Manitoba's prompt-payment regime is active — but only for contracts entered into on or after April 1, 2025. If your money is stuck behind a job signed before that, or behind holdbacks and slow invoices either way, the right financing route depends on the pressure you're actually under.
Not ready to apply?Call or text 780-830-8726— a real person, no credit pull.Manitoba keeps less of your money than any other province and now runs a real payment deadline. The catch is which of your contracts it actually covers — and a job signed before April 2025 gets none of it.
A contractor registers within 60 days after substantial performance or abandonment of the contract; a subcontractor within 60 days of whichever comes first, the contract's or the subcontract's. Missing it forfeits the security.
A registered lien lasts two years before it ceases to exist unless an action is commenced and a pending litigation order registered. That is a deadline to sue, not a deadline to file — the deadline to file is 60 days.
Even a lighter 7.5% holdback is money you have earned sitting somewhere else for 60 days, while payroll, fuel, suppliers, and progress-draw timing squeeze the account.
This page explains why payment timing matters to a financing file. It is not legal advice, and nothing here replaces a lawyer on a lien or contract-date question.
Manitoba is construction, trucking corridors, agriculture, manufacturing, northern industrial work, and seasonal timing. Costs run ahead of payment in each, but the evidence that makes the file changes.
Five patterns, one province. Find the one that sounds like your month, then route the file to the product that fits it.
Construction, trades, manufacturing, transport, and supplier files turning on progress draws, the 7.5% holdback, and whether the contract is new enough for the clock.
Agriculture, trucking, and agri-services carrying fuel, labour, and inputs months before harvest, settlement, or customer payment.
Trades, transportation, light manufacturing, and B2B suppliers that often need invoice financing or a reusable line of credit.
Industrial, mining-service, and remote contracting files with mobilization, long distances, repairs, and lumpy receivables.
Banks, credit unions, and alternative lenders may all be available, but the value is matching the cash-flow problem to the right product and lender appetite.
Payroll, fuel, supplier bills, materials, rent, insurance, and short-term operating pressure.
Recurring uneven months, job timing, seasonal costs, and unpredictable draw needs.
Completed work, slow-paying commercial customers, and invoices sitting on 30–90 day terms.
Short track record, bruised credit, uneven deposits, or an industry the bank cooled on.
Answer four questions and see where the file probably starts. The contract date decides whether the payment clock is even available to you. This is a guide, not an approval, and it is not legal advice.
Working capital review
Start with a short-term operating-capital fit check. The story should explain what is due, when revenue lands, and how repayment fits the deposit pattern. Check when the contract was signed before relying on the payment clock: it only covers contracts entered into on or after April 1, 2025.
Advisory only. This is not an approval, and it is not legal advice.
Alternative lenders often focus on recent deposits and repayment capacity, while invoice products focus on the customer who owes the receivable.
Recent business bank statements show lender appetite faster than a vague revenue claim.
Payroll, fuel, inventory, materials, or supplier pressure should connect to a repayable plan.
For invoice financing, the payer's credit and clean paperwork matter more than the applicant's years in business.
A bruised file may still work if cash flow supports the request and the route is realistic.
For eligible non-farm small businesses, the Canada Small Business Financing Program can sit beside private financing routes. The program is government-backed, but banks and credit unions still review and approve the file.
Manitoba farms are excluded from the CSBFP and served by the Canadian Agricultural Loans Act instead. Keeping operating cash flow, program routing, and equipment separate is what stops a farm file from going through the wrong door.
Prompt payment, contract cut-off dates, holdbacks, invoice financing, bank declines, and what happens next.
Twenty-eight days after a proper invoice is given, under the prompt payment regime that came into force on April 1, 2025. To refuse payment the owner must give a notice of non-payment within 14 days, specify the disputed amount, and detail every reason. Once a contractor is paid, they have 7 days to pay each subcontractor — or 35 days from giving the proper invoice to the owner if the owner never paid in full.
No, and this is the thing most people miss. The Act applies only to contracts and subcontracts entered into on or after April 1, 2025. A job signed in 2024 carries no statutory deadline, no notice of non-payment, and no right to adjudication. Before you rely on the clock, check when the contract was signed.
Seven and a half per cent of the contract price — the lowest statutory holdback in Canada. Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick hold 10%, and Prince Edward Island holds 15% on most jobs. It is retained for at least 60 days after a certificate of substantial performance is given, or after the work is completed or abandoned. A separate 7.5% applies to work remaining after that.
An adjudicator must make a determination within 30 days of receiving the required documents, and a determination made after the deadline is of no force or effect. The party ordered to pay must do so within 10 days. Proper invoices are given monthly unless the contract says otherwise, and a contract cannot require the owner's certification before you may issue one.
Sixty days after substantial performance or abandonment of the contract. A subcontractor has 60 days from whichever comes first, the contract's or the subcontract's substantial performance or abandonment. Once registered, the lien lasts two years before it ceases to exist unless an action is commenced and a pending litigation order registered — that two years is a deadline to sue, not a deadline to file.
No. Crewline is a matching and referral service. Financing is provided by third-party lenders who set their own terms and approval criteria.
A few questions about your business, monthly deposits, cash-flow pressure, contract timing, receivables, and likely route. No credit pull to start — a real person reviews the request.
