many cases franchise fees, which is why most first-location franchisees end up here. Funds are typically disbursed by the lender in draws as construction progresses.
SBA 504.
Structured for owner-occupied real estate and major fixed assets, usually through a lender plus a Certified Development Company. More paperwork and a longer runway, and generally used when the borrower is buying the building rather than leasing it.
This is a general description, not lending advice. Your lender’s specific requirements govern and they vary. Send us their construction requirements with your bid request and we will build to them.
Who We Do This For
- Franchisees opening a first location
- Dental and medical practice startups
- Restaurant and QSR owners
- Med spa and wellness founders
- Retail and service business owners
- Anyone whose landlord is administering a TI allowance like a construction loan
What Owners Say Afterwards
The part that matters is not the bid. It is whether the space opened when they said it would.
Our lender wanted G702s and a schedule of values, not a lump sum. LNB billed the way the bank expected from the first draw, so nothing stalled in underwriting.
Dev Ramaswamy
Franchisee · Fitness Franchise
Four units in three states and every one of them looks like the prototype. That is the part I could never get from hiring a different contractor in each market.
Alicia Brenner
Director of Development · Multi-Site Retail Brand
One superintendent, one number to call, weekly progress against the schedule. We were paying rent on a dark store and they knew it.
Tomasz Kowal
Managing Partner · Retail Group
The permit run in our jurisdiction is where these projects usually die. They tracked it and told us where it sat every week instead of going quiet.
Renée Okafor
Practice Manager · Dental Practice
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SBA Build Out FAQ
Do you have experience with SBA construction draws?
Yes, regularly, across franchise, restaurant, medical and retail projects.
Will you sign my lender’s construction documents?
We will review and, where the terms are reasonable, sign lender agreements, contractor certifications and disbursement authorisations. Send them early. Some lenders’ forms need negotiating and that should not happen the week you want to start.
Can you work to my lender’s cost breakdown?
Yes. We build our schedule of values to match it line for line, which is the single easiest thing a contractor can do to speed up draws.
Do you require a deposit if the lender pays in arrears?
We will structure the payment terms around the draw schedule up front. That is a conversation to have before contract, not after.
Does an SBA loan cover leasehold improvements?
7(a) proceeds are commonly used for leasehold improvements, subject to your lender’s underwriting and the SBA’s eligibility rules. Confirm with your lender, because those rules change and they apply to your specific situation.
Can you help me budget before I close on the loan?
Yes, and you should ask us to. A realistic construction number before you finalise the loan amount prevents the worst outcome in this business: a project that runs out of money at 80 percent complete.
Next step
You Signed The Lease. Let's Get It Open.
Send us the space and the brand standards. You'll get a walkthrough scheduled inside 48 hours and a real number. Not a range, not a “starting at.”
No obligation. No pressure. If we're not the right builder for your project, we'll tell you on the call.
info@lnbconstruction.net
