MASONRY JOBS LOOK PROFITABLE. THE BALANCE SHEET IS STILL THIN.
Masonry 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 masonry 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 masonry 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.
Mortar cure has temperature floors. Winter work means heated enclosures, ground thawing, admixtures, and slower rates, or it means idle crews. Northern contractors either price a winter premium or absorb one.
WHAT MOVES MARGIN IN THIS TRADE.
The Access Tax
Scaffold, fall protection and lifts add up to 40 percent to labor cost on elevated work. Scaffold premiums are 50 to 100 percent of labor for stages above 10 feet. Access is a second job inside every job. If you don't price it, you give it away.
The Lay-Rate Spread
Crews lay 200 to 1,000 bricks a day depending on complexity. Bid the fast day, build the slow day, and the labor variance comes straight out of margin. Labor is the biggest line in the trade.
The Material Loss
Standard waste is 8 to 10 percent and complex work reaches 15. Use 5 percent waste on a 12 percent job and you lose the difference on every pallet. Nobody sees it without variance tracking.
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.
MASONRY BENCHMARKS.
Masonry subcontractors at $1M to $5M net 7 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.
