Bid Risk Pricing · Construction Estimating · Risk Analysis · Contingency · Subcontractor Bidding
Bid Risk Pricing · Construction Risk · Contingency · Estimating · Subcontractor Bidding
Pricing Risk Into
Your Bid.
Every construction bid contains risk. The question isn't whether to price risk — it's whether you're pricing it systematically or by gut feel. A risk-based bid approach identifies the specific risks in each project and prices them explicitly rather than hoping a blanket markup covers whatever happens. Here's the framework.
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SPM vs. Other CFO Firms
Most CFO Firms Serving This Trade
- High revenue minimums — most won't serve under $5M
- Advisory only — no bookkeeping, no implementation
- No job costing setup or ControlQore management
- No monthly WIP as standard deliverable
- No pricing published — discovery call required
- No vetted partner network for bonding, lending, or liens
- No prevailing wage specialty
The Construction CFO — SPM
- Serves $1M–$12M — starts at $1,900/month
- Full implementation — bookkeeping, job costing, CFO advisory
- ControlQore setup and managed for you every month
- Monthly WIP standard in Executive tier
- Full pricing published — no discovery call to find out costs
- Vetted partners for bonding, lending, lien services, payroll
- Prevailing wage and Davis-Bacon specialty
What We See in This Business
01
You Add the Same Contingency to Every Job
A 5% contingency on a well-defined interior finish job and a 5% contingency on a complex civil project with limited geotechnical data represent completely different levels of risk coverage. Blanket contingency means you're under-covered on high-risk jobs and over-priced on low-risk jobs — losing the easy bids and winning the dangerous ones.
02
You're Not Pricing GC Payment Risk
A GC with a history of slow payment, disputes, and lien activity creates working capital risk that a GC with a clean payment record doesn't. Most subcontractors price the project scope but not the GC relationship. The cost of financing a slow-paying GC — the working capital you advance, the credit line you draw — belongs in the bid price.
03
You Don't Know What Your Actual Risk Exposure Is
Site conditions, design completeness, schedule risk, material price exposure, and subcontractor reliability all create quantifiable financial risk. Most contractors estimate these risks intuitively without a structured framework. The result is inconsistent contingency that doesn't reflect the actual risk profile of each project.
How SPM Fixes It
The Risk-Rating Framework
Rate each risk category on a high/medium/low scale: geotechnical and subsurface (unknown conditions, limited boring data), design completeness (schematic vs. complete drawings), schedule risk (fixed completion date vs. flexible), material price exposure (fixed-price materials vs. open market), GC payment history (strong record vs. unknown or poor), and owner financial strength. Each high-risk category adds to your contingency. Each low-risk category allows tighter pricing without sacrificing margin.
GC Payment History in Your Bid Decision
SPM tracks payment history by GC in ControlQore for all clients — days to pay, dispute frequency, and collections incidents. Before bidding a project for a new or infrequent GC, Executive clients can see the payment history data that should inform both the bid decision and the working capital contingency built into the bid price. A GC who consistently pays in 75 days instead of 30 is financing $50K–$100K of your working capital per $1M of contract — that cost belongs somewhere in the bid.
Pre-Bid Risk Analysis for Executive Clients
For significant bids, SPM provides a pre-bid risk analysis — rating each risk category, quantifying the working capital impact of the project, and identifying specific risk line items that should be priced explicitly rather than covered by a blanket contingency. You go into the bid with a clear understanding of what you're pricing and why.
