Which funding products does this apply to?

Working Capital, SBA Loan. Each has its own page listing the funders in this directory that offer it and what each one publishes about its terms.

Is this specific to construction?

It is written around how a construction business actually generates and collects cash, which is what makes its funding problem different. The mechanics transfer; the arithmetic may not.

The Find Me Funders research desk. Some drafting is AI-assisted, and every page that is says so at the top, including whether a person has checked its claims yet.

How do I know a figure here is right?

Where a page carries the green notice, its claims were checked against the sources listed at the end and a reviewer is named. Where it carries the amber one, nobody has verified it yet and you should confirm anything you plan to act on.

Are the examples real deals?

No. Every worked example is labelled illustrative and exists to show the arithmetic. What any particular lender charges is on that lender's page, where it publishes it.

Why do you never say what a typical rate is?

Because we cannot source it. A market average assembled from lenders who do not publish prices is a guess with a decimal point on it. Where a lender publishes a figure, we show that figure and say where it came from.

Is this financial or legal advice?

No. It is general information about how these products work. Outcomes depend on your contract and your state, and a lawyer or accountant licensed where you are is the person to ask about your situation.

Can I reuse this content?

Quote a paragraph with a link back. Do not republish whole articles.

Do you need SAM.gov registration before you can be certified?

Yes, and the registration itself forces three decisions that determine whether any certification is worth holding.

By Find Me Funders research desk Updated 14 September 2026 944 words 4 min read

Drafted with AI assistance. Not yet independently checked. Nobody has verified the claims on this page against a source, so treat the figures and legal points as a starting point rather than as settled, and confirm anything you are about to act on. How we check things.

Do I need SAM.gov registration before I can be certified?

Yes. Registration in the System for Award Management, and the Unique Entity ID it issues, come first — SBA's certification instructions assume an active SAM registration, and no federal award can be made without one. Registration is free and is done directly at SAM.gov. The part that matters beyond the paperwork is that registering forces you to pick NAICS codes and confirm you are small under the size standard for them, and that size calculation uses an averaging rule most owners get wrong.

SAM registration is the gate. SBA's own preparation instructions for its programmes tell applicants to make sure the business is registered at SAM.gov, and the Unique Entity ID issued through that registration is how the government identifies you across every system. SBA describes the UEI as "a unique 12-character, alpha-numeric value" obtained through SAM registration, replacing the older third-party identifier. Registration is done directly with the government; SBA states it does not charge any costs for applying to its programmes, and the certification portal it runs is free.

A large industry exists to charge you for this. The registration is a form. If you would rather pay someone, that is a legitimate choice, but price it as administrative help, not as access to something you could not otherwise reach.

The three decisions the form forces

1. Your NAICS codes.SBA tells firms to "match your products and services to a North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code". You pick a primary code and may list others. This choice is not cosmetic. Set-asides are issued by code. The 8(a) two-year operating requirement in 13 CFR 124.107 is measured "in its primary industry classification". The WOSB set-aside only operates in designated codes. Pick the code that describes what you actually deliver and can evidence with past contracts, not the code with the most spend.

2. Whether you are small.Each code carries a size standard, expressed in average annual receipts or in employees. SBA defines the size of a firm to include its affiliates: the standard sets "the maximum size that a business — and its affiliates — can be to qualify as a small business for a particular contract".

3. Who your affiliates are.13 CFR 121.103 turns on control: affiliation exists where "one controls or has the power to control the other, or a third party or parties controls or has the power to control both", and the power to control is enough, whether or not it is exercised. Common ownership, common management, family relationships and economic dependence all feed into it. SBA "counts the receipts, employees, or other measure of size of the concern whose size is at issue and all of its domestic and foreign affiliates".

If you own two companies, they are very likely affiliated for this purpose, and the second one's revenue counts against the first one's size standard.

The receipts calculation, worked

13 CFR 121.104 defines receipts as "all revenue in whatever form received or accrued from whatever source, including from the sales of products or services, interest, dividends, rents, royalties, fees, or commissions, reduced by returns and allowances", excluding net capital gains and losses, taxes collected and remitted, and amounts collected for others. For a firm with five complete fiscal years, average annual receipts are "total receipts of the concern over its most recently completed 5 fiscal years divided by 5", with the Business Loan and Disaster Loan programmes permitted to use either a five-year or a three-year average.

Illustrative only —suppose your last five fiscal years of receipts were 3,900,000; 4,600,000; 5,100,000; 6,800,000; and 8,200,000.

Five-year average: 28,600,000 ÷ 5 = 5,720,000.
Three-year average: 20,100,000 ÷ 3 = 6,700,000.

The difference is 980,000. For a fast-growing firm, the five-year average is the friendlier number and keeps you small for longer against a given standard. For a firm whose best years are behind it, the reverse applies. Know which number your programme uses before you conclude you are too big.

If you have been in business less than the full period, the rule annualises: total receipts divided by the number of weeks in business, multiplied by 52. A firm 31 weeks old with 740,000 of receipts annualises to 1,241,290 — a figure that can put a young, fast-starting business over a size standard it has never actually exceeded in a year.

The walkthrough, in order

Gather the entity basics. Legal name exactly as registered with the state, physical address, EIN, banking details for electronic payment, and the name of the person who will be the authorised representative.
Confirm your legal name matches your IRS records and your state filing. A mismatch here is the most common cause of a registration stalling.
Obtain the UEI through SAM.gov. There is no separate purchase.
Select NAICS codes. Primary first, deliberately.
Compute your size under the standard for each code, using the averaging rule above, and including affiliates.
Complete the representations and certifications. Read them. They are made under penalty, and they cover ownership, control and size.
Diarise the renewal. SAM registration lapses if not renewed, and a lapsed registration blocks awards and payments.
Then apply for certification, once SAM is active.

What this has to do with borrowing

Nothing directly, and that is worth saying plainly: SAM registration is not a credit event, does not appear in any credit file, and changes nothing a lender reads. The connection is downstream and slow — registration lets you bid, bidding sometimes wins, winning generates receivables, and a year of receivables changes your statements.

The one immediate borrowing consequence is the affiliation analysis. If working through 121.103 tells you that you control two businesses, you have learned something a lender will also conclude, and it will read their combined cash flow rather than the good one's. That is worth knowing before you apply for anything.

What to refuse

Refuse to pay for a UEI. Refuse any service that offers to "reserve" or expedite one. And refuse to guess at a NAICS code — the wrong primary code can cost you two years of eligibility you cannot get back.