PROFITABLE JOBS DO NOT PAY PAYROLL.
A subcontractor funds labour, material and equipment weeks before the pay app is even submitted, then waits again for the GC to pay it. That timing shortfall is what closes companies, and it's invisible on a profit and loss statement. The instrument that makes it visible is a 13 week forecast maintained weekly, not a monthly report read after the fact.
The reason this feels like bad luck is that nothing in the accounting system is built to warn you in advance. A profit and loss statement describes a month that's finished, and by the time it prints, the payroll it would have flagged has either cleared or it hasn't. Every page in this hub is one instrument or one habit that moves the warning earlier: a forecast maintained weekly, receivables aged before they become a problem, retainage releases calendared instead of remembered, and a credit line sized to the real float rather than to the panic. Owners who make that move stop negotiating from behind, and that's the whole difference between running the company and reacting to it.
WHAT IT MEANS.
Construction cash flow is the timing difference between spending money on a job and collecting it, and it's a separate problem from profit: a company can earn a good margin on every job and still fail to make payroll.
WHY IT BREAKS.
You Fund the Job Before You Bill It
Payroll runs weekly and material invoices come due on terms, while the pay app goes in at the end of the month and pays 30 to 60 days after that. On a growing job that distance widens every week the crew is productive. Growth consumes cash before it produces any, which is why the busiest year is often the one that nearly ends the company.
Retainage Is Your Profit, Held
Ten percent withheld across a portfolio is usually more than the net profit the whole portfolio will earn. It's released last, after closeout, punch and paperwork, which means the money that makes the year is the money that reaches the bank after the year is over. A company that treats retainage as a receivable rather than as profit already earned tends to spend it before it exists.
Nobody Owns the Collection Calendar
Pay apps go out when somebody gets to them, and nobody calls on day 31. Days in AR drifts from 45 to 70 without any single decision causing it. Collections isn't a personality trait or a question of being firm; it's a calendar with somebody responsible for every date, and most subcontractors don't have one.
EVERYTHING ON THIS SUBJECT.
Every guide below is a full page on one part of this subject. Start at the top if the whole thing is new; jump to the one that describes your week if it's not.
- Building a 13-Week Cash Flow ForecastThirteen weekly columns, inflows above, outflows below, running bank balance at the bottom.
- Construction Line of CreditLine size at 10 to 15 percent of revenue, how to qualify, and the point where a bridge over a known shortfall turns into permanent debt nobody notices.
- Retainage Terms NegotiationA burndown clause at 50 percent complete releases $7,500 to $15,000 a month on a $1.5M contract.
- Stop the Cash Flow ProblemThree causes sit under a tight bank account: billing that runs behind the cost, no forward view, and an overhead rate nobody checked against the books.
- How to Collect Money OwedMost lien filings produce payment inside 30 days.
- Line of Credit GuideSize the line at 8 to 15 percent of revenue, so a $5M sub carries $400K to $750K.
- Prevailing Wage Cash FlowA 20-person prevailing wage crew puts $28,800 to $43,200 out before the first collection, plus 12 to 18 hours a week of certified payroll nobody bid.
- Concrete Contractor Cash FlowWeekly labor, net 30 ready mix, 45 to 60 day GC payment and 10 percent retainage.
- Accounts Receivable ManagementWhat AR management covers for a subcontractor, the follow up cadence at 30, 60 and 90 days, and why a GC who pays at 60 often pays at 40 when called.
- AR Aging ExplainedThe four buckets, what a growing 90 plus share really means, and why pulling the report once a year misses a dozen invoices that aged out.
- Cash Conversion CycleThe realistic cycle is 60 to 110 days, not the 30 to 45 most owners assume.
- Cash Emergency PlaybookThe first 48 hours is AR recovery by invoice number, not a loan.
- Feast or Famine Cash FlowRevenue is lumpy and overhead never is.
- Cash Flow ProblemsBilling lag of 30 to 90 days, no rolling forecast, and job profit measured at closeout.
- The Cash Gap Between Billing and PayrollOn a $5M company at $100K weekly payroll that's $400K to $600K of unfunded labor, against a line of credit that usually runs $150K to $250K.
- Cash Tight After a Busy YearThe December 31 bank balance is the worst measure of a busy year.
- Change Order Cash Flow ImpactThree problems: unapproved scope with no billing event, a 3 week lag on approved work, and disputed scope that can sit 6 to 24 months.
- Line of Credit MaxedMoving collections from 75 days to 45 frees $415K on $5M of revenue.
- MCA Loan TrapDaily ACH of $800 to $2,000 that pulls whether payroll clears or not, why the same bank dollar runs 8 to 12 percent instead, and the two ways out.
- Pay App Timing OptimizationOne missed cut-off defers that cycle for the rest of the job.
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 and no payroll.
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.
