TRADE SERVICE · INTERIORS & FINISH CLUSTER

FRACTIONAL CFO FOR PAINTING CONTRACTORS.

QUICK ANSWER

We run the finance function for painting 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.

Painting is labor with a thin material line on top, so crew production per hour is nearly the whole margin equation. Interior work priced $2 to $6 a square foot in 2026 and exteriors $1.50 to $4, and the entire spread between those bounds is prep condition, ceiling height, and crew efficiency, which means a contractor without production history is quoting a range rather than a price. We walk surface conditions before the bid and code prep separately from finish, because the hours before the paint are the job. Then we negotiate line-item retention release, since painting finishes last and a 10 percent hold is double the 5 percent net before taxes that a typical painting contractor earns.

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

THE THREE THINGS THAT DRAIN THE CASH.

LEAK 01

The Last-Trade Hold

Painting finishes last, so the painter waits on everyone's punch list for a retainage release that's larger than the trade's 5 percent net margin. Line-item release language is the counter-lever, and most painters never ask for it.

LEAK 02

The Punch That Never Ends

Closeout pressure converts new scope into "touch-ups." Without a punch-versus-change-order log and photo documentation, the painter repaints the building's last month for free.

LEAK 03

The Production Equation

Labor is nearly the whole cost, so untracked crew production per hour is untracked margin. The spread between $2 and $6 per square foot is prep, height, and efficiency, and only tracked history prices it. (cfos-job-profitability-system) ---

HOW SPM FIXES IT

WHAT WE CHANGE.

Last trade standing (the retainage endgame)
Punch list scope creep (touch-ups forever)
Production rates are the whole business
The prep trap (unpriced surface condition)
Warranty tail and callback reserve
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.

Painting contractors at $1M to $5M net about 5 percent on the SPM 48-trade benchmark dataset, tied for the lowest floor across the trades, rising to 7.5 percent by $25M to $50M. The CFOS target at $1M to $5M is 10 percent. On margins this thin, retainage timing and production tracking aren't accounting details; they're the business. 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 PAINTING 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.