CONSTRUCTION COMPANY PREQUALIFICATION FINANCIAL REQUIREMENTS, WHAT GCS LOOK FOR.
Every commercial GC prequalification package asks for the same financial information: statements, ratios, WIP, and completion history. The subcontractors who get approved quickly are the ones who have that package ready, current, and in a format the GC risk department can process efficiently. The ones who get delayed or declined are the ones submitting internally produced statements on tight timelines, with no WIP and a completion summary that doesn't exist yet.
The risk department isn't evaluating whether you do good work. Somebody else at the GC decides that. Risk is asking one question: if this sub takes a $900K scope, is the balance sheet strong enough to carry it to the end. That's why the answer comes out of documents rather than relationships, and why the sub with a monthly WIP and a current statement clears in two weeks while the sub promising to get his accountant on it waits. The package is either sitting in a folder or it's a fire drill.
WHAT IT MEANS.
GC prequalification is the financial review a general contractor's risk department runs before putting a subcontractor on the bid list, built on your statements, the ratios calculated from them, your WIP schedule, and your completion history.
The package is close to identical at every commercial GC: current-year and prior-year financial statements with an income statement and balance sheet, the ratios calculated off them, a current WIP schedule, and a completion history. CPA-compiled statements are the floor and CPA-reviewed is the standard for any project above $500K. Internally produced statements can carry a small package, but they fall short for new relationships above $300K to $500K.
WHY PACKAGES GET DELAYED OR DECLINED.
The package gets built the week the GC asks for it
The subs who get delayed or declined are usually the ones assembling everything on a deadline, with internally produced statements and no CPA involvement. CPA-compiled is the floor at most commercial GC risk departments and CPA-reviewed is the standard above $500K, so an internal statement invites follow-up requests that add weeks to the review. The work is the same work either way, it just costs more when it happens under a clock. Surety1's 2025 performance bond underwriting requirements make the same point from the bonding side: a statement issued by a CPA, especially at review level, carries materially more weight with an underwriter than one produced in house.
There's no WIP schedule, so nothing shows capacity
The WIP schedule is what demonstrates existing backlog and the capacity to take on new work, which is the forward-looking half of the assessment. Consistent billing positions, no chronic overbilling, and no projects in distress all signal financial control to a risk reviewer. A sub with no WIP is asking the GC to judge capacity off a balance sheet that only describes what already happened.
The completion history doesn't exist as a document
Projects completed in the last 2 to 3 years, with scope description, final contract value, completion date, and result, are the character portion of the assessment. Most subs have all of it in their heads and none of it in a document. Building it the week of a bid is how a package misses the date it was built for.
The ratios never got checked before the submission
The GC calculates current ratio, debt-to-equity, working capital, and margin trend off the statements you send, which means those four numbers are settled before you submit rather than during the review. Most subs have never run them in that order or compared them to the thresholds. Checking them 60 days out is the difference between submitting and improving first, then submitting.
WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE IN DOLLARS.
Current ratio, which is current assets divided by current liabilities, is the first number the risk department runs. CFMA's 2023 surety prequalification guidance publishes the construction reference points: a minimum standard of 1.15 to 1.20, an industry mean of 1.7, anything above 1.20 reading as active debt management, and a ratio closer to 1.50 suggesting strong trade partner relationships. SPM holds clients in a band of 1.3 to 2.0, from the CONTROL Book, which clears that floor with room to spare. Debt to equity, total liabilities divided by total equity, is generally acceptable below 2.0x at a commercial GC and preferred below 1.5x, while SPM's own ceiling is tighter at 1.0. Margin trend should hold or improve year over year.
Working capital is current assets minus current liabilities, and the question is how much of it the work in front of you demands. Surety1's 2025 performance bond underwriting requirements, at https://surety1.com/performance-bond-underwriting-requirments/, put adjusted working capital at 5 to 10 percent of the current cost to complete across all open jobs, and net worth at 10 to 20 percent of that same cost to complete. Cost to complete is the spend still ahead of you rather than the contract value, so a sub carrying $3M of remaining cost across four jobs is measured against $150K to $300K of working capital and $300K to $600K of net worth. A risk department reviewing a $900K scope runs the same arithmetic in a shorter form before it approves the scope.
Prequal packages take 2 to 4 weeks to process at most commercial GC risk departments, so submit early. A subcontractor who submits a package 30 days before the bid date has a processed relationship when the bid goes out. A sub who submits the week of the bid is bidding on hope.
FOUR ACTIONS THAT IMPROVE YOUR OUTCOMES.
For any relationship above $500K project size or $2M annual volume with the GC, CPA-reviewed statements produce faster approvals and fewer follow-up requests. Budget $3,000 to $6,000 annually for it. That cost buys a package the risk department can process without coming back to you twice.
A WIP schedule produced monthly, from closed books, on a consistent methodology is the most compelling single document in a prequalification package for a project-based business. It demonstrates current financial control rather than historical results. That's what makes a risk reviewer comfortable approving a larger scope.
Projects completed in the last 2 to 3 years, with the project identified, or anonymized if you prefer, the scope description, the final contract value, the completion date, and the result. This is the character portion of the assessment. It gets maintained as a living document rather than assembled on request.
Aggressive AR collection in the 30 to 60 days before a prequal submission improves the current ratio by converting AR into cash. This is legal, appropriate, and standard practice before any financial review. It also improves the business whether the prequal comes through or not.
THE OUTPUTS, NAMED.
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.
| 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.
