Slow Payments Are Driving Subcontractors Away and Costing the Home Building Industry Billions - Buildertrend Introduces Bill Pay to Change That

Launching day one at the International Builders' Show, Bill Pay gives builders a faster, more predictable way to pay subcontractors.

Omaha, Nebraska--(Newsfile Corp. - February 16, 2026) - As builders gather for the International Builders' Show 2026, the largest annual residential construction show in the world, Buildertrend is bringing a long-overlooked issue to the forefront: how subcontractors and vendors get paid.

On day one of IBS 2026, Buildertrend will announce the launch of Bill Pay, an AI-enabled workflow within Buildertrend Payments designed to help builders pay subcontractors and vendors more accurately, predictably and in sync with real project data.

The timing is critical. According to the Associated General Contractors of America, 45% of construction firms report project delays due to labor shortages, including limited subcontractor availability. According to AGC research, financial instability remains one of the top drivers of subcontractor default, adding to the growing evidence that slow, fragmented payment processes are quietly increasing the risk of project disruption.

Taken together, late payments, extended payment cycles and the downstream financial strain they create represent a multibillion-dollar drag on the construction industry each year.

"Most builders aren't struggling with payments because they're careless — they're struggling because the process itself is fragmented," said Jake Kozonis, Director of Product at Buildertrend. "When approvals, bills and payments live in different systems, or are manually carried out, even minor delays compound, putting unnecessary pressure on cash flow and subcontractor relationships. Bill Pay is built to support these critical workflows: reducing errors, speeding up reviews and helping builders pay digitally with confidence."

What is Bill Pay?

Buildertrend Bill Pay brings bills, approvals and payments into one place — directly inside the construction software builders already use to run their jobs. Because Bill Pay is embedded inside Buildertrend's project management platform, payment decisions are informed by live job data, not exported spreadsheets or disconnected point solutions.

By keeping payments connected to job management, Bill Pay helps builders move faster with confidence, reducing delays, protecting cash flow and strengthening relationships with subcontractors and vendors who get paid accurately and on time.

How Bill Pay works:

• Capture bills automatically: AI automatically captures, digitizes and categorizes invoices, reducing manual entry and improving accuracy while ensuring builders maintain full control over what's approved and paid.
• Coordinate reviews and approvals: Bills move through a structured approval workflow, making it clear who has reviewed what, what's approved and what still needs attention — with a full audit trail of activity that helps reduce risk and duplicate payments.
• Pay subs and vendors in one place: Compared to paper checks or disconnected bank transfers, embedded ACH modernizes how builders pay, increasing speed, predictability and administrative efficiency.
• Track payment status clearly: Builders, office teams and finance leaders have shared visibility into what's pending, approved and paid — no chasing emails or spreadsheets.

Customer experience: From fragmented payments to scalable growth