CONSTRUCTION BACKLOG CASH REQUIREMENTS.
Backlog isn't the same thing as working capital. A $4M backlog of signed contracts is a commitment to perform work, not cash in the bank. Before the first pay app clears on any of those contracts, you're paying crews, buying material, deploying equipment, and running overhead. The requirement is weekly cash burn times the mobilization period, and it has to be compared to what you have available before you sign.
Most subcontractors sign contracts based on whether they want the work and can perform it. The working capital question, meaning how much cash the project consumes before first payment and whether that cash exists, rarely gets asked before signing. It's three lines of arithmetic and it takes ten minutes. Skipping it's how a contractor wins the job that closes the business, and it's why a smaller backlog with staggered starts is often safer than a bigger one where everything mobilizes in the same month.
WHAT IT MEANS.
A backlog cash requirement is the amount of working capital a signed contract consumes before its first payment reaches the bank, calculated as weekly cash burn multiplied by the mobilization period.
There are three numbers to pin down before you sign anything. The mobilization period is the time from first day on site to first payment received. Weekly cash burn on a project is labor cost per week plus weekly material deliveries plus equipment charges plus your pro-rated weekly overhead allocation. Available working capital is cash on hand plus available LOC minus committed draws on other active projects.
THREE STEPS BEFORE YOU SIGN.
Step 01: identify the mobilization period
The mobilization period is the time from your first day on site to first payment received. On a commercial project with monthly billing and a 45-day pay-when-paid cycle, that's roughly 75 days: 30 days of work before first billing plus 45 days for the GC to pay. On a public project with a 90-day pay cycle, it's 120 days.
Step 02: calculate weekly cash burn
Weekly cash burn is labor cost per week plus weekly material deliveries plus equipment charges plus your pro-rated weekly overhead allocation. Multiply that weekly burn by the number of weeks in the mobilization period, and the result is the total cash requirement before first payment. That total is what the contract is really asking you for.
Step 03: compare it to available working capital
Available working capital is cash on hand plus available LOC minus committed draws on other active projects. If Project A needs $180,000 in mobilization cash and your available working capital is $220,000, you can fund it with $40,000 to spare. If Project A needs $180,000 and three other projects are already drawing on $200,000 of your $250,000 LOC, you can't fund it without collecting outstanding AR or securing additional credit before mobilization.
WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE IN DOLLARS.
Weekly labor cost fully burdened is $14,500, weekly material deliveries average $8,200 across weeks 1 to 8, equipment charges run $3,800 per week, and the overhead allocation is $4,600 per week. That's a weekly cash burn of $31,100. Over a 10-week mobilization period, the working capital required is $311,000. If your available LOC plus cash is $280,000, you have a $31,000 shortfall before the crew ever sets foot on the site.
WHEN THREE JOBS START THE SAME MONTH.
The analysis gets harder when multiple projects mobilize in the same 30-day window. Each project has its own peak working capital requirement and its own mobilization period, and the peak of the combined requirement, when all of them are in early mobilization at the same time, is what has to be compared to available resources. Comparing each project on its own is how a contractor approves three jobs the balance sheet can only fund one of.
Every active and upcoming project gets mapped to its mobilization date and its peak working capital requirement. That map is what makes the stack visible before it becomes a month you can't fund. It takes one spreadsheet, and it changes which jobs you chase.
Identify the 4-week window where the combined requirement is highest. Compare that peak to available LOC plus cash minus committed draws. That single comparison is the whole decision.
Stagger the project starts, accelerate AR collection to free cash before the new project begins, or arrange additional credit before mobilization. Any of the three works, and doing none of them is also a choice. The one option that doesn't exist is hoping the timing works itself out.
FLAT MONTHLY FEE. NO SURPRISES.
Three tiers, priced by your trailing twelve month revenue. Which one you're in depends on how much of the work you want off your desk. No hourly billing, no payroll, and no add-ons.
Pricing
| 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.
FREQUENTLY ASKED.
