FRACTIONAL CFO FOR EIFS AND STUCCO CONTRACTORS.
We manage the finance side for EIFS and stucco 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.
EIFS and stucco are two businesses sold under one license, so we split them in the cost codes on day one. Three-coat is materials-light with long cure days. EIFS is materials-heavier and faster, with a 15 to 35 percent installed premium that a blended cost history throws away. We bill per coat completed and document weather delays. Coats cure on temperature's schedule, and a three-coat winter is either a cash plan or a cash surprise. We also fund a warranty reserve against the sealed system. The trade's litigation history goes back to 1995, and full remediation still costs $15,000 to $40,000 a house.
SPM is a construction CFO for EIFS and stucco 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 Sealed-System Tail
EIFS installed wrong holds water in the wall. The trade's litigation history goes back to 1995, with remediation bills of $15,000 to $40,000 per house. Detail-level QC documentation and a warranty reserve are the price of selling a sealed system. Count them as part of the work.
The Cure Clock
Coats cure on temperature's schedule. The GC's schedule doesn't change that. Bill per coat and document weather delays, and a three-coat winter stays a cash plan with no surprises.
The Detail Donation
Field walls price per square foot. Quoins, bands and trim price per linear foot of fuss. A bid that rates decoration at field-wall numbers gives the architecture away for free.
FROM 8% TO 11.5% NET.
At $1M to $5M, the average EIFS and stucco sub earns 23% gross margin and spends 15% of revenue on overhead. What's left is 8% net profit before taxes (Run On CFOS Trade Benchmark Reference). The CFOS target is 11.5% before taxes. That is the EIFS and stucco 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 14%, and gross margin comes up 2.5 points to 25.5%, so 25.5 minus 14 leaves 11.5. 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 EIFS and stucco 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 cost-per-SF question
- The moisture liability shadow
- The cure-time clock
- 3-coat vs EIFS
- Detail labor
THE EIFS AND STUCCO GAP CALCULATOR. AVERAGE AGAINST TARGET, IN DOLLARS.
Put in your annual revenue. You get gross margin, overhead and net profit for EIFS and stucco 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.
FREQUENTLY ASKED.
See the full benchmarks for every revenue band on Run On CFOS.
How EIFS and stucco CFO firms compare: the EIFS and stucco firm study, with every score and its source.
MORE PROBLEMS WE PUT A NUMBER ON.
3-coat vs EIFS (two systems, two cost structures)
3 coat vs EIFS billing structure
Three-coat is materials-light and labor-long (cure days between coats); EIFS is materials-heavier (foam, mesh, finish) and faster.
The cure-time clock (weather owns the schedule)
Cure time weather delay billing
Base coats, brown coats, and finish coats each have their own temperature and moisture windows; three-coat stucco adds cure days between coats that EIFS compresses. Cold snaps and rain rewrite the calendar.
EACH EIFS AND STUCCO PROBLEM HAS ITS OWN PAGE.
EIFS and Stucco is one of 6 trades in the building envelope family on our CFO for subcontractors page. Nearby trades with their own page:
