CONCRETE JOBS LOOK PROFITABLE. THE ACCOUNT IS STILL EMPTY.
Concrete subcontractors run out of cash for reasons specific to how the work is built and billed, on jobs that are making money. The three that cost the most in this trade are below, taken from concrete contractor research. Most sit at 75 to 90 days from finishing work to holding the money, and 45 days is achievable.
Cash and profit are measured on different clocks. Your profit and loss records revenue when you invoice and costs when you incur them, while the bank account only knows what cleared. Labour goes out weekly and collects 45 to 90 days later, minus retention. That distance is what a growing, profitable concrete company funds out of pocket, and it widens as you grow. The specific things that widen it in this trade are what the rest of this page is about.
WHERE IT LEAKS OUT.
Concrete's receivables age like every sub's, and the desperate version of the fix (invoice factoring, merchant cash advances) converts a timing problem into a margin hemorrhage. The site already tells the counter-story with real numbers: a $4.9M concrete contractor went from $161K to $1.1M net once the control system replaced the debt spiral.
WHAT MOVES MARGIN IN THIS TRADE.
The Pour-Day Cascade
Trucks on the clock, finishers standing by, weekend premiums of $50 to $300 per load, and a cold-joint spec risk if sequencing slips. Pour day is where the estimate meets physics, and untracked standby and premium cost is margin poured into the slab.
The 28-Day Gate
Strength arrives on the concrete's schedule, not the billing schedule, and a failed break converts into coring, repour risk, and a stalled milestone. The test report is a payment gate; treat it like one with a reserve and a protocol.
The Factoring Spiral
Aged AR pushed through factoring or an MCA trades a timing problem for a permanent margin tax. A $4.9M concrete contractor ran $161K net inside that spiral and $1.1M net outside it; the difference was the control system, in the same market as the year before. (cfos-cash-control-system) ---
DAYS SALES OUTSTANDING.
Ninety days is weak, 45 is the target, 30 is strong. Nothing else moves cash faster.
| Position | Days | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Weak | 90 days | Roughly three months of work funded out of your own pocket. |
| Target | 45 days | Achievable on the days you control: submission timing, complete documentation, follow up in week two. |
| Strong | 30 days | Requires discipline every month, and it's the cheapest capital available to you. |
Moving from 90 days to 45 frees roughly annual revenue divided by 365, times 45 days. At $4M that's about $493,000. At $8M it's about $986,000. That money doesn't come from a bank and it costs no interest, which is why we work the cycle before discussing financing anything.
CONCRETE BENCHMARKS.
Concrete subcontractors at $1M to $5M net 7 percent, against a CFOS target of 10 percent, set at 10 percent before taxes or 3.5 points better than your trade's average at your revenue, whichever is higher. Working capital should sit at 13 percent of annual revenue, and the monthly close should finish by day 10 so the numbers can still change a decision.
FREQUENTLY ASKED.
