WHY CURTAIN WALL / GLAZING CONTRACTORS LOSE MARGIN WITHOUT KNOWING IT.
Curtain Wall / Glazing margin is lost to three specific things: the fabrication queue, the front-loaded five figures, and the unaccelerable schedule. All three are measurable, and all three are invisible without job costing that reads against the estimate.
Curtain wall and glazing contractors at $1M to $5M net 8 percent on the SPM 48-trade dataset, the highest floor in Batch 1, rising to 10 percent by $25M to $50M; the CFOS target at $1M to $5M is 11.5 percent. The distance between the trade average and the CFOS target isn't a pricing problem in this trade. It sits in the three mechanisms below, each of which moves margin without appearing as a failure on any single job. Nothing bills until shop drawings approve, and custom curtain wall runs 16 to 24 weeks from approval to first delivery. The submittal phase is the cash phase: every review cycle is financed by the glazier.
THE MATH BEHIND THE MISSING CASH.
The Fabrication Queue
Nothing bills until shop drawings approve, and custom curtain wall runs 16 to 24 weeks from approval to first delivery. The submittal phase is the cash phase: every review cycle is financed by the glazier.
The Front-Loaded Five Figures
Performance mock-ups run $30,000 to $80,000, engineering and calculations stack on top, and fabricator deposits leave before production starts. A schedule of values that starts billing at installation finances the entire preconstruction phase for free.
The Unaccelerable Schedule
Glass in a plant queue can't be crewed up, and one missed delivery idles the whole installation crew while every other trade keeps billing. Idle-crew cost tracking and delay documentation are the difference between a claim and a loss. (cfos-job-profitability-system) ---
WHAT CHANGES IN THE FIRST 60 DAYS.
| Metric | $1M to $5M | $5M to $10M | $10M to $25M |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross margin, industry average | 27% | 28% | 29% |
| Gross margin, CFOS target | 28.5% | 28.5% | 29% |
| Net profit, industry average | 9% | 11% | 13% |
| Net profit, CFOS target | 11.5% | 12.5% | 14% |
| Overhead, industry average | 18% | 17% | 16% |
| Overhead, CFOS target | 17% | 16% | 15% |
Industry figures are Curtain Wall/ Glazing contractors' AVERAGE for each revenue band, not a floor. The CFOS net profit target is set at 10 percent before taxes or 3.5 points better than your trade's average at your revenue, whichever is higher, and the gross margin target is set at whatever gross margin produces that net profit once your overhead is paid, and never below your trade's own average. Gross minus overhead equals net on every column, so the rows tie out.
| 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.
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