THE EQUIPMENT REPLACEMENT RESERVE.
An equipment replacement reserve is cash set aside out of what each machine earns, so the next machine is funded before the current one wears out. Think of it as depreciation turned into real money rather than a line on a tax return. You reserve against the future replacement cost, not the original purchase price, and the per-day amount folds into the equipment rate you bill on every job.
Tax depreciation reduces taxable income and puts nothing in the bank. That's the whole difference, and it's why an aged fleet with no reserve sits one breakdown away from a cash squeeze. When a $200,000 machine dies with nothing set aside, the replacement comes out of a loan, a lease, or the line of credit, and each of those adds carrying cost while eating borrowing capacity you may need for payroll or material next month. Lenders and sureties are reading the same balance sheet you are.
WHAT IT MEANS.
An equipment replacement reserve is cash set aside from each machine's billed cost, accumulated over its working life, so the funds to replace it exist before it fails.
A balance sheet showing funded reserves and low equipment debt reads as a business in control of its assets. One that replaces machines on credit reads as a business carrying a risk nobody planned for. That distinction is priced into what a lender and a surety will extend you, on top of how it feels walking into the yard.
THE CASH CRISIS YOU CAN AVOID.
Depreciation is a deduction, not money in the bank
Tax depreciation reduces your taxable income and sets no cash aside at all. A replacement reserve takes the same idea and puts the money somewhere you can reach it, so the next machine isn't a surprise expense. The difference counts, because one of them is an accounting entry and the other one buys a machine.
The replacement gets financed at the worst possible time
When a $200,000 machine dies and there's no reserve, the replacement comes from somewhere: a loan, a lease, or the line of credit. Each of those adds carrying cost and ties up borrowing capacity you may need for payroll or material on the next job. A subcontractor running an aged fleet with no reserve is one breakdown away from a cash squeeze that had nothing to do with how the jobs performed.
Lenders and sureties read an unreserved fleet as carried risk
Bonding companies and lenders notice the difference between funded reserves with low equipment debt and a fleet replaced on credit. The first reads as a business in control of its assets. The second reads as a business carrying risk it hasn't planned for, and that reading turns into a smaller program or a tighter facility.
WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE IN DOLLARS.
That's the replacement cost problem in one line. A machine you bought for $150,000 may cost $200,000 to replace in seven years, because prices rise while the machine works. Reserving against the old purchase price leaves you short on the one day the reserve was supposed to cover you.
MACHINES SHOULD BUY THEIR OWN SUCCESSORS.
Reserve against the future replacement cost rather than the original purchase price, because prices rise while the machine works. A machine bought for $150,000 may cost $200,000 to replace in seven years. Reserving against the old number gets you most of the way there and leaves you borrowing for the rest, which defeats the point of reserving at all.
Divide the replacement cost by the number of working days over the machine's planned life, five days a week times 52 weeks minus holidays and downtime. That per-day figure folds into the equipment cost basis you bill on every job. The machine then funds its own replacement while it works, which is the only funding source that doesn't compete with payroll.
Track the reserve as its own line rather than blending it into general cash, or it gets spent on whatever is urgent that week. The discipline of a visible reserve is what turns the idea into a funded replacement instead of a good intention. SPM builds equipment cost basis and replacement reserves into the financial system as part of CFOS, so fleet replacement is a line item rather than an emergency.
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.
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