What is the best business bank for a construction company?
Quick answer: For construction companies running several jobs at once, Slash is the best fit: per-job virtual accounts and cards, crew card limits by merchant category, ACH and wire sub payments with approvals, and QuickBooks and Sage Intacct sync, for $0 or $25 a month per entity. If you deposit a lot of cash or want a branch, Chase fits better. Mercury suits firms that send many wires, Ramp and Brex suit larger firms focused on expense automation, and BILL suits firms that mainly need payables.
The best account is the one that matches how money moves on a job. Construction cash flow is uneven. You buy materials up front, pay subcontractors on a schedule, and then wait for a draw. A good account makes three things easier: tracking money by project, controlling what crews spend, and paying subs on time with the right sign-offs.
We compared six accounts that general contractors, specialty trades, and home services companies ask about most, on fees, sub payments, job tracking, and FDIC coverage.
Competitor details checked November 11, 2026, on each provider's own site.
"Not published" means we could not find the detail on the provider's own pages. Confirm current terms before you open an account.
Best picks by type of construction business
- Best for contractors running multiple jobs: Slash. Per-job virtual accounts, crew cards with merchant limits, approvals on sub payments, and Sage Intacct project import, at a flat price per entity.
- Best for cash deposits and branch access: Chase. Business Complete Banking includes $5,000 in in-branch cash deposits each statement cycle, with more than 5,000 branches.
- Best for larger firms focused on expense automation: Ramp or Brex. Cards, bill pay, and free same-day ACH in one place. Ramp requires $25,000 in a business bank account, and its Sage Intacct sync needs Plus at $15 per user.
- Best for firms that mainly need payables: BILL. Approval workflows on every plan and $0.59 ACH payments to subs, from $49 per user per month.
- Best for free wires and NetSuite users: Mercury. $0 ACH and domestic wires on all plans, plus a NetSuite bank feed.
How do you track money by job?
Job costing breaks down when every job's money sits in one pile. Your bookkeeper then sorts each charge after the fact. There are two fixes: separate the money, and tag the transactions.
Per-job virtual accounts and cards
Slash lets you create virtual accounts, each with its own account number, inside one business account. Set one up per project, client, or location. Point a customer's draw payments at that job's account, and those deposits stay separate. Pair it with a virtual card for the same job, and its spend stays separate too. Virtual cards are unlimited on both plans.
Ramp, Brex, BILL, Chase, and Mercury don't publish a per-job account feature on the pages we checked. Ramp and BILL do sync with Sage Intacct, but only on Ramp Plus or BILL Enterprise.
Sage Intacct project tagging and QuickBooks sync
Slash connects to QuickBooks Online, Xero, NetSuite, and Sage Intacct on both plans. With Sage Intacct, Slash imports your projects, departments, locations, classes, customers, and subsidiaries. A charge at the lumber yard can be tagged to the right project before it syncs. You review transactions, mark them Ready to Sync, and send them over. Ramp includes Sage Intacct on Plus and BILL only on Enterprise, and Mercury does not list Sage Intacct on its pricing page.
How should you control crew spending?
Crew cards are where job costs leak. A card meant for drywall screws ends up paying for lunch or personal fuel. Controls only help if they stop the charge at the counter.
On Slash, you can issue physical and virtual cards, group them by crew, and set merchant category limits and per-transaction limits. For example, you can limit a foreman's card to building supply and hardware merchants with a $2,500 cap per purchase. Granular user permissions control what each person can see and do.
The standard Slash card is a charge card issued by Column N.A. It settles daily from your Slash business checking account, so there is no interest and no carried balance. It earns up to 2% cash back, with no cap.
Ramp and Brex also offer corporate cards with spend controls, and Brex lists merchant card controls and custom approvals on its pricing page. Chase offers Associate Debit Cards on request.
What is the best way to pay subcontractors?
Most subs are paid by ACH. Wires fit large or time-sensitive payments, like releasing retainage. Either way, a second approval before money leaves protects you from fraud and from paying the same pay app twice.
Slash Bill Pay sends ACH and wire payments with approval rules, including multi-step approvals. On Pro, the $25 monthly fee is covered by 25 same-day ACH payments or five domestic wires, compared with Free plan pricing.
