CONSTRUCTION FINANCIAL FORECASTING SYSTEM, FORWARD-LOOKING VISIBILITY THAT ACTUALLY WORKS.
A cash flow forecast built once and never updated isn't a forecast. It's a historical record of what the business looked like on the day it was built. The forecast that works as a management instrument is updated weekly from actual transactions, tied to the current project schedule so a start date slip moves the revenue projection with it, and kept at two time horizons: 13 weeks for cash management and 24 months for strategic planning. The difference between those two things is the difference between checking a weather forecast from last Tuesday and checking today's.
Nobody abandons a forecast on purpose. The spreadsheet gets built during a tight month, it works, and then updating it turns out to mean rebuilding it. Two schedule changes and one new contract later, the model describes a business that no longer exists, and the owner is still making calls off it. That's worse than having nothing, because nothing at least feels like nothing. The answer is an owner: somebody whose job is to update it every Monday from what really moved through the bank.
WHAT IT MEANS.
A financial forecasting system is a forecast that gets updated weekly from actual transactions, stays tied to the current project schedule, and is kept at two horizons: 13 weeks for cash management and 24 months for strategic planning.
WHY THE SPREADSHEET STOPPED BEING TRUE.
Built once, never updated, produces false confidence
Most subcontractors who have attempted cash flow forecasting built a spreadsheet once. It was accurate for about 30 days, until the first project schedule changed, the first GC paid late, and the first new contract was signed that wasn't in the model. The spreadsheet never got updated because updating it means rebuilding it, and after 60 days it's a historical document dressed up as a forecast. An owner relying on it's making decisions from a model of a business that no longer exists, which is more dangerous than having no forecast at all.
It's not tied to the project schedule
When a project start date slips, the revenue projection has to slip with it or the forecast is wrong from that morning forward. In a standalone spreadsheet nothing moves on its own, so every schedule change has to be re-entered manually and most of them never are. That's why a forecast in a schedule-driven business goes stale faster than the owner expects it to.
The owner is the one producing it
A forecast the owner builds competes with everything else the owner does, so it gets updated when there's time and there's never time. The forecast has to be owned by the CFO function, with the owner reviewing it rather than producing it. That one change is usually what turns a forecast from a side project into an instrument the business runs on.
WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE IN DOLLARS.
At 13 weeks, the forecast should be accurate within 10 to 15% on any given week. At 24 months, it should be directionally accurate within 20 to 25% on any given month. The precision requirement decreases as the time horizon extends, and the decision-making value doesn't.
A financial forecasting system that has been running for 24 months contains two years of actual transaction data, 24 months of billing event history by GC, and a validated working capital model for the business at its current revenue. That data produces progressively better strategic decisions, because it's built from what really happened rather than from what was assumed at the start.
THE FOUR COMPONENTS THAT MAKE FORECASTING RELIABLE.
Actual receipts and disbursements get entered weekly, so the forecast rolls forward from actual and not from estimate. Last week's real numbers replace last week's projections every Monday. That single habit is what keeps the model alive.
Each active project is mapped to its next 13 billing events with expected payment dates, and the map gets updated when project schedules change. A pay app that moves two weeks moves the cash with it. Nothing depends on somebody remembering to adjust the model later.
Payroll, rent, insurance, and the other fixed costs are mapped to the specific week they hit rather than averaged monthly. Averaging is what hides the week where two payrolls and an insurance renewal all come due together. The forecast has to know which Friday is the hard one.
Available against drawn LOC sits inside the forecast rather than in a separate note nobody opens. Any week where the projected cash balance drops below the minimum floor triggers a draw planning conversation in the Monday review. The draw becomes a decision made in advance instead of a phone call made under pressure.
The 13-week cash forecast drives the operational calls: which weeks need a LOC draw, which collections calls have to happen before a payroll week, and whether a vendor payment can be deferred. The 24-month forecast drives the strategic ones: whether the business has the working capital to support projected revenue growth, when to increase the LOC, and whether a new hire is financially sustainable. Both get reviewed in the monthly strategic meeting.
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.
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.
