TRADE SERVICE · INTERIORS & FINISH CLUSTER

FRACTIONAL CFO FOR FLOORING CONTRACTORS.

QUICK ANSWER

We run the finance function for flooring 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.

Flooring is the clearest overhead recovery problem in this dataset, so that's where we start. The showroom, the warehouse, the delivery fleet, and the estimating desk are all real assets no single job pays for, and a bid built on install labor and material alone recovers none of them. We put moisture testing on the schedule of values as its own billed line with a written sign-off protocol, because a floor laid on a wet slab is a six-figure failure that becomes your problem, and one such case settled at $1.3 million with the general liability carrier declining coverage. Then we negotiate deposits and stored-materials billing up front, since otherwise the sub banks a five-figure material position through freight, storage, and acclimation on every specialty job.

BY JOSH LUEBKERPublished 2026-08-06Updated 2026-08-06
WHERE FLOORING LOSES MONEY

THE THREE THINGS THAT DRAIN THE CASH.

LEAK 01

The Moisture Gate

The slab's readiness, not the GC's schedule, governs the install date, and a floor laid on a wet slab is a six-figure failure with the installer's name on it. ASTM-documented testing, a written sign-off protocol, and testing billed as a line item are the trade's real insurance policy; a $1.3 million settlement over one Best Buy floor proves the stakes.

LEAK 02

The Overhead Engine

Flooring earns a 24 percent gross margin and keeps 5 percent, because 15 percent overhead (showroom, warehouse, fleet, estimating) eats the difference. This is the clearest overhead-recovery problem in the 48-trade dataset: the field isn't the leak; the building is.

LEAK 03

The Material Float

Deposits out at order, freight and acclimation in the middle, billing at install: the sub banks a five-figure material position on every specialty job unless stored-materials and deposit terms are negotiated up front. (cfos-working-capital-system) ---

HOW SPM FIXES IT

WHAT WE CHANGE.

The wet slab (the trade's million-dollar failure mode)
Material deposits, acclimation, and the storage float
End-of-schedule compression
Retainage at the finish line
The overhead-heavy paradox (good gross, thin net)
PRICING

FLAT MONTHLY FEE. NO SURPRISES.

Priced by trailing 12 month revenue. No hourly billing. No payroll. No add-ons.

Last 12 months revenueMonthly fee
Up to $1M$1,900 to $2,900
$1M to $3.5M$2,600 to $3,900
$3.5M to $6.5M$3,800 to $5,700
$6.5M to $9.5M$5,100 to $7,100
$9.5M to $12.5M$6,100 to $8,500
$12.5M to $15.5M$7,400 to $11,000
$15.5M to $18.5M$9,400 to $13,500
$18.5M+Quoted individually

Range reflects the three tiers below. Which one you're in depends on how much of the work you want off your desk. No payroll. No hidden line items.

Core

You stop guessing.

You get the CFO work. Job costing built against the way you estimate, a 13 week cash forecast, monthly WIP, and a meeting every month that ends in decisions rather than a report.

Your bookkeeper keeps doing the books.

Executive

You stop touching the books.

Everything in Core, and we run the bookkeeping and the controllership as well. Nobody in your office is answering coding questions or chasing a reconciliation at month end.

We do the books. No payroll.

Strategic

Every job shows its margin while it's still running.

Everything in Executive, plus the job costing and WIP platform set up, loaded with your cost codes, and managed for you every month. You never have to learn it.

We do the job costing.

COMMON QUESTIONS

FREQUENTLY ASKED.

Flooring contractors at $1M to $5M net 5 percent on average, rising to 7.5 percent by $25M to $50M; the CFOS target at $1M to $5M is 10 percent. Flooring's paradox is a strong 24 percent gross margin eaten by 15 percent overhead, which makes overhead recovery, not field performance, the first place to look. Every net profit figure here is stated before taxes, the same basis CFMA reports on, so the two are directly comparable.
Three tiers, and which one you are in depends on how much of the work you want off your desk. Core is where you stop guessing: job costing built against the way you estimate, a 13 week cash forecast, monthly WIP, and a monthly meeting that ends in decisions, while your bookkeeper keeps doing the books. Executive is where you stop touching the books, because we run the bookkeeping and the controllership as well. Strategic is where every job shows its margin while it is still running, because the job costing and WIP platform is set up and managed for you. No payroll. No scope gaps.
Sixty days. We migrate your books back to the start of your last taxable year, set up ControlQore, and build your job costing structure from scratch. Fully operational in two months.
ControlQore is the job costing and WIP platform we use for all clients. Purpose-built for contractors, more affordable than legacy tools, and AI-infused. We set it up and manage it, so you do not have to learn it.
A bookkeeper records what happened. We tell you what it means and what to do about it. We align job costing to your estimates, track WIP monthly, and hold strategic accountability meetings so problems get fixed and not merely documented.
$10.7M+
Client AR Recovered Since 2023
48
Active Trade Specializations
60 DAYS
Average Onboarding Time
WHAT THIS TIES INTO
Josh Luebker, The Construction CFO
Josh Luebker
FRACTIONAL CFO · THE CONSTRUCTION CFO

Former commercial construction project manager and master electrician. Managed 150+ projects worth more than $2.1B combined, with individual jobs from $50,000 to $300M, including data centers, military bases, hospitals, and high-rises. Now fractional CFO for commercial subcontractors doing $1M to $12M through Sulphur Prairie Management.About Josh  | LinkedIn

DO YOU KNOW YOUR TRUE MARGIN ON FLOORING WORK?

Bring one job. We will show you the difference between what you bid and what it cost.

You don't hire a CFO because it's safe, you do it because the real risk isn't having one.
Book a 20 minute diagnostic

20 minutes. No sales pressure. We will tell you exactly what's broken before we talk about anything else.

OR START WITH THE WORKBOOKS. NO CALL NEEDED.