ONE PROBLEM, IN DETAIL

CONCRETE: AR AND THE FACTORING TRAP

QUICK ANSWER

Concrete's receivables age like every sub's, and the desperate version of the fix (invoice factoring, merchant cash advances) converts a timing problem into a margin hemorrhage.

This page covers one problem. The full picture for this trade, including the other places margin leaks, is on the concrete operating system page.

BY JOSH LUEBKERPublished 2026-08-06Updated 2026-08-06
WHAT BREAKS

WHERE THE MONEY GOES.

AR and the factoring trap

Concrete's receivables age like every sub's, and the desperate version of the fix (invoice factoring, merchant cash advances) converts a timing problem into a margin hemorrhage. The site already tells the counter-story with real numbers: a $4.9M concrete contractor went from $161K to $1.1M net once the control system replaced the debt spiral.

WHAT THE NUMBERS SAY

THE COST, SOURCED.

Proof anchor

Kasey / a verified concrete client, $4.9M concrete, $161K to $1.1M net. (Verified client story, CONTROL Ch1)

WHAT THIS TRADE SHOULD EARN

THE NUMBER TO MEASURE IT AGAINST.

Concrete contractors run about % net profit at $1M to $5M, rising to roughly 9% at $5M to $10M. The CFOS target at $1M to $5M is10%, set at 10 percent before taxes or 3.5 points better than your trade's average at your revenue, whichever is higher. A problem like this one lives in the distance between those two figures rather than in a loss on any single job.

Gross margin over the same bands runs % to 22%, against a CFOS target of 10%.

Full concrete benchmark bands by revenue

WHAT CONTROLS IT

THE SYSTEM THAT FIXES THIS.

Cash Control System

The 13 week forecast, and a funding decision made before the week starts.

How the Cash Control System works

COMMON QUESTIONS

FREQUENTLY ASKED.

It converts a timing problem into a permanent margin tax, and it compounds. The verified alternative on this site: a $4.9M concrete contractor exited the factoring-and-debt spiral and moved from $161K to $1.1M net through AR discipline, billing velocity, and a 13-week cash forecast instead.
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.
WHAT THIS TIES INTO
Josh Luebker, The Construction CFO
Josh Luebker
FRACTIONAL CFO · THE CONSTRUCTION CFO

Former commercial project manager and master electrician: 150+ projects worth $2.1B combined, from $50,000 to $300M. Now fractional CFO to commercial subcontractors.

IS THIS COSTING YOU MORE THAN YOU THINK?

Bring one concrete job and your last full year. We will show you what this is worth in dollars before we talk about working together.

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