FRACTIONAL CFO FOR CONCRETE FLATWORK CONTRACTORS.
We manage the finance function for concrete flatwork subcontractors doing $1M to $12M: job costing aligned to the way you estimate, a 13 week cash flow forecast, monthly WIP, and a CFO in the room every month. Pricing starts at $1,900 per month.
Flatwork sells a tolerance, so the finance function starts by pricing one. Conventional, flat, very flat, and superflat are four different production systems with four different costs, and selling F numbers without pricing F numbers donates the difference between a bull float and a laser screed. We code the finishing window separately from placement, because the slab sets on chemistry's schedule and the overtime that follows is the trade's defining cost, absorbed in a blended rate on most jobs. We also treat the ASTM E1155 test as a billable event on the schedule, since flatness measured within 72 hours of final troweling is the slab as placed and anything later is whatever the building did to it.
SPM is a construction CFO for concrete flatwork subcontractors from $1M to $12M in revenue. See how a fractional CFO for construction works month to month.
THE THREE THINGS THAT DRAIN THE CASH.
The 72-Hour Window
FF/FL numbers measured within 72 hours of troweling are the slab as placed; anything measured later is the slab as abused. The contractor who commissions and bills the timely test owns the acceptance record; the one who skips it owns whatever the building does to the slab afterward.
The Tolerance Tier
Conventional, flat, very flat, superflat: each tier is a different production system with different cost. Selling F-numbers without pricing F-numbers donates the difference between a bull float and a laser screed.
The Finishing Clock
The slab sets on chemistry's schedule and the crew stays until it's done. Finishing-window labor coded inside a blended rate leaves the trade's defining overtime pattern unseen, job after job.
FROM 8% TO 11.5% NET.
At $1M to $5M, the average concrete flatwork sub earns 22% gross margin and spends 14% of revenue on overhead, which leaves 8% net profit before taxes (Run On CFOS Trade Benchmark Reference). The CFOS target is 11.5% before taxes, the concrete flatwork average plus 3.5 points and never below 10%, where the book CONTROL's 12% is the rule of thumb across trades. It is not the industry average.
The target takes two moves. Overhead comes down 1 point to 13%, and gross margin comes up 2.5 points to 24.5%, so 24.5 minus 13 leaves 11.5. The gross margin points come from the three leaks above, priced and billed, not absorbed. On a $3M year, every point is $30,000.
WHAT WE CHANGE.
These are the concrete flatwork problems we put a number on first. Each one gets its own cost code, its own line on the schedule of values or its own line in the 13 week cash forecast, so you can read it in the monthly meeting while the job is still open.
- The 72-hour flatness clock
- Superflat economics
- Finishing crew economics on pour night
- Joint layout changes
- Small pours and premiums
THE CONCRETE FLATWORK GAP CALCULATOR. AVERAGE AGAINST TARGET, IN DOLLARS.
Put in your annual revenue. You get gross margin, overhead and net profit for concrete flatwork contractors your size: the industry average and the CFOS target, in dollars a year. Nothing you type leaves this page.
Another trade too? The gap calculator for every trade.
Your figures show here once you put in your revenue.
Why aim for the target. An average is the middle of the pack: about half of companies do worse. And about 6 in 10 construction businesses close within 10 years (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: about 40 percent of construction businesses opened in 2013 were still open in 2023). So the business in the middle is one of the ones that close. On those numbers, average is a business that closes within 10 years. That is why the CFOS target is a requirement.
Want your own numbers against these? The Financial Health Snapshot builds a CEO Report from your last 12 months and sets every figure against your trade.
FLAT MONTHLY FEE. NO SURPRISES.
Priced by trailing 12 month revenue. No hourly billing. No payroll. The one-time onboarding fee is right here in the table.
Type a number and your band and its prices show here. The full table is below.
Built for subs doing $1M to $12M. Above $12.5M we quote.
| Last 12 months revenue | Core | Strategic | Platinum | One-time onboarding |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under $1M | $1,900 | $3,100 | $3,300 | $2,500 |
| $1M to $3.5M | $2,600 | $4,100 | $5,300 | $4,500 |
| $3.5M to $6.5M | $3,800 | $5,900 | $8,300 | $6,000 |
| $6.5M to $9.5M | $5,100 | $7,600 | $11,800 | $7,500 |
| $9.5M to $12.5M | $6,100 | $8,900 | $14,900 | $9,000 |
| Above $12.5M | Quoted | Quoted | Quoted | Quoted |
The onboarding fee covers migrating your books back to the start of your last taxable year and getting you fully operational in 60 days. It's billed once, with your first invoice. It's the same for all three tiers, and it moves with your revenue band. Your first month is prorated, and your monthly engagement starts on the first of the first full month.
Just want the setup? Onboarding only is the same onboarding work with no monthly service after it, one time, at the onboarding fee plus $2,000. Start a monthly engagement later and $2,000 counts toward it. It starts at $4,500, and the price for every band is on the pricing page.
The three tier columns are the whole price. Which one fits depends on how much of the work you want off your desk. No payroll. No hidden line items. The onboarding fee is right here in the table.
- Online software only: QuickBooks, Sage, Viewpoint and similar. No VPN or hosted desktop.
- Not in any tier: payroll, pay applications, collections on receivables.
- Pricing valid through 2027.
What Core, Strategic and Platinum each include is on the pricing page.
Prevailing wage note: Concrete Flatwork work often comes from public bids, which means certified payroll and wage classifications have to line up with the job cost record. ControlQore holds the classification against the cost code, so the certified report and the job cost report come from the same data, and your office stops keying the same numbers twice every week.
FREQUENTLY ASKED.
See the full benchmarks for every revenue band on Run On CFOS.
How concrete flatwork CFO firms compare: the concrete flatwork firm study, with every score and its source.
MORE PROBLEMS WE PUT A NUMBER ON.
Decorative and elevated-deck divisions
Elevated deck vs slab on grade billing
Decorative work (stamped, stained, polished) is a different margin and warranty world than gray flatwork, and elevated decks pump against gravity with deflection-based levelness rules that differ from slab-on-grade. Both existing pages hold their splits.
Finishing crew economics on pour night
SF cost tracking
Flatwork's labor concentrates in the finishing window: the slab sets on chemistry's schedule, and the crew works until it's done, at whatever hour. Overtime lives inside the product.
Joint layout changes (the saw-cut change order)
Joint layout change order process
Joint layout is engineered, and field changes (added penetrations, revised column lines, owner aesthetics on decorative work) reshuffle sawing time and crack risk. The existing joint-layout.
Small pours and premiums
Small pour premium pricing
Flatwork lives closer to short-load territory than structural concrete: sidewalks, pads, and patch pours ride the $40 to $60 per yard short-load fees and weekend premiums documented in the concrete file.
Concrete Flatwork is one of 8 trades in the concrete and structure family on our CFO for subcontractors page. Nearby trades with their own page:
