Spending by homeowners on improvements and maintenance is projected to reach roughly $522 billion by the end of 2026, according to the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies' Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity. For trade contractors, that money moves through a distinctive cash cycle: a deposit comes in, materials go on a card, subcontractors get paid on Friday, a progress payment sits in limbo, and the loop restarts across four or five active jobs.

Most business banking comparisons sort options by interest rates and branch counts. Neither metric tells an HVAC company whether it will know a job is over budget before the final invoice goes out. The details that decide outcomes sit elsewhere: job-level spend control, invoicing speed and approval routing shape a trade business far more than the rate an account pays. A dedicated card per job — with its own limit and merchant restrictions — keeps a foreman's supply run charged to the right project. Cash and check handling remains a legitimate reason to hold a traditional bank account alongside a financial platform. Financing terms determine whether a contractor can start the next job before the last one pays. And entity type is the first filter: several platforms do not accept sole proprietors.

What a Trade Business Needs From an Account

Five capabilities separate the options:

Job-level spend control. Whether a crew lead can buy materials on a card that works only at the supply house, with a limit set to that job's.

Invoicing and collection. How quickly an invoice goes out, and whether the customer can pay by bank transfer instead of mailing a check.

Bill pay with approvals. Whether a subcontractor's invoice routes to an approver before payment, with the invoice attached to the transaction.

Cash and check handling. How paper money gets into the account, and what a deposit costs.

Financing terms. Where $25,000 of materials comes from when a $60,000 job's deposit has not cleared.

1. Slash: For Contractors Running Several Jobs at Once

Slash is a financial technology company; banking services are provided by Column N.A., Member FDIC. The company raised a $100 million Series C at a $1.4 billion valuation and reports more than 10,000 businesses on its platform.

The platform treats a job the way a contractor does: as a budget with its own cards, its own purchases and its own invoice.

• One virtual card per job. From the corporate cards dashboard, a card can be issued for each project, capped at that job's materials budget and restricted to the supply houses the crews use. Physical cards are available for any team member.
• Card groups by crew. Job cards can be rolled into a group with a single ceiling, so one project cannot drain the month.
• Receipts collected at the charge. Slash texts the cardholder to request a receipt photo.
• Invoicing with payment links. Invoices can be generated from saved customer contacts, and the customer pays by bank transfer through an embedded link. Automated reminders run ahead of the due date, and recurring service contracts can carry ACH debit authorization.
• Bill Pay for subs and suppliers. A subcontractor's invoice is forwarded, Slash parses it into a digital bill, approval rules route it to an approver, and it pays on the scheduled date over ACH, RTP or FedNow, the latter two being instant-payment networks that settle in seconds rather than days.
• Working capital financing. Approved businesses can draw short-term financing on 30-, 60- or 90-day terms, sized to a progress-payment schedule. Loans are made by Lead Bank through partner Slope, subject to credit approval, and a personal guaranty may be required.

Orestes Romero, CFO of BuildPro Construction and a Slash customer, described the setup as it works on site: "At any given time, we can have five or six different virtual credit cards issued and given to our subcontractors or people working on site. They can purchase materials from different stores or vendors as needed."

BuildPro reports roughly 40% less reconciliation work and more than 50 active virtual cards — a customer-specific result, not a guaranteed outcome.

Deposits are FDIC-insured up to $150 million through a sweep network of partner banks. Sweep coverage distributes deposits across multiple program banks, which is how a balance can exceed the standard $250,000 insurance limit that applies at any single FDIC-insured bank. The Free plan costs $0 per month with unlimited virtual cards and up to 1.5% cashback; domestic wires are $6, same-day ACH is $1 and outgoing FedNow or RTP transfers are $5. The Pro plan costs $25, lifts cashback to up to 2%, and drops those three fees to $0.

