FRACTIONAL CFO FOR GENERAL CONTRACTORS WHO SELF-PERFORM.
SPM The Construction CFO is a fractional CFO for general contractors who self-perform with their own crews and also hire and pay subs. We split job costing between self-performed and subcontracted scope, build monthly WIP, put every sub payment on the calendar of the owner pay applications that fund it, and forecast cash 13 weeks out. Built for subs doing $1M to $12M. Above $12.5M we quote. From $1,900 a month, 60 day onboarding.
This page is for the general contractor who self-performs. If you are a trade sub, start with CFO for subcontractors. For everything SPM does, see the construction CFO home page, and to see how SPM compares with other firms for GCs, read the firm study.
A SUB'S PROBLEMS, PLUS A GC'S.
Self-performed work has labor, burden, equipment and material against the units you estimated. Subcontracted work has a contract value, change orders and retainage. Put both in one cost code and you can read neither margin.
Your pay application goes in at month end and the owner pays weeks later. Your subs expect their money on their own terms, and your own payroll is due every week either way.
The owner holds retainage from you and you hold it from your subs, and the two come back on different dates. A forecast that leaves either one out is wrong by the full amount.
A surety reads your WIP schedule to set your bonding line, and a bank reads it to set your credit. A GC's WIP has more in it to question, so every job on it has to tie to the books.
WHAT CHANGES FIRST.
3 GCS, WITH THE NUMBERS.
Every one anonymous, every one a self-performing general contractor, every figure from the client's own statements.
A $13.1M marine general contractor wanted to sell, and the number wasn't there. Four accounting staff, no job costing, no per project reporting. We built the cost structure, tightened spending nobody had examined, and put twice monthly reporting on every job. Net profit went from 7 to 14 percent on the same revenue, and the valuation went from $2.3M to $5.5M.
A $25M marine general contractor came to us without job costing or WIP reporting, so nobody could tell which projects were making money. We built the entire finance function from scratch. The bank balance hasn't dropped below $1.2M since the engagement started, the business generated over $1M in net profit, and it paid out $2.6M in profit sharing.
A commercial general contractor doing $5M in tenant improvement buildouts was pricing every job with a 10 percent overhead rate in it. The trailing quarter said 16.4. Tenant improvement work is feast and famine, so the assumption had been set once and never flexed with the volume it was supposed to track. Every bid left the office 6 points light before a crew mobilised, and the shortfall got funded by whatever job started next. Net profit moved from 6.7 percent to 11.2 percent in 120 days, and most of that came from taking 4 points out of overhead, not from winning better work.
YOUR CREWS' TRADE PAGES.
Each trade page has that trade's gross margin, overhead and net profit benchmarks and the three places it loses cash. These are the trades general contractors most often keep in house:
PUBLISHED. NOT QUOTED.
A flat monthly fee set by your last 12 months revenue and the tier you pick: Core, Strategic, and Platinum. No hourly billing. No payroll. The one-time onboarding fee is in the table too.
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 | $1,000 |
| $1M to $3.5M | $2,600 | $4,100 | $5,300 | $1,500 |
| $3.5M to $6.5M | $3,800 | $5,900 | $8,300 | $3,000 |
| $6.5M to $9.5M | $5,100 | $7,600 | $11,800 | $4,500 |
| $9.5M to $12.5M | $6,100 | $8,900 | $14,900 | $6,000 |
| 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.
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.
CFO work. Your own bookkeeper keeps doing the books.
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 and never in a report.
Your bookkeeper still does the books.
Core, plus bookkeeping and bank reconciliations, plus job costing and WIP software set up and managed for you. Use your own online accounting software or we supply it, one price.
Every job shows its margin while it is still open.
Everything in Core, plus the bookkeeping and bank reconciliations done for you, and the job costing and WIP software set up, loaded with your cost codes, and managed every month. Use your own online software, or move to ours and we cover it.
A bookkeeper we choose does the books and reconciliations. No payroll.
Strategic, plus a controller who handles payables and receivables the way an in-house controller would. You approve every payment.
You approve, and the money side gets handled.
Everything in Strategic, plus a controller we choose who handles your bills and receivables for you the way an in-house controller would. They call vendors, pay the bills and keep the accounting current. We plan the cash flow first, and you approve every payment because it is your money.
A controller we choose does the payables and receivables. No payroll, no pay applications, no collections.
FREQUENTLY ASKED.
