FRACTIONAL CFO FOR LANDSCAPING CONTRACTORS.
We manage the finance side for landscaping 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.
Landscaping is two businesses whose profits are worth different amounts, so we keep divisional P&Ls before anything else. Commercial maintenance books have 14 to 20 percent EBITDA on more than 90 percent recurring revenue and get 6 to 9 times EBITDA from private equity platforms. Design and build install sells at 4 to 5.5 times. The same profit dollar prices differently depending on which division earned it. Next we build crew-day P&Ls and route density reports. A three-person crew on a spread commercial route can log six or more unpaid person-hours of drive time in one day, and your pricing only counts time at the property. Then we keep a scope log against the twelve-month contract, put 3 to 7 percent escalators tied to CPI in the terms, and start renewals 90 to 120 days before expiration.
SPM is a construction CFO for landscaping 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 Mix That Sets the Multiple
Maintenance books sell at 6 to 9x and install books at 4 to 5.5x. The same profit dollar is worth different amounts depending on which one earned it. Divisional P&Ls are your exit strategy.
The Windshield Tax
Your crews log six-plus unpaid person-hours a day of drive time. Nobody sees it, because route pricing is built on time at the property. Route density and crew-day P&Ls are how you get above the thin 7 percent floor.
The Favor That Became the Baseline
Twelve-month contracts pick up informal additions until the extras are expected. A scope log and quoted enhancements keep the contract paying what it should.
FROM 7% TO 10.5% NET.
At $1M to $5M, the average landscaping sub earns 22% gross margin and spends 15% of revenue on overhead. What's left is 7% net profit before taxes (Run On CFOS Trade Benchmark Reference). The CFOS target is 10.5% before taxes. That is the landscaping 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 24.5%, so 24.5 minus 14 leaves 10.5. 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 landscaping 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.
- Two businesses, priced by two markets
- The windshield leak
- Scope creep in the twelve-month contract
- Enhancement revenue
- Commercial terms and the escalator
THE LANDSCAPING GAP CALCULATOR. AVERAGE AGAINST TARGET, IN DOLLARS.
Put in your annual revenue. You get gross margin, overhead and net profit for landscaping 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.
In our landscaping firm study, 2 other firms have a landscaping case study with numbers. The top three for landscaping: SPM 81.2 (trade case study with numbers), Straight Talk CPAs 74.5 (trade case study with numbers), Remote Books Online 67.8 (trade case study with numbers). SPM places #1 here with a landscaping case study of its own. SPM publishes the study and is one of the firms scored. The method and every source are on the study page.
How landscaping CFO firms compare: the landscaping firm study, with every score and its source.
Landscaping is one of 14 trades in the sitework and civil family on our CFO for subcontractors page. Nearby trades with their own page:
