Why Marine Contractors Run Out of Cash.
Marine contractors lose cash to three structural problems: port authority and government agency pay cycles that run 60–90 days, mobilization and equipment costs that hit months before any billing milestone, and no per-project financial reporting — so losing jobs subsidize winning ones invisibly. A $25M marine GC we worked with was running their entire accounting on a shared Excel file with one person managing everything. Once we moved them off Excel into proper systems, their bank balance never dropped below $1.2M — and they accessed $10M in aggregate bonding they couldn't get before.
Marine contracting — port work, waterway work, marine structures, dredging — has a financial profile that most CFOs have never encountered. The projects are large, the clients are often government entities or port authorities, and the pay cycles are long. Equipment is specialized and expensive to mobilize. Diving operations, barge positioning, and underwater work create cost structures that don't map to standard construction accounting. Add international vendor payments if the work crosses borders. Most accounting systems weren't built for this. Most CFOs don't know how to run it. CFOS was built for exactly this kind of contractor.
Why Marine Cash Disappears
Marine contractors do complex, high-value work. They win significant projects. They have experienced crews and strong GC or agency relationships. The financial problem isn't the work — it's the structure around it.
Port authority pay cycles are slow by design. Public agency contracts often require 60–90 days from invoice to payment. On a $5M marine project, that's $400K–$600K of completed work permanently in the pipeline. The contractor funds it from operating cash or a credit line — every month, on every project.
Marine mobilization is uniquely expensive. Bringing a barge, crane, or dive team to a site costs real money before a single billing event triggers. On fixed-price contracts that mobilization cost is often underpriced because no one tracked what the last marine mobilization actually cost down to the dollar.
The biggest problem: no per-project reporting. When you have multiple marine projects running simultaneously and no visibility into which ones are performing, the profitable ones mask the losers. You think the company is doing well. One project is subsidizing three others and you won't find out until it closes — if you ever find out at all.
What we saw at $13.5M: A marine GC had four accounting staff, no job costing, and no per-project reporting. When we built the job costing structure and cleaned the books, net profit went from 7% to 14% on the same revenue — recovering $917K a year that was already inside the business. The valuation went from $2.3M to $5.5M in 9 months. See the case study →
The Marine Cash Failure Chain
Government and Agency Clients Pay Slow by Design
Port authorities, Army Corps of Engineers, state DOTs — marine contractors work with government clients whose payment terms are set by procurement rules, not business logic. Net 60 is common. Net 90 happens. On a $3M marine project billing $300K per month, that lag means $600K–$900K of earned revenue sitting in the pipeline waiting for a government check run. The contractor funds it. Every month. This isn't a cash flow problem — it's a capital requirement that most marine contractors don't explicitly account for when pricing work.
Barges, Cranes, and Dive Teams Mobilize Before Any Billing
Marine mobilization is front-loaded cash with no immediate billing recovery. Positioning a barge, mobilizing a crane barge, flying in a dive team — all of it happens before the first foot of sheet pile goes in and before the first billing milestone triggers. On a well-structured schedule of values, mobilization is its own line item billed at contract signing. On a poorly structured SOV — which is most of them — mobilization cost is absorbed into unit prices and recovered slowly across the project. That's a 30–60 day cash hole on every project start.
Profitable Projects Mask Losing Ones — Until Closeout
Without per-project job costing, a marine contractor running three simultaneous projects sees one blended number: total revenue, total cost, blended margin. If project A is making 22% and projects B and C are losing money, the blended number looks acceptable. By the time you find out projects B and C lost money, they're closed. The crew is on the next job. The loss is written off. This repeats. CFOS builds per-project reporting from day one so you know which projects are performing while you can still do something about it.
What Marine Contractors Blame Instead
Most marine contractors who are cash-tight blame the wrong thing. Here's what we hear — and what's actually happening.
"We just need more work." More work at the same margins with the same billing structure and no per-project visibility just accelerates the problem. More revenue with 7% net margin and slow government pay cycles means more cash locked in the pipeline, not less.
"Our bookkeeper can't keep up." The bookkeeper isn't the problem. The system is. A bookkeeper recording transactions in a shared Excel file for a $13M marine GC is set up to fail regardless of how good they are. The structure has to change — not the person.
"We need a bigger line of credit." A line of credit is a band-aid on a billing structure problem. If the mobilization cost isn't front-loaded in the SOV and the government client pays in 75 days, you'll borrow on the line every single month. The interest cost is real. The fix is the billing structure — not more borrowing capacity.
What CFOS Delivers for Marine Contractors
FLAT MONTHLY FEE. NO SURPRISES.
Two tiers based on trailing 12-month revenue. No hourly billing. No payroll. No add-ons. Everything included in the flat monthly fee.
| Revenue | Core Financial | Executive Financial |
|---|---|---|
| Under $1M | $1,900/mo | $2,900/mo |
| $1M–$3M | $2,600/mo | $3,600/mo |
| $4M–$6M | $3,800/mo | $5,500/mo |
| $7M–$9M | $5,100/mo | $6,900/mo |
| $10M–$12M | $6,100/mo | $8,500/mo |
| $13M+ | Quoted | Quoted |
FREQUENTLY ASKED.
