Sectors that are harder to fund, and why
Providers rarely say a sector is excluded outright, but several are funded only by specialists, at lower advance rates or with extra conditions. The common thread is uncertainty about whether the invoice will be paid as issued.
| Sector or situation | Why providers are cautious | What is often possible |
|---|---|---|
| Construction subcontracting | Applications for payment are not final invoices; retentions, pay-less notices, contra charges and set-off under the Construction Act reduce what is paid. | Specialist construction facilities with advance rates of roughly 50 to 70 per cent and close contract review. |
| Stage and milestone billing | Work billed before completion can be disputed if later stages fail; work in progress has no invoice to assign. | Funding of invoices for completed, signed-off stages only. |
| Sales to consumers | Invoice finance is built for business-to-business trade; consumer debts are small, numerous and subject to consumer protection rules. | Rarely fundable through invoice finance; other products apply. |
| Heavy customer concentration | If one customer is over roughly 25 to 30 per cent of the ledger, its failure or a dispute would threaten the whole facility. | Lower limits on that customer, bad debt protection, or selective funding of specific invoices. |
| Contracts with set-off, consignment or sale-or-return | The customer can legitimately reduce or reverse the invoice, so its value is uncertain. | Exclusion of affected customers or a dilution reserve. |
| Licence, subscription and recurring software revenue | Billed in advance for a future service, so the invoice does not represent completed work. | Not fundable through invoice finance; project and contractor invoices in the same business often are. |
| Businesses invoicing overseas customers | Harder to verify and collect; currency and jurisdiction risk. | Export factoring with credit insurance from providers that specialise in it. |
None of these makes an enquiry pointless. They do mean that the structure, the advance rate and the provider will differ, and that preparing the right evidence at survey matters more. The eligibility page lists what every provider checks, and what happens if a customer does not pay explains the consequences of dilution and dispute once a facility is running.
Tell us your sector and we will point you to the right structure
Your enquiry is passed to a provider who funds businesses like yours and can set out indicative terms.