ONE ACCOUNT. NO IDEA WHAT IS SPENDABLE.
A single operating account shows a balance that answers nothing, because the number includes next Friday's payroll, a quarterly tax installment, deposits that belong to work not yet performed, and money that is genuinely yours. Four accounts fix it without any bookkeeping change: operating, payroll, tax reserve and retainage. The rule that makes it work is that money moves IN on a schedule and never moves back OUT to cover a shortfall. A contractor with $180,000 showing and $95,000 of it committed does not have a cash problem, he has a visibility problem, and the second one turns into the first about twice a year.
None of this creates cash. It stops a number being mistaken for cash, which is the mistake that produces the near-miss on a Thursday afternoon.
WHAT IT MEANS.
Account separation is the practice of holding a construction company's cash in several bank accounts with a defined purpose each, typically operating, payroll, a tax reserve and a retainage or holdback account, so that the balance a person looks at answers one question and stops hiding four.
THE BALANCE ANSWERS FOUR QUESTIONS AT ONCE.
Payroll is a certainty sitting inside a number that looks like room
A crew of fifteen at a burdened cost of $45 an hour is roughly $27,000 a week. In a single account, three weeks of that is $81,000 of the balance that was already spent and still shows. Every material buy decision made against that balance is made against money that is not there.
The tax reserve has no defence in a shared account
A reserve held in the operating account stops being a reserve. It becomes a balance somebody will spend in a tight week with entirely good intentions. The quarterly installment then gets funded by the line of credit, which converts a tax liability into interest.
Deposits and mobilisation money get treated as earnings
Money taken before work is performed is a liability with a bank balance attached. Spending it funds this month out of next month's obligation, which is the mechanic behind the job that was profitable and the company that ran out anyway.
One account makes the weekly question unanswerable
The question a subcontractor needs answered every Monday is what is safe to commit this week. A single balance cannot answer it, so the answer becomes a feeling, and the feeling is set by how recently something went wrong.
WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE IN DOLLARS.
Everything collected comes in here and everything is paid from here, except the two transfers below. This is the only account anybody looks at day to day, and after separation its balance means something specific: money available for this month's obligations.
One transfer per cycle, sized at the burdened cost of the crews you are running plus a week. On the fifteen-person example that is roughly $27,000 a week, so a one week buffer holds about $54,000 against a fortnightly run. Payroll is the one obligation with no negotiation in it at all.
Prior year tax liability divided by prior year revenue, moved out of every deposit the day it clears. On this site's $5M example carrying about $120,000 a year that is 2.4 percent of every dollar collected, and it funds all four installments out of the season that earned them.
Owner deposits, mobilisation payments and anything collected before the work is performed. It is the smallest account and the one with the clearest rule: nothing leaves it until the work it was collected for is done.
Collections at 90 days are weak, 45 is the target and 30 is strong. Account separation does not change the ladder, and it does decide whether a 90 day cycle is survived or merely noticed.
MONEY MOVES IN ON A SCHEDULE. IT NEVER MOVES BACK.
Same institution, same login, sub-accounts where the bank offers them. The friction that kills this is having to log in somewhere else, and a banker who can see the reserve is a banker who reads your working capital more generously.
The tax percentage moves when a deposit clears. The payroll transfer moves the day the cycle closes. Tying a transfer to an event means it happens in the weeks when it suits least, which are the weeks it exists for.
The whole mechanism is one rule, and it fails the first time somebody moves the tax reserve back to cover a material buy. If a shortfall is real, it is a line of credit question or a collections question, and both of those are visible problems with owners. A quiet transfer is neither.
Four accounts reconciled monthly is barely more work than one, and an unreconciled reserve account is where a transfer that never happened hides for a quarter. The point of the structure is that a balance can be trusted, and an unreconciled balance cannot.
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.
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.
