CONSTRUCTION FINANCIAL RECOVERY.
Every construction subcontractor eventually has a bad year: a job that lost money, a GC that didn't pay, a slow season that cleaned out reserves, or a growth push that outran working capital. The difference between contractors who recover and contractors who don't is almost always the speed of the diagnosis and the discipline of the response. Cash gets stabilized first, the causes get identified specifically, and job selection tightens rather than loosening.
The instinct in a bad year is to take any work that generates cash, and that instinct is what turns one bad year into three. Low margin work generates revenue and no profit. Large projects require working capital you no longer have. A slow paying GC is the last relationship you want while you're waiting on money. Every job decision made in recovery either shortens the recovery or extends it, and there's no neutral option in the middle.
WHAT IT MEANS.
Construction financial recovery is the work of diagnosing what caused a bad year, stabilizing the cash position, and rebuilding margin and working capital on a schedule instead of hoping the next season fixes it.
Recovery has an order of operations and cash comes first. Before any growth strategy, working capital rebuild, or improvement in job selection, the immediate cash position has to be stable. That means knowing what's coming in and when, what obligations are due and which of them can be moved, and where the floor is below which nothing gets funded.
WHY RECOVERY STOPS.
You don't know what went wrong
The first obstacle in recovery is diagnosis. Most contractors know they had a bad year without knowing specifically where the money went: which jobs lost money, which overhead categories grew, and whether the cause was a one-time event or a structural margin problem. Recovery requires an honest accounting of the specific causes rather than a general sense that things went badly.
You're cutting in the wrong places
The instinct in a bad year is to cut everything: overhead, headcount, marketing, and equipment. Some of those cuts are right and others remove capability you'll need to recover. Cutting estimating capacity when you need to win better work, or cutting the financial management that gives you visibility, makes the recovery longer rather than shorter.
You're taking any job to generate cash
Cash-strapped contractors take jobs they shouldn't. Low margin work that produces revenue and no profit, large projects that require working capital you don't have, and GCs with a slow payment history at the very moment you need money fast. Each bad job decision in recovery extends the timeline, and enough of them turn a single bad year into a habit.
THE ORDER OF OPERATIONS.
Every turnaround engagement starts with a complete financial diagnostic that identifies the specific sources of the loss, the current cash position, the working capital shortfall, and the actions required to stop the losses. Only then does anything get built toward recovery. This is the same work done in the 20 minute call, which is why that call has no pitch attached to it.
Before any growth strategy, working capital rebuild, or improvement in job selection, the immediate cash position has to be stable. That means knowing what cash is coming in and when, what obligations are due and which of them can be deferred, and where the minimum floor is. The 13 week cash flow forecast is the first tool deployed in any recovery engagement.
Recovery requires being more selective, not less: better margin work, shorter payment cycles, and GCs with a strong payment history. Pre-bid financial analysis covers the projected cash flow impact, the working capital requirement, and the margin, before a job is taken on during a recovery period. Every new job in recovery should leave the financial position better than it found it.
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. The one-time onboarding fee is right here in the table.
| Last 12 months revenue | Monthly fee | One-time onboarding |
|---|---|---|
| Under $1M | $1,900 to $3,300 | $1,000 |
| $1M to $3.5M | $2,600 to $5,300 | $1,500 |
| $3.5M to $6.5M | $3,800 to $8,300 | $3,000 |
| $6.5M to $9.5M | $5,100 to $11,800 | $4,500 |
| $9.5M to $12.5M | $6,100 to $14,900 | $6,000 |
| $12.5M to $15.5M | $7,400 to $17,650 | $7,500 |
| $15.5M to $18.5M | $9,400 to $22,400 | $9,000 |
| $18.5M+ | Quoted individually | Quoted individually |
The onboarding fee covers migrating your books back to the start of your last taxable year and getting you fully operational in 60 days. It's billed once, with your first invoice. It's the same for all three tiers. Your first month is prorated, and your monthly engagement starts on the first of the first full month.
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. The onboarding fee is right here in the table.
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 and never in a report.
Your bookkeeper still does the books.
Every job shows its margin while it is still open.
Everything in Core, plus the bookkeeping and bank reconciliations done for you, and the job costing and WIP software set up, loaded with your cost codes, and managed every month. Use your own online software, or move to ours and we cover it.
A bookkeeper we choose does the books and reconciliations. No payroll.
You approve, and the money side gets handled.
Everything in Strategic, plus a controller we choose who handles your bills and receivables for you the way an in-house controller would. They call vendors, pay the bills and keep the accounting current. We plan the cash flow first, and you approve every payment because it is your money.
A controller we choose does the payables and receivables. No payroll, no pay applications, no collections.
FREQUENTLY ASKED.
