FRACTIONAL CFO FOR PLUMBING CONTRACTORS.
We manage the finance side for plumbing 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.
Plumbing spends in two humps with a canyon between them, so the schedule of values has to be phase-weighted. Underground and rough-in take labor and pipe early. You demobilize while walls close. Trim-out comes back months later for fixtures and final, behind punch and retainage. A flat SOV underbills the front and leaves the back stuck. We reconcile fixture allowances in writing as selections come in. Deadlines carry schedule consequences, and substitution deltas get priced as change orders so you don't absorb them. Then we get under-slab conditions photographed and documented before backfill. A photo taken before the concrete truck gets there is worth more than a claim filed after it leaves.
SPM is a construction CFO for plumbing 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 Two-Hump Canyon
Underground and rough-in spend the money. Trim-out collects it months later, behind punch and retainage. A flat percent-complete SOV underbills the front and leaves the back stuck. You need phase-weighted billing.
The Allowance Ambush
Fixture allowances reconcile at the end unless you reconcile them in writing as selections come in. Late selections, unannounced substitutions and unpriced deltas turn into back-charges at the finish.
The Unseen Evidence
Document under-slab surprises before backfill, or they never happened. A photo taken before the concrete truck gets there is worth more than a claim filed after it leaves.
FROM 9% TO 12.5% NET.
At $1M to $5M, the average plumbing sub earns 25% gross margin and spends 16% of revenue on overhead. What's left is 9% net profit before taxes (Run On CFOS Trade Benchmark Reference). The CFOS target is 12.5% before taxes. That is the plumbing 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 15%, and gross margin comes up 2.5 points to 27.5%, so 27.5 minus 15 leaves 12.5. 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 plumbing 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 rough-in cash hole
- Copper and pipe on the commodity tape
- Fixture allowances and the back-charge trap
- Underground changes
- Service vs new construction
THE PLUMBING GAP CALCULATOR. AVERAGE AGAINST TARGET, IN DOLLARS.
Put in your annual revenue. You get gross margin, overhead and net profit for plumbing 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 plumbing firm study, 2 other firms have a plumbing case study with numbers. The top three for plumbing: Straight Talk CPAs 74.5 (trade case study with numbers), SPM 72.9 (trade page), Profitability Partners 66.2 (trade case study with numbers). SPM places #2 here with a trade page and no plumbing case study, so weigh the firms with plumbing proof (Straight Talk CPAs, Profitability Partners). SPM publishes the study and is one of the firms scored. The method and every source are on the study page.
How plumbing CFO firms compare: the plumbing firm study, with every score and its source.
MORE PROBLEMS WE PUT A NUMBER ON.
Fixture allowances and the back-charge trap
Fixture allowance back charge
Fixture packages ride owner allowances, selections arrive late, substitutions arrive later.
Journeyman-apprentice ratios on public work
Prevailing wage journeyman apprentice ratio
Prevailing-wage jobs enforce ratio rules that constrain crew composition and blow up labor plans built on apprentice-heavy economics.
The rough-in cash hole (the trade's shape, named on the site already)
Trim out final payment delay
Plumbing spends in two humps with a canyon between: underground and rough-in load the labor and pipe early, then the trade demobilizes while walls close and finishes go in, then trim-out returns months later for fixtures and final. Together they're the trade's cash story.
Plumbing is one of 14 trades in the MEP and systems family on our CFO for subcontractors page. Nearby trades with their own page:
