Financial Recovery · Bad Year · Cash Flow Triage · Construction Business Turnaround
Financial Recovery · Construction Turnaround · Cash Flow Triage · Bad Year · Working Capital
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 outpaced working capital. The difference between contractors who recover and those who don't is almost always speed of diagnosis and discipline in the response. Here's the framework.
Schedule a Free Call →
See Pricing
SPM vs. Other CFO Firms
Most CFO Firms Serving This Trade
- High revenue minimums — most won't serve under $5M
- Advisory only — no bookkeeping, no implementation
- No job costing setup or ControlQore management
- No monthly WIP as standard deliverable
- No pricing published — discovery call required
- No vetted partner network for bonding, lending, or liens
- No prevailing wage specialty
The Construction CFO — SPM
- Serves $1M–$12M — starts at $1,900/month
- Full implementation — bookkeeping, job costing, CFO advisory
- ControlQore setup and managed for you every month
- Monthly WIP standard in Executive tier
- Full pricing published — no discovery call to find out costs
- Vetted partners for bonding, lending, lien services, payroll
- Prevailing wage and Davis-Bacon specialty
What We See in This Business
01
You Don't Know Exactly What Went Wrong
The first challenge in recovery is diagnosis. Most contractors know they had a bad year but don't know specifically where the money went — which jobs lost money, which overhead categories grew, whether the problem was a one-time event or a structural margin issue. Recovery requires an honest accounting of the specific causes, not a general sense that things went wrong.
02
You're Cutting in the Wrong Places
The instinct in a bad year is to cut everything — overhead, headcount, marketing, equipment. Some of those cuts are right. Others cut capability that you'll need to recover. Cutting estimating capacity when you need to win better jobs, or cutting the financial management infrastructure when you need better visibility, makes recovery harder.
03
You're Taking Any Job to Generate Cash Flow
Cash-strapped contractors take jobs they shouldn't. Low-margin work that generates revenue but not profit. Large projects that require working capital you don't have. GCs with slow payment history when you need cash now. Each bad job decision in recovery extends the recovery timeline — and can turn a single bad year into a pattern.
How SPM Fixes It
Recovery Starts With an Honest Financial Diagnosis
SPM starts every turnaround engagement with a complete financial diagnostic — identifying the specific sources of the loss, the current cash position, the working capital gap, and the specific actions required to stop the bleeding before building toward recovery. This is the same work done in a free discovery call — which is why that call is free and has no pitch attached.
Cash Flow Triage — Stop the Bleeding First
Before any growth strategy, working capital recovery, or job selection improvement — the immediate cash position has to be stabilized. That means knowing exactly what cash is coming in and when, what obligations are due and which can be deferred, and where the minimum floor is. SPM's 13-week cash flow forecast is the first tool deployed in any recovery engagement.
Job Selection Discipline in Recovery
Recovery requires being more selective, not less. Better-margin jobs, shorter payment cycles, GCs with strong payment history. For Executive clients, SPM provides pre-bid financial analysis — projected cash flow impact, working capital requirement, and margin analysis — before taking on projects during a recovery period. Every new job in recovery should make the financial position better, not worse.
Service Tiers
Tier 01
Core Financial
Starts at $1,900 / month
- ControlQore setup and management
- Job costing aligned to your estimate structure
- Cost-to-complete tracking — updated monthly
- Full-service bookkeeping — minimum 30 min/week
- Vendor payments via ACH (you approve, we initiate)
- Accounts receivable management
- Bank reconciliations and transaction matching
- Controllership
- 1 monthly CFO meeting
- 60-day onboarding — books migrated to last taxable year
Most Popular
Tier 02
Executive Financial
Starts at $2,900 / month
- Everything in Core Financial
- Monthly WIP schedule — delivered every month, standard
- 13-week cash flow forecasting
- CEO Report — monthly financial dashboard
- 3 CFO advisory meetings per month
- Strategic accountability and actionable to-dos
- Direct access to Josh Luebker
Pricing by Revenue
Revenue Range
(Last 12 Months) |
Core Financial
Monthly |
Executive Financial
Monthly |
| Under $1M | $1,900 | $2,900 |
| $1M – $3M | $2,600 | $3,600 |
| $4M – $6M | $3,800 | $5,500 |
| $7M – $9M | $5,100 | $6,900 |
| $10M – $12M | $6,100 | $8,500 |
| $13M+ | Quoted | Quoted |
Vetted Partner Network
National Lien Services
When AR gets too long, we connect you directly to our lien services partner to protect what you've earned.
Additional cost — not included in monthly fee
Payroll Integration Partners
Prevailing wage and regular payroll software partners integrated directly with ControlQore job costing.
Additional cost — not included in monthly fee
Bonding Partners
Surety relationships and bonding capacity support. We prepare the financials — our partners get you bonded.
Additional cost — not included in monthly fee
Lending Partners
Working capital lines and equipment financing through vetted lenders who understand construction.
Additional cost — not included in monthly fee
Reviewed Financials
CPA-level financial statement reviews for banking, bonding, and large contract requirements.
Additional cost — not included in monthly fee
CPA Coordination
We work alongside your existing CPA — not replacing them. Clean books and job costing make tax time easier.
Included — no extra cost
Common Questions
Straight answers.
How long does construction financial recovery typically take?
For a subcontractor with a single bad year — one large job loss or a slow season that depleted reserves — recovery typically takes 12–18 months of disciplined execution. For a contractor with structural margin problems (bidding too low, overhead too high) or significant cash flow damage, recovery can take 2–3 years of sustained improvement. The key variable is how quickly the diagnosis happens and how disciplined the response is.
Should I take on new clients or focus on existing relationships during recovery?
Prioritize existing GC relationships with strong payment history — they're lower risk, faster to collect, and more likely to give you work at a time when you need steady cash flow. New relationships take longer to develop, come with unknown payment behavior, and require more working capital for the initial project build-up. Recovery is not the time to build new market presence — it's the time to maximize the value of relationships you already have.
What's included in Core Financial?
ControlQore setup, job costing aligned to your estimates, cost-to-complete tracking, full bookkeeping (minimum 30 min/week), ACH vendor payments (you approve, we initiate), AR management, bank reconciliations, transaction matching, controllership, and 1 monthly CFO meeting. Starts at $1,900/month.
What does Executive Financial add?
Everything in Core plus monthly WIP schedule, 13-week cash flow forecasting, CEO Report, and 3 CFO advisory meetings per month. Starts at $2,900/month. WIP, cash flow forecasting, and the CEO Report are Executive tier only.
Do you handle payroll?
No. We have vetted payroll software partners — including prevailing wage integrations — that connect directly with ControlQore. Those are separate engagements at additional cost.
How long does onboarding take?
60 days. We migrate your books to the start of your last taxable year, set up ControlQore, and build your job costing structure. Fully operational in two months.
What software do clients use?
ControlQore. All SPM clients run on ControlQore for job costing and WIP. We set it up and manage it — you don't have to learn it. Clients switching from QuickBooks, Sage, or other platforms migrate during onboarding.
Do you work alongside our CPA?
Yes. We work alongside your existing CPA — not replacing them. Clean books and accurate job costing make their job easier at tax time.
What happens when we grow past $12M?
We have a clear graduation path. We prepare your financials, systems, and team for the transition and connect you with the right firm for your next stage of growth.