Breaking the Slow Pay Cycle
Discover how the Turner Accelerated Payment Program™ powered by Billd empowers you to get paid early, preserve your cash, and build a capital strategy that supports long-term growth.
This 45-minute session pulls back the curtain on Turner’s strategy for predictable payment cycles, explaining how they use early pay initiatives and why they developed the Turner Accelerated Payment Program™ powered by Billd to offer that same stability to their trade partners. Working with Billd, the champion of the sub, the two have developed a way to bring predictability to a broken pay cycle, and are now sharing this behind-the-scenes look so you can use the same roadmap built by the top GC in the U.S. Don’t miss the chance to listen in on this rare working conversation about the real-world cash flow challenges in commercial construction, and how to solve them.
At the webinar you will:
- Gain a transparent view of the payment cycle from the GC's perspective.
- Learn the top five strategies for trade partner financing and how to deploy them.
- Discover how to leverage early pay to increase operating headroom and improve cash flow.
- Understand why Turner is working to bring stability and proactive solutions to their trade partners.
- How the Turner Accelerated Payment Program powered by Billd works in practice.
Meet Our Hosts
Jesse Weissburg
Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer at Billd
Jesse Weissburg is Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer at Billd. Jesse also oversees the Turner partnership as the program executive and supervises all sales, marketing and business development efforts for the Turner Accelerated Payment Program powered by Billd. With over a decade of business development and finance leadership experience, Jesse previously managed strategic relationships and credit portfolios at Bank of America and oversaw large real estate development investments at MMA Financial. Prior to co-founding Billd, Jesse served as a VP at Dividend Finance, driving sales and business development during the company's pre-Series A growth ahead of a successful exit. Jesse is a Certified Credit Analyst (CCA) and holds a bachelor's degree in finance and financial management services.
Chai Nakka
Vice President and Treasurer at Turner Construction Company
Chai Nakka is Vice President and Treasurer at Turner Construction Company, where he leads the organization's treasury function, overseeing banking relationships, liquidity management, capital planning, cash forecasting, investments, and financial risk management for one of the world's largest construction services companies. With more than two decades of treasury and finance leadership experience, Chai previously held senior treasury positions at Coty Inc. and First Data Commercial Services, where he developed his expertise. In addition to his corporate career, he served as an Adjunct Professor at Marymount Manhattan College, teaching undergraduate finance courses. Chai holds an MBA in Finance from St. John's University and a Bachelor of Science in Financial Economics from Binghamton University.
Breaking the slow pay cycle strategies
If you are a Turner trade partner, you are among the best of subcontractors who have likely seen slow pay throughout your time in the industry. You know this tension well. 83% of subcontractors worry about cash flow. They report waiting an average of 51 days to get paid by a GC. On mega projects, owner audits, tiered contracts, and documentation requirements stretch that cycle even further.
Here are the actionable strategies from this session, and the resources you can implement right away.
Understand where delay lives in the payment cycle
Turner thinks about payment risk in two phases. Knowing both helps you plan your capital strategy on Turner jobs.
- Phase 1: Billing discipline. Turner strives to get subcontractor bills in front of the owner around the 20th, hold a pencil review around the 25th, and finalize approved billing by month-end. A clean, timely pay app is the strongest start to a shorter payment cycle.
- Phase 2: The wait. Once the owner approves the invoice, payment timing depends on contract terms. Turner collects from the owner, then pays trade partners within days. The delay is often upstream at the owner level, putting you and the GC in the same long waiting game.
- Map your project profile: Public jobs, mega projects, and extended owner terms each carry a different cash flow profile. Know which phase is driving delay on your job before you mobilize.
- Submit on time: Compliance docs, lien waivers, and certified payroll stack up every month. Late or incomplete pay apps extend the cycle before the wait even begins.
Shift from reactive to proactive capital planning
Most trade partners treat slow pay as the cost of doing business. That is survivable, but it is not always scalable. The trade partners protecting margin game-plan before mobilization.
Reactive
- Deploy cash and supplier terms without a project-specific plan
- Payments run slower than modeled
- Keep pulling from reserves, leaving less for other jobs and capex
- Discover the true cost of capital after the project is underway
Proactive
- Decide how you will fund the job before mobilization
- Calculate the cost of each source and price carry into the bid
- Protect cash as your most flexible working capital asset
- Use the Turner Accelerated Payment Program powered by Billd to shorten the cycle on Turner work
- Choose funding sources before you bid: Cash, supplier terms, bank credit, material financing, and accelerated payment each carry a different cost. Calculate it and price carry into the bid.
- Forecast across your book: Model cash position across active and proposed work, not this job alone.
- Track monthly: Compare actual cash position to plan during the job. Do not wait for a crisis to discover you are underwater.
Know your capital stack and true cost of capital
Every subcontractor runs a capital stack, whether they name it or not. The question is whether you deploy your most cost-effective options in the right order for each job.
- Cash is not free: Every dollar tied up in a 51-day receivable is a dollar you cannot invest in equipment, hiring, supplier discounts, or the next bid.
- Compare your sources: Business savings (72%), supplier terms (70%), credit cards (69%), and bank lines (67%) are the most common tools in the 2026 market report. Early pay programs sit at 28%.
- Price the cost on each job: Bank credit, credit cards, and cash all carry a cost. Strong operators document it per project.
- Turner is in the minority: 76% of GCs say a subcontractor's working capital position matters to project success. Only 24% offer early pay programs. Turner built one for trade partners.
Enroll in Turner Accelerated Payment Program powered by Billd
Turner has run an early pay program for more than a decade. The program addresses the wait between approved work and cash in your account. Enrollment is voluntary. You only pay when you accelerate.
- No enrollment fee: You pay only for the days of acceleration you use on invoices you choose to accelerate.
- Two enrollment options: Auto-accelerate all compliant Turner invoices, or select invoices individually at submission or later in the month. When you accelerate a compliant invoice, payment is released within five business days of the period-through date.
- Part of your stack: Use alongside supplier terms, material financing, or your bank credit line. Not an either/or decision.
- Enroll in Textura: Log into your Turner billing account and look for the Accelerated Payment Program banner on your Turner project.
Proactive Capital Checklist
A one-page checklist covering the proactive moves to make before you bid, at mobilization, and each billing cycle. Includes the reactive vs. proactive comparison from the session.
Get the ChecklistRead Jesse's Full Webinar Recap
A full writeup covering subcontractor cash flow, Turner's payment playbook, and step-by-step enrollment guidance.
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