JOB COSTINGCASH FLOWWIP REPORTINGFRACTIONAL CFOSUBCONTRACTOR FINANCEOVERHEAD RATEPAY APP BILLINGAR RECOVERYCONTROLQOREJOB COSTINGCASH FLOWWIP REPORTINGFRACTIONAL CFOSUBCONTRACTOR FINANCEOVERHEAD RATEPAY APP BILLINGAR RECOVERYCONTROLQOREJOB COSTINGCASH FLOWWIP REPORTINGFRACTIONAL CFOSUBCONTRACTOR FINANCEOVERHEAD RATEPAY APP BILLINGAR RECOVERYCONTROLQOREJOB COSTINGCASH FLOWWIP REPORTINGFRACTIONAL CFOSUBCONTRACTOR FINANCEOVERHEAD RATEPAY APP BILLINGAR RECOVERYCONTROLQORE
TL;DR: SPM provides fractional CFO services for concrete flatwork contractors doing $1M-$12M in commercial new construction. Job costing by square feet placed per pour in ControlQore, overhead rate including all real costs, WIP reporting monthly, and AR collection system that clears the backlog in 30 days. Most concrete flatwork clients find their first month's AR collection exceeds the annual SPM fee.
Concrete Flatwork
The CFO for
Concrete Flatwork Contractors.
You bid by the square. Your margin lives or dies in the field every week. If you find out a job is losing money at closeout it is too late. We make it visible in week two.
Published: May 2026 · Updated: May 2026
The Problem
What Kills Concrete Flatwork Margins
Most concrete flatwork do not know a job is losing money until it is done. The estimate looked right. The crew was working. But the actual cost per square feet placed per pour was running over estimate for three weeks and nobody knew it until closeout.
01
No SF Cost Tracking by Pour Type
You bid parking lot slab at $3.85/SF and interior warehouse floor at $4.40/SF. You have no visibility into whether the parking lot is running at $3.85 or $5.20. At closeout the job blended at $4.12/SF and you do not know which pour type cost you the margin.
02
SOV Lumps All Flatwork as One Line
A GC-drafted SOV shows concrete flatwork as one line item at 100% of contract value. Your actual work has four pour types with different mobilization schedules, material costs, and labor intensities. When the first pour is your highest-cost work the SOV underbills by design.
03
Pump Costs Not Allocated to Jobs
Concrete pump rental and the pump operator represent 8-15% of total pour cost on elevated slabs. When pump cost is booked to equipment overhead rather than direct cost the per-SF cost on elevated pours looks artificially low and standard pours look artificially high.
Prevailing wage note: Concrete Flatwork contractors doing DOT and municipal work have additional fringe benefit requirements of $12-$20/hour above base wages. SPM calculates separate overhead rates for prevailing wage and private work. Prevailing wage CFO services →
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a CFO for concrete flatwork contractors do?
A fractional CFO for concrete flatwork contractors builds the job costing structure aligned to the estimate - cost codes by square feet placed per pour - so actual cost per unit is visible weekly against estimated cost per unit. They manage WIP reporting, overhead rate calculation, billing calendar, and monthly cash flow. The result: you know which jobs are winning and which are losing before you cannot do anything about it. All SPM clients run on ControlQore - purpose-built for construction job costing at $1M-$12M.
What overhead rate should concrete flatwork contractors use?
Concrete Flatwork Contractors at $1M-$3M typically run 12-14% overhead. The most common errors are missing owner compensation at market rate and not including equipment depreciation or vehicle fleet in the SG&A calculation. Each of those understates the real overhead rate and underprices every bid.
What are the most common cash flow problems for concrete flatwork contractors?
Three consistent problems: schedule of values that underbills early phases which are the most cash-intensive work, overhead rate below actual because ownership costs are not fully included, and AR sitting uncollected at 45+ days with no follow-up system. Most concrete flatwork contractors have all three simultaneously. SPM fixes all three in the first 60 days.
What gross margin should concrete flatwork contractors target?
Concrete Flatwork Contractors at $1M-$12M in commercial new construction typically target 22-27% gross margin. Margin below the lower end of that range usually indicates a markup problem, an overhead rate understatement, or job costing that is not capturing all direct costs accurately.
Do you handle payroll?
No. SPM does not handle payroll. We have vetted partners including prevailing wage and Davis-Bacon integrations that connect directly with ControlQore at additional cost.
How long does onboarding take?
60 days. We migrate your books to the start of your last taxable year, build your ControlQore job costing structure, and get you fully operational in two months.
What software do you use?
All SPM clients run on ControlQore - purpose-built for construction job costing and WIP reporting at $1M-$12M. More capable than QuickBooks for job costing, more affordable than Sage. We set it up and manage it.
Do I need clean books to start?
No. Most clients come with messy books and no job costing. That is exactly what onboarding is for.
