| Role | Salary Range | All-In Cost (+ 25% burden) | What You Get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bookkeeper | $45,000–$65,000 | $56,000–$81,000/yr | Transaction recording, bank recs. No job costing. No WIP. No CFO advisory. |
| Controller | $80,000–$120,000 | $100,000–$150,000/yr | Financial statements, some job costing. Rarely construction-specific. No strategic CFO function. |
| CFO (full-time) | $150,000–$220,000 | $188,000–$275,000/yr | Full capability — but priced for a $50M company, not a $5M subcontractor. |
| SPM Core Financial | $1,900–$5,900/mo | $22,800–$70,800/yr | ControlQore, job costing, bookkeeping, bank recs. No hiring risk. No employer burden. |
| SPM Executive Financial | $2,900–$8,500/mo | $34,800–$102,000/yr | Everything in Core plus monthly CFO advisory, controllership, and accountability. No employer burden. |
The gap nobody talks about: The all-in cost of a controller plus benefits plus payroll taxes at a $5M subcontractor typically runs $110,000–$140,000/year. SPM Executive Financial at that same revenue level runs $34,800–$48,000/year — delivering more construction-specific capability for 65–75% less.
An in-house hire takes 60–90 days to recruit, another 60 days to onboard, and 6–12 months to fully evaluate. A bad hire in accounting can take 18 months of calendar time and $150K+ of fully-loaded cost before you're back to square one. Outsourcing eliminates that risk entirely.
Most accounting professionals don't know construction job costing, WIP accounting, or pay-when-paid cash flow management. You can hire a great generalist accountant and still have no idea how your jobs are performing because nobody set up cost codes aligned to your estimates.
When an in-house controller leaves — and they leave — they take institutional knowledge with them. Login credentials, reconciliation history, job cost structure. Outsourced accounting has no single point of failure. SPM's operations don't depend on one person's institutional memory.
You're at $20M+ and generating enough volume to justify a full-time controller who specializes in your trade. You have a dedicated office with consistent AP volume that requires daily management. You've already built the job costing structure and need someone to operate it, not design it. Or you have a specific person with deep construction accounting expertise who wants to join — not a general hire into a role you're defining as you go.
You're in the $1M–$12M range and need more than a bookkeeper but can't justify a full controller salary. You don't have time to manage an accounting employee in addition to running the field and business development. You've had turnover in the accounting seat before and the business felt it. You want construction-specific job costing, WIP, and CFO advisory without paying $150K for it.
For most commercial subcontractors doing $1M–$12M, outsourced accounting delivers better capability at lower cost. A full-time controller costs $100K–$150K all-in. SPM Executive Financial — which includes job costing, WIP, bookkeeping, and monthly CFO advisory — runs $34,800–$102,000/year with no employer burden and deeper construction expertise than most in-house hires at this revenue range.
A bookkeeper runs $56,000–$81,000 all-in. A controller runs $100,000–$150,000. Add hiring time (60–90 days), onboarding (60 days), and turnover risk and the true cost of a bad in-house hire often exceeds $150,000 before you're back to zero. Outsourced accounting eliminates the hiring cycle and employer burden entirely.
SPM's Core Financial includes ControlQore setup, job costing aligned to your estimates, full-service bookkeeping, and bank reconciliations. Executive Financial adds monthly CFO advisory, controllership, and strategic accountability. No payroll. No scope gaps. Schedule a call to see the exact scope.
SPM delivers construction-specific CFO and accounting services for less than most controller salaries.
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