A safer payment schedule for a metal building and slab
The payment schedule is the only part of a construction contract that protects you after you sign. Mine protected the company.
Where this comes from
My project record
Below is the schedule from my signed Balance Breakdown, and next to each line the version I would insist on if I were doing it again. The amounts are mine. The principle applies to any seller: money should follow something you can verify, not a date on the company’s calendar.
What I signed
- At signing: $19,700 building deposit, 38.97% of the building price, by wire, non-refundable.
- When the concrete crew arrives: $10,594 for footers and grading.
- When the pour is scheduled: $37,605, the rest of the concrete.
- When the building is scheduled: $22,283 for materials, before delivery.
- When the building is complete: $8,568 for installation.
- Total before completion: $90,182 of $98,750, or 91%.
What I would sign now
- At signing: 10% of the building price, matching the minimum the company’s own terms describe, refundable if engineered plans are not delivered by the written date.
- When stamped engineered plans are in my hand: a second building payment, because now there is something to build.
- When the footing inspection passes: footers and grading. Not on arrival. After the inspector signs.
- When the slab is poured and I have measured it: the concrete balance, less 10% retainage held until 28-day strength or cores, whichever we agreed.
- When building materials are delivered and checked against the order: the materials payment. Count panels and trusses before releasing it.
- When the frame is complete and the county’s framing inspection passes: a progress payment.
- When the final inspection passes and the punch list is closed: the last 10 to 15%.
Why arrival and scheduling are the wrong triggers
A crew can arrive and dig the wrong depth. A pour can be scheduled and the pad can measure 4½ inches where 6 was sold. Both happened to me after the money for that step had already moved. An inspection is the only trigger that has a third party attached to it. Scheduling is just a date the company picked.
The method matters as much as the timing
L&G accepts only bank wires. If a seller will not take a credit card or a check, the schedule above is the only protection you have, and the retainage at the end is the only money you will ever have to negotiate with. Hold it.
Why a customer wrote this
In February 2026 I signed a $98,750 contract with L&G Building & Concrete of Asheboro, North Carolina. By September I had a cracked slab, damaged plumbing and half a steel frame. This site documents it, with the contract, photos, texts and public records. The resources exist so the next buyer does not need to learn the same things the same way.
General information from one customer’s experience and research. Not legal, engineering or financial advice.