Private Money Construction Loans for California Developers and Investors
Construction financing is among the most complex loan structures in commercial real estate. Draws must align with verified progress, budgets shift, timelines extend, and the lender's ability to monitor the project directly has a material impact on how smoothly a deal runs. Rubicon Mortgage Fund, LLC provides short-term construction loans for ground-up development and major renovation projects across California, with a hands-on approach to both origination and administration.
Construction lending at Rubicon is selective. We focus on experienced developers and investors with a defined project plan, a realistic budget, and a credible exit strategy. We are particularly active in the San Francisco Bay Area, Northern California, Sacramento, and Los Angeles, though we fund construction deals statewide.
Types of Construction Projects We Finance
- Ground-up commercial construction
- Residential construction (non-owner-occupied)
- Major renovation and repositioning projects
- Mixed-use development
- Value-add projects requiring significant capital improvement
How Rubicon Evaluates Construction Loans
Rubicon reviews construction loan requests on the basis of four primary factors: the borrower's track record in development, the strength and feasibility of the project plan, the after-completion value relative to the loan amount, and the exit strategy. We physically inspect every project at origination and conduct site visits at key construction milestones before releasing draw funds.
No personal credit check or financial statements are required as the basis for approval. We lend to LLCs, corporations, trusts, and partnerships. Draw schedules are structured to match the project's construction timeline and verified completion milestones.
Lending Criteria
- Loan amounts from $500,000 to $15,000,000
- Up to 65% loan-to-cost (LTC)
- First position only
- Statewide California coverage
- Loan terms from 6 months to 24 months
- Flexible draw schedules tied to construction milestones
- No personal credit check required
Get Started
Contact Rubicon Mortgage Fund, LLC with your project location, property type, construction budget, projected completion timeline, and exit strategy. We serve developers and investors throughout California including the Bay Area, Northern California, Sacramento, Los Angeles, and Southern California. We typically provide an initial response and preliminary terms within 24 hours of inquiry.
Rubicon Mortgage Fund writes commercial construction loans across California from its own capital, funding ground-up projects, staged-draw completions and takeouts of construction lenders who have stopped performing.
Why Construction Lending Works Differently
Construction is the one category of commercial real estate where a slow lender does measurable damage. A delayed draw does not simply postpone a payment — it idles a crew, misses a weather window, and sends subcontractors to other jobs. By the time the money arrives, the schedule has moved and so has the price.
The collateral does not exist yet
Every other kind of commercial loan is secured by a finished, standing building that can be valued today. Commercial construction loans are secured by a site, a permit set, a budget and a builder. The value has to be underwritten forward rather than measured, and most conventional credit processes are not built to do that. Rubicon has been underwriting projects this way since 2008.
Responsiveness is the product
A construction loan is not one transaction. It is a series of them, and the lender stays inside your schedule for the life of the build. A lender who is quick at closing and slow afterwards has sold you the wrong thing.
Because Rubicon lends its own capital and keeps every decision in-house, there is no outside party between a draw request and the answer. The people who underwrote your loan are the people who respond to it.
Banks retreat from construction first
When conventional lenders turn cautious, construction is the first category they step back from and the last they return to. That has very little to do with the merits of any particular project. It is why capable developers with good sites and real permits end up seeking private commercial construction loans in the middle of a cycle rather than at the edges of one.
California Construction Projects Rubicon Has Funded
Rubicon has financed ground-up construction in Orangevale, Rocklin and Inverness, staged-draw construction financing in Mountain View, construction and refinance work in Oakland, a construction loan in San Francisco, and ground-up gas station construction in Indio. More closed transactions are listed on our funded loans page.
That spread matters more than any single deal. Construction lending rewards a lender who has seen enough projects to know which budgets are real, and California is not one market — a foothills project and a San Francisco infill project carry different risks and deserve different questions.
When Private Commercial Construction Loans Fit
- A previous construction lender has stopped funding draws. We can take out a lender who is no longer performing. Come to us early rather than after the crew has left the site.
- Permits have come through and the schedule cannot absorb a conventional process. Entitlements have their own clock, and so do contractor commitments.
- The project is partly built and needs completing. Staged-draw completion financing on a project already underway.
- Repositioning or conversion work has to finish before a permanent lender will look at the property. The building has to exist before it can be refinanced.
- Horizontal work. Entitlement, site preparation and improvements ahead of vertical construction.
- The borrower or entity structure falls outside conventional guidelines.
- The budget is tight and other property can be pledged. Cross-collateralization is frequently the structure that makes a marginal construction budget work.
Full parameters for all Rubicon lending are set out on our borrowers and lending criteria page.
Commercial Construction Loans: FAQs
Do you lend on ground-up construction?
Yes. Ground-up is a core part of what we fund, alongside completion loans on projects that are already partly built.
How are draws handled?
Draws are structured to the project rather than to a fixed template, and someone from Rubicon inspects the work on site before each release. Because we lend our own capital, there is no outside approval sitting between your request and the funds.
My existing construction lender has stopped funding. Can you take them out?
That is a situation we see and can fund. The earlier you raise it, the more options there are — a stalled site gets more expensive every week it sits.
Do you require an appraisal?
No. We do not require appraisals on any loan. We inspect the site ourselves, at origination and at construction milestones.
Do you lend on residential construction?
Yes, on non-owner-occupied residential construction. All Rubicon lending is business purpose.
Can I cross-collateralize other property to make the budget work?
Yes. On construction deals this is often what gets a project funded when the budget is tight against the site value alone.
What do you need to look at a project?
The property address, the project scope, the budget, where entitlements and permits actually stand, and the exit — sale, or refinance into permanent debt. Most borrowers have a response within 24 hours.
Are commercial construction loans regulated in California?
Yes. Rubicon lending is made or arranged pursuant to California Financing Law and is overseen by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation. All Rubicon loans are business purpose and secured in 1st position.
Where do you lend?
Statewide across California. We are most active in the San Francisco Bay Area, the North Bay, Sacramento and the Central Valley, and we lend throughout the state.