Mercury charges $0 for ACH and domestic wires on all plans, and Ramp and Brex offer free same-day ACH. BILL charges $0.59 per ACH payment and $1.99 per mailed check, with approval workflows on every plan. Chase's Performance Business Checking includes your two most expensive outgoing domestic wires each statement cycle.
How do you cover material costs before a draw is paid?
On most jobs, you pay for materials weeks before the owner or lender releases the draw. That gap is where healthy contractors still run short on cash.
Slash Working Capital offers 30-, 60-, or 90-day terms with no hard credit pull. Match the term to when you expect the draw. If a draw usually pays about 45 days after you order, a 60-day term leaves room for a late inspection.
Chase offers business lines of credit and loans, and BILL Spend & Expense offers credit lines from $1,000 to $5M, subject to approval. Compare cost and repayment timing against your draw schedule before you borrow.
How does pricing work if you run more than one company?
Many contractors run separate LLCs, such as one for new construction and one for service work. Slash pricing is flat per entity, with no per-user fees. You can manage unlimited entities from one login, and each entity has its own plan. Adding a project manager or foreman doesn't change your bill.
Mercury also has no per-user fees. Ramp Plus ($15), Brex Premium ($12), and BILL's AP and AR plans ($49 to $89) charge per user, so their cost grows as you add project managers. Chase's $15 Business Complete fee can be waived if you meet conditions, such as a $2,000 minimum daily ending balance.
When is a traditional bank a better fit?
If your business takes in a lot of cash, a branch bank is often the better home for it. Home services companies that collect cash on service calls need somewhere to drop it off every week.
Chase Business Complete Banking includes $5,000 in in-branch cash deposits each statement cycle at no additional charge, and Chase ATM deposits carry no additional charge. Performance Business Checking ($40 a month, waivable) raises that to $20,000, and Platinum ($95, waivable) to $25,000. Chase has more than 5,000 branches and 14,000 ATMs.
Before you move your operating account to any online provider, Slash included, ask how cash and paper checks get into the account. You can also split the work: keep a branch account for cash, and run job accounts, crew cards, and sub payments elsewhere.
Entity type matters too. Slash serves US-registered LLCs, C-Corps, and S-Corps; sole proprietorships are not eligible. A sole proprietor handyman should look at Chase, which lets sole proprietors apply online.
How to choose
- Count your active jobs. More than a few at once? Per-job accounts and cards keep costs from mixing.
- Look at how customers pay. Lots of cash means you need a branch account somewhere.
- Check your accounting system. Confirm the sync you need is on the plan you would buy.
- Price your sub payments. Multiply monthly ACH and wire counts by each provider's fees.
To see how job accounts, crew cards, and sub payments work together, visit Slash for contractors. For head-to-head details, see Slash vs Mercury, Slash vs Ramp, Slash vs Brex, and Slash vs BILL, or how Slash connects corporate cards to NetSuite and Sage Intacct.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best business bank account for a general contractor?
For a general contractor running several jobs, Slash is a strong fit. It offers per-job virtual accounts, crew cards with merchant category limits, sub payments with approvals, and sync to QuickBooks and Sage Intacct, for $0 or $25 a month per entity. If you deposit a lot of cash, Chase is the better choice.
Should I open a separate bank account for each construction job?
You don't need a separate bank, but separating money by job makes job costing easier. Slash lets you create virtual accounts with their own account numbers inside one business account, so each job's deposits stay separate.
Can I restrict my crew's cards to supply stores?
Yes, if your provider offers merchant controls. On Slash, you set merchant category limits and per-transaction limits on each card, so a foreman's card can be limited to building supply merchants up to a set amount.
How do I pay subcontractors from my business bank account?
Most contractors pay subs by ACH and use wires for large or urgent payments, with a second approver before money leaves. Slash Bill Pay supports ACH and wire with multi-step approvals. Same-day ACH is $1 on Free and $0 on Pro; domestic wires are $6 on Free and $0 on Pro.
How can I pay for materials before a draw comes in?
Short-term financing can bridge the gap. Slash Working Capital offers 30-, 60-, or 90-day terms with no hard credit pull, so you can line the term up with your draw schedule.
Are online business bank accounts FDIC insured?
Most are, through partner banks. Slash offers coverage up to $200M through Column N.A. and the IntraFi sweep network. Brex covers up to $6M and Mercury up to $5M, and the BILL Cash Account offers up to $200M with a BILL subscription. Chase is itself a bank and a Member FDIC.
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