CONSTRUCTION COMPANY BUDGET GUIDE.
Most construction subcontractors don't build a formal annual budget. They look at last year's revenue and overhead, assume something similar for next year, and manage to whatever comes in. That works until overhead grows faster than revenue, or a slow season drains the reserves, or growth outruns working capital. A real budget has four parts: a revenue plan by month, an overhead budget by category, a job margin target, and a cash flow projection.
The budget's job is to give you something to be wrong against. Nobody matches a construction budget to the dollar because job timing moves, and that's not the point. The point is that when February comes in 20% under plan, you know it in early March instead of at the tax return, and you still have ten months to do something about it. Managing to last year's numbers can't do that, because last year has no opinion about the overhead you signed up for in January.
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.
An annual construction budget is the financial expression of your business plan for the year: projected revenue by month, overhead by category, a job margin target, and a cash flow projection.
WHY THE YEAR GETS AWAY FROM YOU.
You're managing to last year's numbers without a plan for this year
Last year's revenue and overhead look backward. This year's backlog, pipeline, overhead commitments, and capital plans look forward. Managing without a budget means managing to history rather than toward where you're trying to take the business. The budget is the financial expression of your business plan for the year.
Overhead commitments get made without a revenue plan to support them
Hiring an office manager, signing a truck lease, adding a software platform: these commitments usually get made when business is good, without modeling whether the revenue behind them holds up. A budget forces the revenue projection first and then sizes overhead to fit inside it. Most contractors do it in the opposite order and find out in the slow quarter.
You don't know what revenue you need to reach your financial goals
If the goal is to distribute $200K to owners this year while building working capital and covering all overhead, what revenue does that take? The budget answers that question before the year starts. It also tells you whether the goal is reachable off current backlog and pipeline, or whether business development has to happen first.
HOW THE BUDGET GETS BUILT.
The revenue plan is projected revenue by month, built off backlog, pipeline, and your own seasonal history rather than a straight line across twelve months.
The overhead budget is projected G&A by category and by month: staff, facilities, insurance, equipment, vehicles, and software.
The job margin target is the gross profit percentage the year needs in order to cover that overhead and reach the net profit goal.
The cash flow projection is monthly cash in and out, built off the revenue plan, your collection timing, your overhead commitments, and planned distributions.
Top-down means setting a revenue target from your goals and then sizing overhead to produce the net profit you want. That works when revenue is fairly predictable and most of the overhead is discretionary. Bottom-up means starting from committed overhead and signed backlog, calculating the revenue required to reach the profit goal, and then sizing the hole business development has to fill. That fits a contractor with high fixed overhead and an uncertain pipeline better. We use whichever one matches how the business operates.
Clients build the annual budget with us at the start of each year: projected revenue by month, overhead by category, job margin targets, and the distribution plan. It gets loaded into ControlQore so actual performance is compared against budget every month and not against prior year alone. When the actuals drift, the variance comes up in the monthly meeting with a specific reason and a recommendation for the rest of the year.
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.
