Financial Services for
Ontario's Builders & Contractors.

What Builders & Contractors Actually Face.

Ontario's construction market is one of the largest in North America. The GTA construction boom — pre-construction condo, purpose-built rental, commercial, mixed-use and industrial — creates massive private-side demand. Meanwhile Metrolinx projects including the Ontario Line, Eglinton Crosstown, Finch West LRT and Hazel McCallion Line, Infrastructure Ontario (IO) P3 projects, Ontario Health capital builds, school board capital programs (TDSB, YRDSB, PDSB), and municipal infrastructure across the province create the largest public infrastructure pipeline in a generation. The contractor base spans mid-size general contractors, subcontractors and trades, specialty contractors (cladding, glazing, elevator, sprinkler, roofing), residential and custom homebuilders, design-build firms, site development and civil contractors, ICI contractors, MEP contractors, HVAC and specialty trades, restoration contractors and multi-generational family construction firms — many concentrated in Vaughan's Italian-Canadian builder community, Brampton and Mississauga's diverse trade base, and the specialty contractor concentration across the GTA.

Construction operators face finance realities that touch revenue recognition, cash flow, capital access and regulatory compliance all at once. WIP and Percentage of Completion (POC) accounting is the single most important technical discipline in construction finance. Costs-to-date tracking against total estimated costs drives percentage complete. Revenue recognized equals percentage complete times total contract value under ASPE 3400 and ASC 606. Under-billings (contract asset) and over-billings (contract liability) reconciliation surfaces which jobs are actually profitable and which are quietly burning capital. Change orders shift both total estimated costs and total contract values. Cost-to-complete forecasting drives ongoing POC updates. The WIP schedule — showing contract value, costs to date, total estimated costs, percent complete, earned revenue, billings to date and under/over billings for every open job — is the foundation of every construction financial package.

The Ontario Construction Act, which replaced the Construction Lien Act in phases from July 2018 and October 2019, governs holdback, prompt payment and adjudication for every construction project in Ontario. 10% mandatory holdback tracking, release timing tied to substantial performance, the CRA priority position on holdbacks, holdback release documentation and lien discipline, the Prompt Payment Act 28-day payment windows, adjudication procedures and notice requirements, and the ongoing subcontractor holdback release chain that follows the GC's release from the owner — all of these touch bookkeeping discipline directly. Getting holdback wrong exposes both GCs and subs to significant risk under lien claims and prompt payment obligations.

Bonding and surety underwriting is finance-driven. Bonding capacity determines what size jobs you can actually bid — and surety companies (Aviva, Chubb, Intact, Zurich Surety, Travelers) underwrite on financial strength as much as project experience. Audit-quality WIP schedules, backlog analysis, working capital adequacy calculations, single-limit and aggregate-limit capacity reviews, and the WIP reconciliation and job cost detail sureties actually want to see. Cleaner financials mean higher bonding capacity means larger jobs you can bid. The annual surety review cycle is one of the most consequential financial conversations any bonded contractor has.

WSIB compliance is mandatory in construction and touches nearly every finance process. Classification unit and rate group discipline, independent contractor vs employee determination under WSIB and CRA rules, subcontractor WSIB clearance certificate tracking (essential to avoid chain premium liability), HST clearance certificates, and the ongoing WSIB reconciliation and reporting cycle. Chain premium exposure from unverified subcontractor WSIB status is one of the fastest ways construction firms build up quiet liability.

Layered on all of that: CCDC contract standards (CCDC 2 Stipulated Price, CCDC 3 Cost Plus, CCDC 5A Construction Management, CCDC 14 Design-Build) each have distinct revenue recognition and cost-tracking implications. Change order accounting is where construction margin is quietly won or lost — approved change orders vs pending change orders tracked separately, costs incurred tied to specific change orders, delay claims and extras. Union payroll for unionized trades and prevailing wage on public projects. Multi-project job cost integration across Sage 300 CRE, Jonas, Foundation, Procore, Buildertrend and CMiC. HST discipline on progress billings including HST New Housing Rebate for residential builders and Tarion warranty program obligations. And the financing landscape covering Big Five banks, BDC, CSBFP, EDC for export contractors, equipment financing specialists like CWB Maxium and Element, and factoring for GC receivables. What construction operators need is senior finance leadership at Fractional pricing, deep expertise across WIP/POC, holdback, surety and job cost integration, plus fluency with Ontario's bonding, banking and public project ecosystem. Ledgerive was built for exactly that.