TRADE SERVICE · ELECTRICAL & TECH CLUSTER

FRACTIONAL CFO FOR SOLAR CONTRACTORS.

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We run the finance function for solar 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.

Solar's economics got rewritten twice, so the first thing we do is map the pipeline against two clocks. Section 48E's 30 percent credit now runs on one of two paths only, safe-harbored work that began construction by July 4, 2026 and has to hold continuity, or post-deadline work racing a December 31, 2027 in-service cliff, and a project not assigned to a clock has an unknown margin. We treat the audit file as the largest line item on the job, because begin-construction evidence, physical work records, binding contracts, and Foreign Entity of Concern content documentation are what decide whether the credit exists at all. Then we cost the operating model choice, since the residential 25D credit died December 31, 2025 and the pivot to commercial, storage, or service each carries its own cash curve.

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

THE THREE THINGS THAT DRAIN THE CASH.

LEAK 01

The Countdown Book

Every commercial project now lives on one of two clocks: safe-harbored backlog racing continuity into 2030, or post-deadline work racing the December 31, 2027 in-service cliff. A pipeline that's not mapped against those clocks is a pipeline whose margins are unknown.

LEAK 02

The Audit File

Begin-construction evidence, physical-work records, binding contracts, and FEOC content documentation decide whether the 30 percent credit exists. The paperwork isn't compliance overhead; it's the largest single line item on the project.

LEAK 03

The Model Reset

The residential credit's death repriced an entire business model overnight. Pivot decisions (commercial, storage, service) are operating-model choices with cash curves attached, and the operators who chose deliberately beat the ones who drifted. (cfos-operating-model-definition) ---

HOW SPM FIXES IT

WHAT WE CHANGE.

The OBBBA cliff (the deadline that just passed, and the one still coming)
Safe harbor as a legal moving target
FEOC content rules (the supply chain got a compliance test)
The dealer-fee hangover and the residential reset
The everything-else of solar construction (racking, interconnection, retainage)
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.

Solar contractors at $1M to $5M net about 6.5 percent on the SPM 48-trade benchmark dataset, rising to 9.5 percent by $25M to $50M; the CFOS target at $1M to $5M is 10 percent. In 2026-2027 the margin question is inseparable from the policy question: which clock each project is on, and whether the credit documentation holds. 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 SOLAR 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.