In-House Accounting vs Outsourced. The Math.
Running construction accounting in-house for a commercial subcontractor doing $3M to $10M costs $135K to $215K a year fully loaded once salary, benefits, software, training, turnover, and management time are included. Outsourcing to a fractional CFO firm covers the same scope plus controller and CFO-level work for $50K to $100K a year. The cost gap widens as you add scope because outsourced firms bring more senior expertise per hour than any single in-house hire.
Most commercial subcontractor owners benchmark in-house accounting by salary only. Salary is roughly half the real load. This page is the full math.
What an In-House Controller Actually Costs.
The salary is the visible piece. The other half lives in lines owners do not always think to include.
Salary for a construction controller at $5M revenue: $75K to $95K base. Median around $82K.
Burden on that salary: payroll taxes, workers comp (light office rate but still applies), health insurance (employer share roughly $8K to $14K per year for individual coverage), retirement match if offered (3% of salary common = $2.5K), and PTO accrual. Burden multiplier 1.30 to 1.40 = $24K to $38K on top of salary.
Software and tools: the construction-specific accounting platform (Sage Intacct, Foundation, Viewpoint, or ControlQore) at $2K to $8K per year depending on platform and user count. Add Excel templates, document management, and other tools = $3K to $10K total per year.
Training and development: CCIFP certification or equivalent ($1.5K), CFMA membership and conference ($2K), online training subscriptions ($800). Round to $4K per year.
Turnover cost: the average tenure of a construction controller at a $5M sub is 2.5 to 3.5 years. When they leave, replacement cost averages $25K to $40K including recruiting, signing bonus, ramp time, and the productivity loss while the new controller learns the company. Amortized: $8K to $13K per year.
Owner management time: 4 to 6 hours a week of owner time supervising the controller, reviewing their work, and resolving issues. At an owner's opportunity cost of $150 to $250 per hour, this is $31K to $78K per year.
Full-load total for a $5M sub: $75K (low) + $24K (burden) + $3K (software) + $4K (training) + $8K (turnover) + $31K (owner time) = $145K low end. High end: $95K + $38K + $10K + $4K + $13K + $78K = $238K.
Quotable benchmark: the in-house controller at a $5M commercial subcontractor costs $145K to $238K fully loaded. Most owners benchmark this at $82K.
What Fractional CFO Firms Actually Charge.
The Construction CFO Executive Financial tier for a $5M sub starts at $4,100 a month, $49,200 a year. That includes:
Bookkeeping (job-coded, closed within 10 business days of month end). Job costing aligned to the estimate. Monthly WIP schedule. 13-week cash flow forecast. Monthly CFO working session with the owner. Bonding and banking advisory. Operational decisions on pricing, billing, and capital.
ControlQore software at approximately $100 per $1M revenue per month = $6,000 a year for the $5M sub.
Full-load total outsourced for a $5M sub: $49,200 + $6,000 = $55,200 a year.
The comparison: $145K to $238K in-house vs $55K outsourced. The cost gap is $90K to $183K per year, in favor of outsourcing, for the same revenue size.
The scope gap is also wider. In-house at $145K provides controller-level support with the owner doing CFO-level work themselves. Outsourced at $55K provides controller plus fractional CFO support. The owner does not need to provide the CFO scope.
Above $20M Revenue, the Math Inverts.
The in-house cost stays roughly the same as revenue scales because one controller can handle a $5M business or a $15M business. The fractional CFO cost scales with revenue (the Executive Financial tier moves up with size).
The Construction CFO Executive Financial pricing at the top of the published range hits about $8,500 a month at $10M to $12M = $102K a year. Add ControlQore at scale = roughly $114K all-in.
Above $12M, the firm transitions to custom-quoted Executive Financial engagements that scale further. At $20M to $25M revenue the cost approaches what an in-house controller plus a part-time CFO would cost. Around that band the math gets closer to even, and above $25M the hybrid model (in-house controller + outsourced CFO advisory) often makes sense.
The honest read: under $20M, outsourced wins on cost and scope. $20M to $25M, the comparison is closer to even. Above $25M, hybrid is often the right answer.
Risk Concentration in a Single Hire.
The cost number is one frame. The risk number is the other.
An in-house controller is one person. When they take vacation, the books slow down. When they get sick, deadlines slip. When they leave, the company loses institutional knowledge that takes the next hire months to rebuild. The Construction CFO has clients who came in after their controller left with two weeks notice, leaving four months of unreconciled books and no documentation.
A fractional CFO firm distributes the work across a team. The lead CFO is the relationship owner. A bookkeeper handles transactional work. A controller-level resource handles reconciliations and WIP. If one team member is out, another covers without the client noticing. Documentation lives in the firm's playbooks, not in one person's head.
For a $5M to $10M commercial sub, the risk-adjusted comparison favors outsourcing even before the cost gap is considered. The cost gap just makes the decision obvious.
