Construction Loan Administration CLA

What CLA covers.

A construction loan is not finished at closing. The lender still holds most of the money and releases it in pieces as the house goes up, so someone runs that process for twelve to eighteen months. That work is construction loan administration: the approved budget and draw schedule, each draw request checked against the budget line items, an inspection ordered and read, funds released or held, retainage tracked, lien waivers collected, permits and insurance kept current, and a file that shows who decided what and when.

Most lenders run it in dedicated CLA software, in a module of their loan system, or in spreadsheets and email. The tool varies; the controls do not.

Where the draw inspection fits.

The inspection is one step inside the CLA workflow, and it is the step that produces field evidence. The request says the framing is complete; the inspection report shows whether it is, line by line, with dated and located photos. The administrator compares the report's percent complete with the request, confirms the loan is still in balance, and approves, trims or holds the draw. What is a draw schedule? and How long does it take to get a construction draw funded? walk through the surrounding steps.

Why it matters for lenders.

The Interagency Guidelines for Real Estate Lending Policies expect written loan administration procedures covering documentation, closing and disbursement, and collateral administration, and examiners read construction files against them. A CLA process that cannot show the inspection behind each disbursement leaves the lender explaining instead of showing. How do examiners review construction loan monitoring? covers what they look for.

How RAZE handles it.

RAZE is the inspection layer, not the CLA. It integrates with the loan administration workflow a lender already runs: inspections are ordered from the Ordering Engine, by API through the Developer Portal or from the lender's own system, and the completed report comes back with photos tied to the draw sheet line items, GPS and time metadata and a status history. The lender's CLA keeps the budget and the decision. See Draw inspections through CLA integration.