Service Tiers
Tier 01
Core Financial
Starts at $1,900 / month
- ControlQore setup and management
- Job costing aligned to your estimate structure
- Cost-to-complete tracking — updated monthly
- Full-service bookkeeping — minimum 30 min/week
- Vendor payments via ACH (you approve, we initiate)
- Accounts receivable management
- Bank reconciliations and transaction matching
- Controllership
- 1 monthly CFO meeting
- 60-day onboarding — books migrated to last taxable year
Most Popular
Tier 02
Executive Financial
Starts at $2,900 / month
- Everything in Core Financial
- Monthly WIP schedule — delivered every month, standard
- 13-week cash flow forecasting
- CEO Report — monthly financial dashboard
- 3 CFO advisory meetings per month
- Strategic accountability and actionable to-dos
- Direct access to Josh Luebker
Pricing by Revenue
Revenue Range
(Last 12 Months) |
Core Financial
Monthly |
Executive Financial
Monthly |
| Under $1M | $1,900 | $2,900 |
| $1M – $3M | $2,600 | $3,600 |
| $4M – $6M | $3,800 | $5,500 |
| $7M – $9M | $5,100 | $6,900 |
| $10M – $12M | $6,100 | $8,500 |
| $13M+ | Quoted | Quoted |
Vetted Partner Network
National Lien Services
When AR gets too long, we connect you directly to our lien services partner to protect what you've earned.
Additional cost — not included in monthly fee
Payroll Integration Partners
Prevailing wage and regular payroll software partners integrated directly with ControlQore job costing.
Additional cost — not included in monthly fee
Bonding Partners
Surety relationships and bonding capacity support. We prepare the financials — our partners get you bonded.
Additional cost — not included in monthly fee
Lending Partners
Working capital lines and equipment financing through vetted lenders who understand construction.
Additional cost — not included in monthly fee
Reviewed Financials
CPA-level financial statement reviews for banking, bonding, and large contract requirements.
Additional cost — not included in monthly fee
CPA Coordination
We work alongside your existing CPA — not replacing them. Clean books and job costing make tax time easier.
Included — no extra cost
Common Questions
Straight answers.
Should risk contingency be a separate line item in the bid or embedded?
Embedding risk contingency in unit prices is more common and less visible to the GC during negotiations. A separate contingency line item is transparent but creates negotiating pressure to reduce it. Most subcontractors embed contingency — which is fine as long as it's tracked internally so you know how much of each unit price is margin versus risk coverage. When contingency is embedded and risks don't materialize, unconsumed contingency becomes additional margin at closeout.
How do I price working capital risk on a pay-when-paid contract?
Calculate the working capital you expect to advance on the project — the average outstanding AR balance during the project multiplied by your cost of capital (your credit line interest rate or your opportunity cost of capital). On a $1M contract with 60-day payment terms and a 8% line of credit, you're financing approximately $130K at 8% — about $10,400 in annual financing cost on that contract. That cost should appear somewhere in your overhead pricing or as a specific bid line item on long-duration, slow-paying projects.
What's included in Core Financial?
ControlQore setup, job costing aligned to your estimates, cost-to-complete tracking, full bookkeeping (minimum 30 min/week), ACH vendor payments (you approve, we initiate), AR management, bank reconciliations, transaction matching, controllership, and 1 monthly CFO meeting. Starts at $1,900/month.
What does Executive Financial add?
Everything in Core plus monthly WIP schedule, 13-week cash flow forecasting, CEO Report, and 3 CFO advisory meetings per month. Starts at $2,900/month. WIP, cash flow forecasting, and the CEO Report are Executive tier only.
Do you handle payroll?
No. We have vetted payroll software partners — including prevailing wage integrations — that connect directly with ControlQore. Those are separate engagements at additional cost.
How long does onboarding take?
60 days. We migrate your books to the start of your last taxable year, set up ControlQore, and build your job costing structure. Fully operational in two months.
What software do clients use?
ControlQore. All SPM clients run on ControlQore for job costing and WIP. We set it up and manage it — you don't have to learn it. Clients switching from QuickBooks, Sage, or other platforms migrate during onboarding.
Do you work alongside our CPA?
Yes. We work alongside your existing CPA — not replacing them. Clean books and accurate job costing make their job easier at tax time.
What happens when we grow past $12M?
We have a clear graduation path. We prepare your financials, systems, and team for the transition and connect you with the right firm for your next stage of growth.