BRINGING IN A BUSINESS PARTNER.
Bringing a business partner into your construction company is one of the biggest financial decisions you'll make. Get the structure right up front and it speeds the business up. Get it wrong and it creates disputes that cost more than the partnership was ever worth. Three things have to be settled in writing before anybody comes on board: the valuation methodology, the equity split and what earns it, and the buy-sell agreement.
Almost every partnership dispute we have watched traces back to something nobody wrote down while everyone still liked each other. What the company is worth. Who gets paid what and when. What happens if one of you wants out. None of those are hard conversations at the start and all three are brutal later. The attorney fee for a buy-sell agreement is small money against the cost of two owners arguing over a valuation that was never defined. Do the paperwork while the deal is still friendly.
Want Josh to check your own numbers? Financial Health Snapshot, $1,500 one time. Your last 12 months read against your trade's benchmarks, with a 60 minute readout.
WHAT IT MEANS.
A partner buy-in is the transfer of an ownership stake in your construction company in exchange for cash, sweat equity, or both, priced off an agreed business valuation.
WHERE PARTNERSHIPS GO WRONG.
You're bringing someone in without a clear valuation
If there's no agreed valuation methodology before a partner comes on board, every future argument about distributions, buyouts, or exits gets argued from an undefined starting point. The valuation conversation is uncomfortable to have. Having it up front costs a fraction of having it in a dispute.
The equity split doesn't reflect the real contribution
A 50/50 split feels fair when two people start something together. It feels a lot less fair three years later when one partner is managing field operations full time and the other is managing one project. An equity structure that accounts for role, capital contribution, and ongoing contribution keeps that imbalance from building.
There's no buy-sell agreement
What happens when a partner wants out? What happens if a partner dies or is no longer able to work? What happens when two partners can't agree on a major business decision? Without a buy-sell agreement and a defined valuation trigger, every one of those turns into an expensive dispute, which is why the buy-sell is worth its attorney cost many times over.
WHAT GETS SETTLED BEFORE THEY SIGN.
We build the financial package a business valuation is based on before a new partner buys in: current financial statements, WIP, AR aging, backlog, and the equipment schedule. The incoming partner attorney or a business valuator needs clean, current financials to set the valuation. Those documents already exist because they come out of the monthly close.
Before the partnership is formalized, settle how distributions work: what percentage of profit stays in the business, when distributions get paid, and how they're split. That policy heads off the informal distribution habits that turn into partner disputes the first year the business throws real profit. Writing it down takes an afternoon.
Every partner should be looking at the same financial picture: monthly P&L, WIP, cash position, and overhead rate. We deliver that to clients every month. When all the partners read the same accurate numbers, financial arguments happen less often and settle faster when they do.
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. The one-time onboarding fee is right here in the table.
Built for subs doing $1M to $12M. Above $12.5M we quote.
| Last 12 months revenue | Core | Strategic | Platinum | One-time onboarding |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under $1M | $1,900 | $3,100 | $3,300 | $2,500 |
| $1M to $3.5M | $2,600 | $4,100 | $5,300 | $4,500 |
| $3.5M to $6.5M | $3,800 | $5,900 | $8,300 | $6,000 |
| $6.5M to $9.5M | $5,100 | $7,600 | $11,800 | $7,500 |
| $9.5M to $12.5M | $6,100 | $8,900 | $14,900 | $9,000 |
| Above $12.5M | Quoted | Quoted | Quoted | Quoted |
The onboarding fee covers migrating your books back to the start of your last taxable year and getting you fully operational in 60 days. It's billed once, with your first invoice. It's the same for all three tiers, and it moves with your revenue band. Your first month is prorated, and your monthly engagement starts on the first of the first full month.
Just want the setup? Onboarding only is the same onboarding work with no monthly service after it, one time, at the onboarding fee plus $2,000. Start a monthly engagement later and $2,000 counts toward it. It starts at $4,500, and the price for every band is on the pricing page.
The three tier columns are the whole price. Which one fits depends on how much of the work you want off your desk. No payroll. No hidden line items. The onboarding fee is right here in the table.
- Online software only: QuickBooks, Sage, Viewpoint and similar. No VPN or hosted desktop.
- Not in any tier: payroll, pay applications, collections on receivables.
- Pricing valid through 2027.
CFO work. Your own bookkeeper keeps doing the books.
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 and never in a report.
Your bookkeeper still does the books.
Core, plus bookkeeping and bank reconciliations, plus job costing and WIP software set up and managed for you. Use your own online accounting software or we supply it, one price.
Every job shows its margin while it is still open.
Everything in Core, plus the bookkeeping and bank reconciliations done for you, and the job costing and WIP software set up, loaded with your cost codes, and managed every month. Use your own online software, or move to ours and we cover it.
A bookkeeper we choose does the books and reconciliations. No payroll.
Strategic, plus a controller who handles payables and receivables the way an in-house controller would. You approve every payment.
You approve, and the money side gets handled.
Everything in Strategic, plus a controller we choose who handles your bills and receivables for you the way an in-house controller would. They call vendors, pay the bills and keep the accounting current. We plan the cash flow first, and you approve every payment because it is your money.
A controller we choose does the payables and receivables. No payroll, no pay applications, no collections.
FREQUENTLY ASKED.
