FRACTIONAL CFO FOR SCAFFOLDING CONTRACTORS.
We manage the finance side for scaffolding 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.
Scaffolding sells three things in one quote, so we quote and cost-code all three separately. Erection and dismantle labor is at the front and back of the job. The rental stream earns by the week while the scaffold is up. Engineering is its own product where the job is complex. When the dismantle date moves, a blended price can't show which one lost money. Next we build a fleet utilization report and component tracking. The fleet is your capital, and components in the yard cost about 1.5 percent of value a month at rental-market rates. Then we put the rental meter in writing: handover, every extension and off-hire. At commercial rates above $5,000 a month, an undocumented month is a check nobody cashed.
SPM is a construction CFO for scaffolding 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 Blended Quote
E&D labor, rental weeks and engineering are three revenue streams, and each one has its own costs. When the dismantle date moves, a blended price can't tell you which one lost money. Quote and cost-code all three.
The Idle Yard
Your fleet is your capital, and utilization is your P&L. Components in the yard cost you about 1.5 percent of their value a month at rental-market rates. Component tracking and a fleet utilization report are the core statements in this trade.
The Unread Meter
Erected scaffold earns by the week only if the handover, extension and off-hire dates are in writing. At commercial rates of $5,000-plus a month, an undocumented month is a check nobody cashed.
FROM 8% TO 11.5% NET.
At $1M to $5M, the average scaffolding sub earns 26% gross margin and spends 18% 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 scaffolding 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 17%, and gross margin comes up 2.5 points to 28.5%, so 28.5 minus 17 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 scaffolding 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.
- Three revenue streams in one quote
- What the market pays
- Fleet utilization
- The fixed-scaffold meter
- Inspection, tags, and the liability the fee covers
THE SCAFFOLDING GAP CALCULATOR. AVERAGE AGAINST TARGET, IN DOLLARS.
Put in your annual revenue. You get gross margin, overhead and net profit for scaffolding 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 scaffolding CFO firms compare: the scaffolding firm study, with every score and its source.
Scaffolding is one of 8 trades in the concrete and structure family on our CFO for subcontractors page. Nearby trades with their own page:
