CURTAIN WALL AND GLAZING JOBS LOOK PROFITABLE. THE CASH IS STILL IN TRANSIT.
Curtain Wall and Glazing subcontractors have no cash left 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 and glazing contractor research. Most are 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 and 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 are confirmed. Custom curtain wall takes 16 to 24 weeks from approved shop drawings to first delivery. Storefront fabrication takes 10 to 14 weeks. Specialty glass takes 10 to 16 weeks from order release. Every week a submittal stays in review is a week of delay the glazing sub pays for while other trades keep billing.
Curtain wall specs often require a full-size performance mock-up tested for air, water and structural performance before production begins. That mock-up alone costs $30,000 to $80,000. Add project-specific structural calculations for high wind zones and custom anchors. All of it is spent months before any real production billing.
Custom units are fabricated to order against the sub's purchase order. Fabricators want deposits. The glass waits in a plant queue the sub can't speed up. Unless the contract allows billing for stored materials and deposits, the sub pays for a five- or six-figure material order for months.
WHAT MOVES MARGIN IN THIS TRADE.
The Fabrication Queue
Nothing bills until shop drawings are approved. Custom curtain wall takes 16 to 24 weeks from approval to first delivery. The submittal phase is the cash phase, and the glazier pays for every review cycle.
The Front-Loaded Five Figures
Performance mock-ups cost $30,000 to $80,000. Engineering and calculations come on top, and fabricator deposits go out before production starts. If your schedule of values starts billing at installation, you pay for all of preconstruction with no payment coming in.
The Unaccelerable Schedule
You can't add crew to glass that's in a plant queue. One missed delivery idles your whole installation crew while every other trade keeps billing. Tracking idle-crew cost and documenting the delay decides whether you have a claim or a loss.
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 | You can get here on the days you control. Bill on time, send complete paperwork, and follow up in week two. |
| Strong | 30 days | Takes work every month. It's the cheapest money you can get. |
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 costs no interest and needs no bank. So we fix billing and collections before we talk about financing.
CURTAIN WALL AND GLAZING BENCHMARKS.
Curtain Wall and Glazing subcontractors at $1M to $5M net 9 percent, against the CFOS net profit target, set at your trade's net profit average at your revenue plus 3.5 points, never below 10 percent, before taxes. The working capital target is 13 percent of annual revenue, and the monthly close should finish by day 10 so the numbers can still change a decision.
FREQUENTLY ASKED.
