CONSTRUCTION COMPANY $5M TO $10M: THE FINANCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE TRANSITION.
The move from $5M to $10M is where the financial control systems that worked through the early growth phase hit their structural limits. The single PM model can't hold the portfolio. Job costing that worked case by case fails at 12 simultaneous projects. The LOC approved at $4M doesn't fund $8M operations. And the second-in-command the owner just hired has no financial infrastructure to work from. Each failure is predictable and each has a specific fix. The contractors who build the infrastructure ahead of the revenue transition reach $10M with a business that runs. The ones who don't reach $10M with a crisis.
None of this is about working harder or hiring better people. It's about a set of systems built for one owner watching five jobs being asked to carry three PMs watching fifteen. The same job costing habits that were perfectly adequate at $4M produce reports nobody trusts at $9M, and the LOC that felt generous three years ago covers a third of what a busy month now needs. The infrastructure built through this range is also what drives bonding capacity, banking terms, and eventually what the business sells for.
WHAT IT MEANS.
The $5M to $10M transition is the stretch where the financial control systems that carried a subcontractor through early growth hit their structural limits and have to be rebuilt rather than stretched.
SPM works with contractors at every stage of this transition. The financial infrastructure built through the $5M to $10M range is the same infrastructure that drives bonding capacity, banking relationships, and eventual business valuation, which is why building it early pays twice.
THE FOUR INFRASTRUCTURE FAILURES THAT HIT AT THIS REVENUE LEVEL.
The single PM model collapses
Under $5M one capable PM can manage the full project portfolio. Between $5M and $10M the portfolio needs two or three. The financial risk in that transition is that the financial control system doesn't scale alongside them. At one PM the owner could review every cost-to-complete directly, and at three PMs the owner can't sit in every job conversation. The CFO function becomes the bridge between field financial performance and owner decision making, and without it three PMs run three independent financial realities with nobody pulling them into one picture.
Job costing that worked for 5 projects fails at 12
Between $5M and $10M a contractor typically runs 8 to 15 simultaneous active projects. Job costing that worked informally for 5 projects, where the owner or the bookkeeper knew each one personally, fails at 12 because no single person can hold twelve jobs in their head. Costs post to the wrong projects, cost codes go unmaintained, change order codes never get created, and the bookkeeper is buried. The result is a job cost system that produces reports but not reliable information. The fix is documented job cost standards applied identically to every project from day one instead of managed case by case.
An LOC sized for $4M revenue funding $8M operations
Most contractors don't manage LOC growth alongside revenue growth on purpose. The LOC was approved at $300,000 when the business was doing $3M. At $8M with 12 active projects and 4 simultaneous mobilizations, the working capital requirement is $600,000 to $900,000, so the $300,000 LOC covers one third of the need. The rest comes out of delaying vendor payments, stretching payroll timing, and stress. The fix is reviewing the LOC before revenue grows into the constraint, at $5M when the $8M trajectory is visible, and not at $8M when the shortfall is acute.
No financial infrastructure for the second-in-command
Between $5M and $10M most subcontractors hire or promote a second-in-command: an operations manager, a project executive, or a senior PM taking on management responsibility. That person needs financial information to do the job, meaning which projects are healthy, which are stressed, what the cash position is, and where backlog sits against capacity. Without infrastructure producing that reliably, the second-in-command manages off the same gut feel the owner used to use. The financial system has to serve a growing leadership team rather than one person.
WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE IN DOLLARS.
At $8M with 12 active projects and 4 simultaneous mobilizations, the working capital requirement is $600,000 to $900,000. An LOC approved at $300,000 back at $3M revenue covers one third of that. The other two thirds gets financed by vendors who didn't agree to finance it, which is a relationship cost as well as a cash one.
A verified marine client at $13.5M with no job costing and no per project reporting was valued at $2.3M. Nine months after SPM put the financial infrastructure in place, the same revenue, the same crews, and the same contracts produced a $5.5M valuation. The infrastructure is the value driver rather than the revenue.
At $7M to $10M, CPA-reviewed statements are required for bonding at meaningful capacity. The upgrade costs $3,000 to $6,000 annually and typically unlocks a 2 to 3x increase in bonding capacity. Plan it 12 months before the capacity ceiling gets hit, because the timing is what makes it useful.
FIVE INFRASTRUCTURE UPGRADES FOR THE TRANSITION.
At $7M to $10M, reviewed statements are required for bonding at meaningful capacity. Plan the upgrade 12 months before the capacity ceiling gets hit rather than in the middle of chasing one specific bond. The cost is knowable and the capacity increase is usually a multiple of it.
Sureties writing $10M single-project limits require reliable WIP. Build the methodology now and document it so it gets applied the same way every month by whoever is doing it. Consistency over twelve months is worth more to an underwriter than precision in any single month.
The owner can't be the CFO at $8M in revenue and also run the business. A fractional CFO at this level produces better outcomes at lower cost than the absence of one, and the absence of one is what most contractors are running with when they hit this range.
At $8M with a growing portfolio, the 13-week forecast is no longer enough on its own. The 24-month forecast models revenue from the full backlog and surfaces cash shortfalls while they're still scheduling problems rather than crises. The two forecasts do different jobs and a business this size needs both.
Each PM owns the cost-to-complete on their own projects. The monthly job review covers every active project on a rolling agenda. The CFO function aggregates all of it and flags what needs the owner's attention. That structure is what keeps three PMs from each running a separate account of the truth.
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.
