SITE WORK AND EXCAVATION · Alberta, Canada
A $120,000 excavation subcontract between a GC and a sub
A general contractor owes an excavation sub $120,000 across a six-week site prep scope. The sub has been burned by 90-day payment terms before, so the draws are locked before the machines roll in.
The job
- •Scope: clearing, stripping and stockpiling topsoil, bulk cut-and-fill, trench excavation for services, and final grade to survey.
- •$120,000 fixed price, six weeks, three pieces of owned equipment plus one rented rock truck.
- •The sub carries fuel, operator wages and rental costs weekly — cash flow, not total price, is the real constraint.
Where the payment risk sat
- •The GC's standard terms were net 60 from invoice, which in practice ran closer to 90 days. The sub would have carried roughly $60,000 of cost before seeing a dollar.
- •The sub's alternative was to price in a risk premium and lose the bid to someone who did not.
- •Neither party wanted a lawyer holding funds in trust for a six-week job.
How it was structured
- The GC locked the full $120,000 into a contract they deployed themselves, before mobilization.
- Four draws were defined against surveyable, ticketable events — not calendar dates.
- The sub could see the funds were locked on-chain before committing equipment, which is the whole reason they dropped the risk premium.
- Release stayed entirely with the GC. Locking the funds is not the same as giving them away.
The milestone schedule on $120,000
Mobilization and site clearing complete
Proof required: Site photos + equipment delivery tickets
Fee on this release: $60.00
Topsoil stripped and stockpiled
Proof required: Surveyor volume report + load tickets
Fee on this release: $90.00
Bulk cut-and-fill to design elevation
Proof required: Survey shot comparison against drawing
Fee on this release: $90.00
Service trenches and final grade accepted
Proof required: Engineer acceptance letter + as-built survey
Fee on this release: $60.00
What the payments cost
- Contract value
- $120,000
- PictoSafe fee — 0.25% across 4 releases
- $300.00
- Estimated blockchain network fees (paid by you to the network)
- ~$12
- Same job at a typical third-party escrow rate of 1.5%–3%
- $1,800 – $3,600
- Difference
- $1,488 – $3,288
The 1.5%–3% figure is a general range for third-party escrow and trust-account services, used here for arithmetic only. It is not a quote from any named provider, rates differ by provider and by deal size, and you should confirm current pricing directly with whoever you are comparing. Network fees vary with blockchain conditions.
Why the structure works
- The sub got paid within the same day of each accepted draw instead of waiting out net-60 terms.
- The GC kept full control — no draw released without the survey or engineer document attached.
- Four releases at 0.25% on the amount released, plus network fees measured in dollars, not percentage points.
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