YOUR CASH ISN'T MISSING. IT'S JUST NOT COLLECTED YET.
Most subcontractors don't have a cash problem — they have a billing lag problem. Invoices go out late, collections stall, and the cash cycle doesn't match the pay cycle. The CFOS Cash Control System fixes all three at the operational level. The result: AR drops, cash builds, and the bank account stops being a surprise.
Cash Control is Module 1 in CFOS. It runs billing velocity, AR aging follow-up, and the 13-week cash forecast on a schedule. The goal is not to explain why cash is short. The goal is to pull it forward before the problem compounds. Subcontractors who run this module right stop drawing their LOC reactively and start managing cash with a 13-week view.
WHAT ACTUALLY BREAKS WITHOUT THIS.
Billing Lag That Compounds Every Month
The average commercial subcontractor submits invoices 18 to 22 days after the work is performed. SPM targets 5 to 7. On $6M in annual revenue, that 15-day gap is worth $246K sitting in earned-but-unbilled float at any given moment. It does not feel like a problem until the bank account is short on a Friday and the next pay app is not due for two weeks.
No Collections Process — Just Hope
An invoice submitted on time that nobody follows up on sits in the GC's AP queue until someone asks. Most subcontractors follow up when they are desperate — which means 60-day AR turns into 90-day AR because the only trigger for follow-up is a cash crisis. CFOS runs a systematic follow-up cadence: confirm receipt at 15 days, status at 30, escalation at 45.
Managing by Bank Balance Instead of Forecast
A bank balance tells you what happened. A 13-week cash forecast tells you what is coming. Without it, the owner does not know a cash gap is coming until it is two weeks away — too late to do anything except draw the LOC. With it, gaps are visible 8 to 10 weeks out, billing can be accelerated, and AP timing can be adjusted before the problem arrives.
WHAT OWNERS THINK IS WRONG VS WHAT IS.
We just need more revenue.
More revenue without faster billing and better collections makes the problem worse. A $4M subcontractor doing $246K in billing float becomes a $6M subcontractor doing $369K in float — with the same cash crunch, just larger. Revenue is not the fix. Billing velocity and collections discipline are.
Our bookkeeper handles the invoices.
A bookkeeper records what was submitted. They do not manage when it is submitted relative to the GC's cutoff date. They do not follow up at 15, 30, and 45 days. They do not build a 13-week forecast that maps billing timing, retainage release, and AP obligations simultaneously. That is not bookkeeping. That is cash control.
Our GCs just pay slow — that's the industry.
Pay-when-paid clauses and slow GC cycles are real. But most of the cash timing gap subcontractors experience is self-inflicted — billing lag, no cutoff calendar, no collections cadence. CFOS has recovered $2.1M+ in client AR since 2023 by doing the operational work most subcontractors accept as unavoidable.
SPECIFIC OUTPUTS. NOT ADVICE.
Proof it works: A $6.7M civil contractor had a $348K LOC maxed out and overhead running at 30%. CFOS installed billing cadence and a collections protocol. Within 30 days there was $309K in the bank. The LOC was paid off in 60 days. See the case study →
THIS PROBLEM IS TRADE-SPECIFIC.
Civil & Underground Utility
DOT and municipal projects pay in 60 to 90 days — not 30. Civil contractors who build cash forecasts on private GC assumptions are funding a gap out of their own working capital every project. CFOS models municipal cycles explicitly from contract signing.
Concrete & Flatwork
Concrete billing cycles concentrate at pour milestones and inspection sign-offs. Miss one inspection and the billing delays 2 to 3 weeks. CFOS tracks milestone billing triggers so invoices go out the day the trigger is hit, not the next time someone thinks to submit.
Electrical (Commercial)
Electrical contractors lose cash to T&M work that is not invoiced on the same cycle as the base contract. CFOS integrates CO billing and T&M billing into the same monthly submission so nothing gets left out of the cycle.
SWPPP & Erosion Control
SWPPP contractors bill for rain event emergency response that often sits uninvoiced for weeks because documentation takes time to assemble. CFOS installs a documentation protocol that runs concurrent with the field work so billing goes out the same week.
BEFORE AND AFTER.
FREQUENTLY ASKED.
