WHY CONCRETE CONTRACTORS RUN OUT OF CASH.
Concrete contractors run out of cash because material and labor go out fast while payment comes back slow. Ready-mix and rebar are placed in days on supplier terms of 15 to 30 days, the GC pays Net 30 to 45, labor is often tracked at base wage instead of burdened, and overhead is bid at 5 percent against a real 12 percent. The pour is profitable while the bank account is empty.
On a $400K pour you can have ready-mix, rebar, and finishing labor in the ground within a week, on supplier terms that demand payment in 15 to 30 days, while the GC pays Net 30 to 45 on the monthly pay app. Most concrete subs also track labor at base wage and miss the full burden, the payroll tax, high concrete workers-comp rates, and benefits that add 30 to 40 percent, and carry overhead in their head at 5 percent when the real number is 12 percent or more. None of that timing or buried cost shows on the income statement. CFOS fixes the billing timing, the burdened labor, and the overhead rate together.
WHY CONCRETE WORK EATS CASH.
Concrete is a material-and-labor trade that spends before it bills. Ready-mix, rebar, and forms are delivered and placed in days, but the suppliers want their money in 15 to 30 days, sometimes cash on delivery, while the GC pays Net 30 to 45 on a monthly pay application. The cash goes out at the speed of the pour and comes back at the speed of the pay cycle.
Labor is the other quiet leak. Concrete is labor-intensive, and concrete labor carries some of the highest workers-comp rates in commercial construction. Track it at base wage and you understate the real cost by 30 to 40 percent, which means you are bidding labor that loses money before the first yard is placed. Then there is overhead: the 5 percent number a lot of concrete subs carry is almost never real, and 12 percent or more is closer to the truth.
Put the material timing, the buried labor burden, and the understated overhead together and you get the concrete pattern: busy crews, full schedule, a profitable-looking P&L, and a bank account that never reflects it. The income statement was never built to show any of those three.
THE MECHANISMS NO ONE PRICES IN.
Suppliers want 15 to 30 days; the GC pays in 45.
Concrete and rebar are delivered and placed within days, but the supplier wants payment in 15 to 30 days or cash on delivery, while the GC pays Net 30 to 45 on the monthly pay app. On a $400K pour that is a five-figure material gap you finance out of your own cash or your line of credit, and it never shows as a cost on the income statement.
Base wage is not what a concrete crew costs.
Concrete is labor-heavy, and concrete labor carries high workers-comp rates. If job costing tracks base wage and skips the full burden, payroll tax, comp, and benefits, you understate labor by 30 to 40 percent. You bid and run jobs that lose money on labor while believing they are profitable.
The number in your head is half the real one.
Many concrete subs carry overhead at 5 percent because that is what they have always used. The real number is closer to 12 percent or more. Bidding 5 against 12 buries a 7-point loss in every job, and one good pour hides it in the blended P&L while the cash quietly drains.
THE WRONG DIAGNOSIS COSTS YOU YEARS.
Wrong answer 1: ready-mix prices keep going up. Material cost matters, but the bigger drain is financing the material for weeks before you can bill it, not the unit price.
Wrong answer 2: concrete is just a thin, competitive trade. It is competitive, which is exactly why burdened labor and a real overhead rate matter. You cannot win a race while carrying weight you cannot see.
Wrong answer 3: the crews need to go faster. Speed helps, but if labor is tracked at base wage you cannot even tell which crews and which work types actually make money.
The real answer: labor is not fully burdened, overhead is understated, and the material timing is left to the line of credit. Three gaps, three different places, never visible together. CFOS closes all three.
SAME BUSINESS. BETTER SYSTEM.
CFOS is the Construction Financial Operating System. For concrete contractors it installs as a set of specific deliverables, not advice:
FLAT MONTHLY FEE. NO SURPRISES.
Two tiers based on trailing 12-month revenue. No hourly billing. No payroll. No add-ons. Everything included in the flat monthly fee.
| Revenue | Core Financial | Executive Financial |
|---|---|---|
| Under $1M | $1,900/mo | $2,900/mo |
| $1M–$3M | $2,600/mo | $3,600/mo |
| $4M–$6M | $3,800/mo | $5,500/mo |
| $7M–$9M | $5,100/mo | $6,900/mo |
| $10M–$12M | $6,100/mo | $8,500/mo |
| $13M+ | Quoted | Quoted |
FREQUENTLY ASKED.