2. Chase Business Complete Banking: For Cash-Heavy Trades That Want a Branch

Chase Business Complete Banking is the entry tier at the largest branch network in the country, which is why a trade collecting cash on the job puts it on the shortlist. The account carries a $15 monthly fee, waived with a $2,000 minimum daily balance, $2,000 in Chase card purchases or $2,000 in QuickAccept deposits, and it includes $5,000 of in-branch cash deposits per statement cycle at no charge.

Invoicing and card acceptance through QuickAccept are built in, so a card payment can be taken on site without a separate processor.

The constraints are the card program and the rate. Third-party fee reviews report domestic wires at $25 outbound, the account pays no interest, and spend control runs on debit cards without per-job merchant locks.

3. Relay: For Contractors Running Profit First

Relay turns a single login into up to 20 checking accounts — 50 on Scale — each with its own routing and account number, a structure that maps directly onto the Profit First cash management model — dividing each deposit across purpose-specific accounts by preset percentages — that many trade businesses already follow. Banking runs through Thread Bank with FDIC sweep coverage up to $3 million. Per Relay's pricing page, Starter is $0, Grow is $30 and Scale lists at $120, with a limited-time price of $90.

For an owner who allocates every deposit across materials, payroll, tax and owner pay the moment it lands, no other account in this comparison matches it.

Cashback comes only on the Relay Visa Credit Card, at 1% to 1.5% depending on the plan. The card is invitation-only, and per Relay's help center it requires $50,000 of average monthly revenue, or $20,000 with $25,000 held at Relay, and excludes sole proprietorships.

4. Bluevine: For Contractors Who Want a Credit Line Beside the Account

Bluevine is a financial technology company with banking services from Coastal Community Bank, and its checking pairs with a revolving line of credit up to $250,000. For a contractor paying for materials before a deposit clears, the credit line and the checking account sit in one place.

Cash deposits are accepted at Green Dot retail locations, which third-party reviews report at roughly $4.95 each, and outgoing domestic wires run $15 on the standard plan.

Sub-accounts are tiered at 5 on Standard, 10 on Plus and 50 on Premier, so a contractor separating funds by job moves past the entry tier quickly. Reviewers have also flagged long hold times on mobile check deposits, which matters for a trade still taking paper checks.

Sizing the Choice Against Your Own Job Load

Job counts rise and fall through the year, so the more useful question is whether an account can keep up. Look for one that lets you open and close cards as jobs start and finish, set a limit on each, and tag spending by job. That keeps costs separated whether you are running two projects or ten.

Next, work out how you cover materials before a deposit or progress payment lands. Some contractors put purchases on a card and pay it off when the draw clears, some use a line of credit, and some rely on 30-day terms with suppliers. How that gap is funded matters more to overall costs than a monthly plan fee, so pick an account that fits the method already in use.

Plenty of contractors keep two accounts: a platform for cards, invoicing and job tracking, and a traditional bank for the cash and paper checks that still come in. If many customers pay by check or cash, compare how each option handles deposits before committing. Before committing, the cleanest test is to run one full job cycle through the account — a materials purchase on a job card, a subcontractor payment through approvals, a customer invoice with a payment link — and check whether the job-level detail still holds up at month-end.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a contractor give each job its own card?

On platforms that issue unlimited virtual cards with per-card controls, yes. Slash issues unlimited virtual cards on both plans, each with a spend limit, a per-transaction ceiling and a merchant restriction. Chase and Bluevine run on debit cards without per-job merchant locks, and Bluevine caps issuance at 50 debit cards across the business.

Can sole proprietors open these accounts?

It varies, and it is the first thing to check. Relay, Bluevine and Chase serve sole proprietors. Slash business banking is open only to US-registered LLCs, C-Corps and S-Corps, so an owner-operator would need to form an entity first.

How do home services businesses get paid faster?

By sending invoices with embedded bank-transfer payment links, setting automated reminders ahead of the due date, and using ACH debit authorization on recurring service contracts. Those three steps remove the wait on a mailed check, which is where most of the collection cycle goes.

Originally published on FinTechZoom.