Crownwick Advances, a small-business funding service in Lancaster, PA, arranges working capital loans that cover payroll, rent and supplier bills while customer payments are still outstanding. Partners review deposits, time in business and what the money is for, then set the amount, term and cost.
| What it pays for | Payroll, rent, supplier and tax bills |
|---|---|
| Typical shape | Short term, fixed payments |
| Who decides | The funding partner |
| County employers, 2023 | 13,776 (CBP) |
| Under five employees | 47.5% of them |
| Related option | Business line of credit |
Working capital, defined for a Lancaster County, PA owner
Working capital is the cash a business needs to keep operating while the money it has earned is still on its way. A working capital loan is a short-term loan sized to that gap: one sum paid out, repaid in fixed installments, usually over months rather than years. It is not meant for a machine you will run for a decade; that belongs on equipment financing. It is meant for the bills that cannot wait for a slow-paying customer.
For a working capital loan for a small business, the question partners keep returning to is simple: where will the repayment come from? If the answer is a set of invoices due in six weeks, the file is easy to follow. If the answer is hope, it is not.
Using working capital to meet payroll
Yes. Payroll is one use of a working capital loan. For owners asking how to get a business loan for payroll, working capital can fit when the shortfall is temporary and tied to receivables you can name. A partner will want to see that the wages are covered by work already invoiced or contracted, not that the loan is propping up a payroll the business cannot carry.
If the gap repeats every month, a business line of credit may fit better, because you draw only what each payroll needs and repay as invoices clear. Business funding for payroll through a merchant cash advance is possible but costly when wages are a recurring cost; total the remittances before you choose it.
A hypothetical payroll gap
Purely as an illustration, not an offer: a 9-person specialty contractor runs a weekly payroll of $14,200. A general contractor owes $61,000 on a progress invoice due in 40 days. The gap is roughly six payrolls, or about $85,200, minus whatever cash is already in the account. Sizing a request to that arithmetic, rather than to a round number, gives a partner something concrete to review.
Paying the lumber yard before your customer pays you
The receivables gap is not only about wages. Suppliers such as lumber yards, food distributors and parts suppliers may want payment in 30 days or less, while the customer you sold to pays later. Working capital lets you pay the supplier on time, keep any early-payment discount and protect the trade account you rely on.
Professional firms see the same squeeze from the other side: employee hours are paid now, and the client is billed at a milestone. The accounting, engineering and consulting firms page walks through that pattern, and the industry pages cover other sectors.
Kitchens, cafes and short cash gaps
Food businesses take card payments at the counter and table, so their gaps can look different: a menu change that needs new stock, a slow stretch after a road closure, a cooler that dies on a Saturday. In ZIP 17602 alone, 139 accommodation and food services establishments had employees in 2023 (ZIP Code Business Patterns 2023). For those businesses, working capital competes with a merchant cash advance; compare both by total cost and by how much of each day's sales would go to repayment.
Trades that lean on working capital
Contractors who buy materials before they bill can use it to cover that gap. Lancaster County had 207 plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractor establishments and 284 building finishing contractors in 2023 (CBP 2023); both buy equipment and stock for a job, then wait on the customer. See plumbing and HVAC contractors and painting, flooring and finish contractors for the trade-specific detail.
Five steps to a working capital request
- Write down the gap: the bills due, their dates, and the receivables that will cover them.
- Pull several months of business bank statements; partners read deposits first.
- Call (717) 675-6950 or send the online request; we confirm the purpose and the options.
- A partner reviews the file and, if it approves, sets the amount, term and cost in a written offer.
- Compare the total you would repay against the cost of not paying the bill on time, then decide.
The how it works page covers each stage, and the comparison page puts working capital next to the other five options. Owners comparing a fixed loan with a revolving limit should also read the term loan page.
By Crownwick Advances · Updated
