WHEN YOU BUY IS A CASH DECISION.
Most subcontractors treat material buying as a logistics problem: order it so it's on site before the crew needs it. The cash side never gets planned, so a $180K package comes due net-30 while the pay app that bills it collects in 60, and the line of credit eats the spread. Procurement forecasting maps every major buy against the billing calendar before the PO goes out. It asks when the material is needed, when it can be billed, what deposit terms move the float, and whether stored material billing can close the spread. Same material, same jobs, months less float.
The PO date is a financing decision, and most subs let the supplier make it. A supplier's terms are built around the supplier's cash needs, not yours, and nobody at that desk is looking at your pay app calendar. Once every buy over $25K has a mapped billing event, the biggest material month of the year stops being the month you max the line of credit. Deposits get negotiated, stored material gets billed in the cycle it comes in, and volatile commodities get locked when the bid wins rather than when the crew mobilizes. None of that changes what you buy.
WHAT IT MEANS.
Procurement forecasting is the practice of mapping every major material buy against the billing calendar before the PO goes out, so the cash cost of the purchase is a decision instead of a surprise.
PROCUREMENT FLOAT, BY TRADE.
Electrical: the gear package
Switchgear and panel packages are the classic float. They get ordered months early for lead time, paid before installation, and billed after. A $180K package bought in March, installed in May, billed in June, and collected in July is a four month float the bid never priced. Deposits negotiated down plus stored material billing recover most of it.
Concrete: volume concentration
Ready mix doesn't have long lead times, it has volume spikes. Three stacked pours put $200K of supplier invoices on net-30 against pay apps collecting in 60. Mapping the pour schedule against the billing calendar tells you which months need the line of credit and which months the line is funding bad planning.
Civil: pipe, aggregate, and early buyout
Civil and utility subs handle pipe and structure packages that reward early buyout on price and punish it on cash. The forecast turns that into a real decision: 4% price protection weighed against a 60 day holding cost, decided with numbers instead of nerve. Without the forecast, the call gets made on whichever pressure is louder that week.
Structural steel and specialty: fabrication deposits
Fabricated packages front load cash hard, with deposits at order, progress payments through fabrication, and delivery before billing. Progress payment schedules tied to fabrication milestones, mirrored by stored material and fabricated item billing to the GC, keep the sub from banking the fabricator's float. Without that mirror, the sub finances the fab shop for a full quarter.
WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE IN DOLLARS.
Every major buy is visible before it comes in. The 13 week cash forecast includes every PO over $25K as a planned event, with an amount, a date, and the billing event that recovers it. Material spikes stop being surprises that max the line and become scheduled draws with scheduled repayments, so the line of credit goes back to being a timing tool instead of a shock absorber.
A $7.1M civil contractor's procurement and billing timing was so misaligned he was days from merchant cash advances. Rebuilt SOV structures, pay app timing, and collections produced $310K of recovered receivables in the first 30 days. That's the same discipline that maps buys to billings, run in reverse.
The goal state is zero surprise supplier driven cash crunches. No PO ever creates a cash shortfall the forecast didn't already show. Buys get timed, deposits get negotiated, stored material gets billed, and the biggest material month of the year is just another planned week, boring and funded and already collected against.
FOUR LEVERS ON THE SAME PURCHASE.
The field needs gear on site March 15 and logistics says order January 20. The cash question nobody asks is when the pay app that includes this material goes out and when it collects. If the answer is May, that PO just created a four month float. Sometimes the float can't be avoided, and it should never be unplanned, so every buy over $25K gets mapped to its billing event before the PO is cut and the 13 week cash forecast includes the spread.
Suppliers negotiate price because everybody asks about price. Almost nobody negotiates the payment curve, meaning deposit percentage, progress payments on fabricated items, and net terms tied to delivery rather than order date. Moving a gear package from 50% deposit at order to 20% at order with the balance at delivery can move $50K of cash need by eight weeks at zero cost. The supplier's finance team says yes more often than their sales sheet suggests, especially for subs who pay like clockwork.
Most subcontracts allow billing for properly stored materials, whether on site or in a bonded yard, insured and documented. Most subs never use the clause because nobody told the PM it exists. A $120K material buy billed as stored material in the same cycle it comes in turns the float from months into weeks. The documentation cost is photographs, an insurance certificate, and a line on the SOV, and the return is your money back before the work is even in place.
Copper, steel, PVC, and lumber all move. Bidding off today's price and buying at mobilization six months later is an unhedged commodity position wearing a hard hat. Early buyout with locked pricing trades a small holding decision for protection against the move that erases a job's margin. The forecast tells you whether the cash position can support the early buy, and the alternative is hoping the market holds.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Up to $1M | $1,900 to $2,900 | $1,000 |
| $1M to $3.5M | $2,600 to $3,900 | $1,500 |
| $3.5M to $6.5M | $3,800 to $5,700 | $3,000 |
| $6.5M to $9.5M | $5,100 to $7,100 | $4,500 |
| $9.5M to $12.5M | $6,100 to $8,500 | $6,000 |
| $12.5M to $15.5M | $7,400 to $11,000 | $7,500 |
| $15.5M to $18.5M | $9,400 to $13,500 | $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.
You stop touching the books.
Everything in Core, and we do the bookkeeping and the controllership as well. Your office stops answering coding questions and stops fixing a reconciliation that will not balance on the last day of the month.
We do the books. No payroll.
Every job shows its margin while it is still open.
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 books, the job costing, and the software. No payroll.
FREQUENTLY ASKED.
