Controllership is the function that confirms the numbers are correct right now: costs approved, the close complete, WIP accurate, and the balance sheet reflecting what's really there. We do that for commercial subcontractors doing $1M to $12M. It sits between bookkeeping and the CFO work, and it's why the forecast can be trusted.
Contractors at this size rarely have anyone in this role, and the consequence is a set of reports nobody quite believes. Unapproved costs sit outside the balance sheet, double entries survive the close, WIP is calculated from a cost to complete that was never reviewed, and everyone learns to add a mental margin of error to every number. A forecast built on top of that's a guess. Controllership removes the doubt by reviewing the record before it's used, which is what makes the CFO layer above it worth anything. It's one layer of CFOS and not something we sell separately.
BY JOSH LUEBKERPublished June 2026Updated August 2026
WHAT IS INCLUDED
WHAT THIS SERVICE COVERS.
Cost approval before job costs post, so nothing reaches the job record unreviewed
Monthly close review: double entries caught, accruals correct, and the balance sheet reconciled to reality
WIP schedule reviewed and signed off, including over and under billing by job
Cost to complete reviewed with whoever runs the job before the numbers are used for anything
Job cost variance flagged by line item, with the specific items needing a change order or a bid correction called out
Accounts receivable, retention, and payable aging reviewed weekly against a defined follow up
Working capital, current ratio, and debt to equity checked monthly against the ranges banks underwrite to
WHERE THIS FITS IN THE SYSTEM
ONE LAYER OF CFOS, NOT A STANDALONE PRODUCT.
Controllership is the middle layer of CFOS. Bookkeeping produces the record, controllership confirms it, and the CFO layer decides from it, which is why we treat all three as one engagement rather than three products a contractor assembles.
A controller working without the CFO layer above produces accurate reports that change nothing, and a CFO working without a controller below produces confident advice built on numbers nobody checked. Both failures are common and both look like a financial team that's busy without the business improving.
The two modules this service exists to support are Operating Model Definition, which sets who owns which number and by when, and the Job Profitability System, which is where a reviewed cost to complete does its work.
Pricing is a flat monthly fee set by your trailing twelve month revenue, and this service is part of an engagement and never a separate line item. Thepricing page has every band, and thefractional CFO page covers what the full engagement includes.
COMMON QUESTIONS
FREQUENTLY ASKED.
A bookkeeper records transactions. A controller is responsible for whether the record is right before anyone uses it, which means approving costs before they post, catching double entries and missing accruals in the close, reconciling the balance sheet to reality, and reviewing the WIP schedule and cost to complete with whoever runs the job. It's the difference between a report existing and a report being trustworthy.
Most subcontractors between $3M and $12M need the function and can't justify the salary, which is the situation this service is built for. Below $3M the owner is usually still close enough to the work to catch errors themselves. The signal that you need it's a set of reports you find yourself mentally adjusting before you rely on them, because that adjustment is the control that's missing.
Three tiers, and which one you are in depends on how much of the work you want off your desk. Core is where you stop guessing: job costing built against the way you estimate, a 13 week cash forecast, monthly WIP, and a monthly meeting that ends in decisions, while your bookkeeper keeps doing the books. Executive is where you stop touching the books, because we run the bookkeeping and the controllership as well. Strategic is where every job shows its margin while it is still running, because the job costing and WIP platform is set up and managed for you. No payroll. No scope gaps.
Sixty days. We migrate your books back to the start of your last taxable year, set up ControlQore, and build your job costing structure from scratch. Fully operational in two months.
Former commercial project manager and master electrician: 150+ projects worth $2.1B combined, from $50,000 to $300M. Now fractional CFO to commercial subcontractors.
