FRACTIONAL CFO FOR UNDERGROUND UTILITY CONTRACTORS.
We run the finance function for underground utility 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.
Underground utility runs two production economies out of one bid book, so those get separate cost histories on day one. Directional drilling sells feet per day through a bore path priced on soils, depth, and diameter, while open cut sells trench, lay, and backfill production with shoring and dewatering behind it, and an 18 percent gross margin can't fund systematic mispricing in either direction. We price potholing and vacuum excavation into the work as financial controls, because a pipeline crew crosses more foreign utilities in a week than a mass excavation crew meets on a whole job, and general liability policies routinely sublimit underground facility damage below the real repair cost. Then we bid the public owner's cash carry explicitly, since municipal work pays on council approval cycles, holds retainage to restoration acceptance, and replaces lien rights with bond claims.
THE THREE THINGS THAT DRAIN THE CASH.
The Two Bores
HDD and open cut are separate production economies sold under one bid book; blended histories misprice both, and an 18 percent gross margin can't fund systematic mispricing in either direction.
The Linear Gauntlet
Every week of pipe crosses more foreign utilities than most trades meet in a year, under strict-liability locate law with GL sublimits underneath. Potholing and vacuum excavation are financial controls priced into the work, not optional caution.
The Council's Calendar
Municipal owners pay on approval cycles, hold retainage to restoration acceptance, and replace lien rights with bond claims. The public-owner cash carry gets priced in the bid or funded by the contractor. (cfos-cash-control-system) ---
WHAT WE CHANGE.
FLAT MONTHLY FEE. NO SURPRISES.
Priced by trailing 12 month revenue. No hourly billing. No payroll. No add-ons.
| Last 12 months revenue | Monthly 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.
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.
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.
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.
Prevailing wage note: Underground Utility work often runs on public bids, which means certified payroll and wage classifications have to line up with the job cost record. ControlQore holds the classification against the cost code, so the certified report and the job cost report come from the same data instead of somebody keying the same numbers twice every week.
FREQUENTLY ASKED.
