Feeling hopeless about credit card fees adding to your construction firm’s losses? In this short yet info-packed piece, a payment specialist shares five tips to keep the credit card tax down.
Credit cards are a double-edged sword for construction firms.
On one hand, they offer convenience for clients, faster payments, and fewer collections headaches. On the other, they siphon off a percentage of every invoice, sometimes as high as 4% - a costly hit when you’re billing six or seven figures for a project. Over time, that drag on margins can snowball into hundreds of thousands of dollars lost annually.
For contractors already juggling rising material costs and tight labor markets, those fees are a silent profit killer. Builder Pay Pro, a payment processor specializing in the construction industry, says that the challenge isn’t whether to accept cards (clients increasingly expect it), but how to do it without bleeding cash.
Here it shares five proven ways to cut the cost without sacrificing flexibility or client experience.
Every card swipe costs you. ACH transfers, on the other hand, are a fraction of the price, usually just a flat fee. Make ACH the default option in your invoicing and educate clients that it’s secure and fast.
Some firms even sweeten the deal with small incentives, knowing the long-term savings outweigh the upfront cost.
A growing number of construction firms use dual pricing: one rate for card payments, another for cash or ACH. Clients who choose convenience cover the fee; everyone else gets the base price. It’s transparent, compliant in most states, and increasingly common in industries where margins matter.
If you let clients put small change orders on cards, you’re paying premium fees for low-value transactions. Establish a minimum for card use, say, no cards for invoices under $2,000, and push smaller payments to ACH or checks. It’s a subtle policy shift that saves big over time.
Processors rarely lead with their best rates. High-volume businesses like construction have leverage. Use it.
Get competing quotes, press for interchange-plus pricing, and push back on add-on fees. A few basis points on a $500,000 monthly volume is real money.
Chargebacks don’t just cost money; they raise your risk profile and, by extension, your fees.
Automating payment reminders, scheduling recurring ACH pulls, and using secure invoicing tools reduce disputes and improve your processor’s confidence, both of which keep costs down.
These tactics work, but admittedly, they take effort, which is why many contractors are turning to end-to-end payment platforms built for construction that eliminate card fees altogether.
These complete payment systems centralize billing, offer no-fee alternatives, and integrate accounting in one streamlined workflow. The result? No more juggling fee structures, negotiating rates, or tracking chargebacks.
If you want faster payments and stronger margins without the credit card tax, consider looking into these platforms as a bonus tip.
