CURTAIN WALL / GLAZING JOBS LOOK PROFITABLE. THE CASH IS STILL IN TRANSIT.
Curtain Wall / Glazing 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 curtain wall / glazing 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 curtain wall / glazing 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.
Nothing can be fabricated until shop drawings are approved and field measurements confirmed. Custom curtain wall runs 16 to 24 weeks from approved shop drawings to first delivery; storefront fabrication runs 10 to 14 weeks; specialty glass 10 to 16 weeks from order release. Every week a submittal sits in review is a week of schedule slip that the glazing sub absorbs while other trades keep billing.
Curtain wall specs commonly require a full-size performance mock-up tested for air, water, and structural performance before production begins. That mock-up alone runs $30,000 to $80,000, plus project-specific structural calculations for high wind zones and custom anchors. All of it's spent months before meaningful production billing.
Custom units are fabricated to order against the sub's purchase order. Fabricators want deposits; the glass sits in a plant queue the sub can't accelerate; and unless the contract allows billing for stored materials and deposits, the sub finances a five- or six-figure material position for months.
WHAT MOVES MARGIN IN THIS TRADE.
The Fabrication Queue
Nothing bills until shop drawings approve, and custom curtain wall runs 16 to 24 weeks from approval to first delivery. The submittal phase is the cash phase: every review cycle is financed by the glazier.
The Front-Loaded Five Figures
Performance mock-ups run $30,000 to $80,000, engineering and calculations stack on top, and fabricator deposits leave before production starts. A schedule of values that starts billing at installation finances the entire preconstruction phase for free.
The Unaccelerable Schedule
Glass in a plant queue can't be crewed up, and one missed delivery idles the whole installation crew while every other trade keeps billing. Idle-crew cost tracking and delay documentation are the difference between a claim and a loss. (cfos-job-profitability-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.
CURTAIN WALL / GLAZING BENCHMARKS.
Curtain Wall / Glazing subcontractors at $1M to $5M net 9 percent, against a CFOS target of 11.5 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.
