FRACTIONAL CFO FOR DRYWALL CONTRACTORS.
We manage the finance side for drywall subcontractors doing $1M to $12M. You get 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.
Drywall is in the middle of the schedule with no float. So most of the CFO work is documenting what other people did to your hours. We keep a back-charge log that covers both sides, because this trade pays for damage and causes it. Charges of $500 and $3,000 go by uncounted job after job. We split hanger and finisher cost codes. They're different labor markets on different piece rates, sold under one unit price, and blended tracking doesn't show which half makes money. We also get the inspection standard into the contract. A finish judged with a flashlight down an unlit hallway is unpaid rework every time.
SPM is a construction CFO for drywall 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 Flashlight Tax
When someone judges your finish under the wrong light, you do free rework. If the contract doesn't set the inspection standard (permanent lighting, perpendicular view), every punch walk is a negotiation you lose.
The Damage Economy
Drywall pays back-charges and causes them, and most subs track neither side. Charges of $500 and $3,000 go by untracked, job after job. That's where the margin between 6 percent actual and the 10 percent CFOS target goes.
The Middle Squeeze
Drywall gets every upstream delay with no float, and pays for it in overtime and stacked crews. At 19 percent gross margin, the thinnest in the interiors group besides framing, compression cost you don't document and bill is margin you give to the schedule.
FROM 6% TO 10% NET.
At $1M to $5M, the average drywall sub earns 19% gross margin and spends 13% of revenue on overhead. What's left is 6% net profit before taxes (Run On CFOS Trade Benchmark Reference). The CFOS target is 10% before taxes. That is the drywall average plus 3.5 points, and never below 10%. The book CONTROL's 12% is the rule of thumb across trades. It is not the industry average.
Two changes get you to the target. Overhead comes down 1 point to 12%, and gross margin comes up 3 points to 22%, so 22 minus 12 leaves 10. The gross margin points come from the three problems above, once you price them and bill for them. On a $3M year, every point is $30,000.
WHAT WE CHANGE.
These are the drywall 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 critical-lighting punch dispute
- Back-charge traffic in both directions
- The middle-of-schedule squeeze
- Board price and substitution economics
- Hanger and finisher economics
THE DRYWALL GAP CALCULATOR. AVERAGE AGAINST TARGET, IN DOLLARS.
Put in your annual revenue. You get gross margin, overhead and net profit for drywall 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.
YOU PAY ONE FLAT MONTHLY FEE.
The fee is set by your trailing 12 month revenue. We don't bill by the hour and we don't do payroll. The one-time onboarding fee is in the table too.
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: Drywall work often comes from public bids. On those jobs, certified payroll and wage classifications have to match the job cost record. ControlQore keeps the classification with the cost code, so the certified report and the job cost report come from the same data. Your office stops typing the same numbers twice every week.
FREQUENTLY ASKED.
See the full benchmarks for every revenue band on Run On CFOS.
How drywall CFO firms compare: the drywall firm study, with every score and its source.
MORE PROBLEMS WE PUT A NUMBER ON.
Back-charge traffic in both directions
MEP conflict rework separate code
Drywall is in the middle of the damage economy. Other trades cut into finished board for rework and the repair gets back-charged to them; drywall crews gouge finished floors moving board and get back-charged themselves. Untracked, both directions leak margin invisibly.
Hanger and finisher economics (two crews, one price)
Tape float texture separate billing
Installing and finishing are different labor markets, different piece rates, and different production math, sold under one unit price. Blended tracking does not show which half of the operation makes money.
The middle-of-schedule squeeze
Floor by floor job costing
Drywall mobilizes after MEP rough-in and before finishes, which means it inherits every upstream delay with none of the float. Compressed hang-and-finish windows force overtime and stacked crews the unit price never covered.
EACH DRYWALL PROBLEM HAS ITS OWN PAGE.
Drywall is one of 6 trades in the interiors and finishes family on our CFO for subcontractors page. Nearby trades with their own page:
