Overhead in Bids · Construction Estimating · Overhead Rate · Bid Pricing · G&A Allocation
Overhead in Bids · Construction Estimating · Overhead Rate · G&A · Bid Pricing
Pricing Overhead
Into Your Bids.
Overhead is the cost of running your business that doesn't show up on any single job — office staff, rent, insurance, equipment payments, vehicles, software. It has to be recovered through your bids. Most subcontractors include overhead in bids as a gut-feel percentage that's rarely accurate. Here's how to calculate it correctly and include it in every bid so you're never subsidizing your own overhead out of gross margin.
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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
Your Overhead Rate in Bids Is Lower Than Your Actual Overhead Rate
If you're using 10% overhead in bids and your actual overhead runs 16% of revenue, you're subsidizing 6% of every bid out of gross margin. On $5M of revenue, that's $300,000 of overhead you're absorbing annually that should have been billed to clients. The gap between bid overhead and actual overhead is one of the most common and expensive margin leaks in construction.
02
You're Using a Flat Percentage Without Calculating the Real Number
Most subcontractors use the same overhead percentage they've always used — because it felt right at some point, or because that's what the old estimator set up, or because everyone in the trade uses a similar number. Whether that number reflects your actual overhead today is rarely verified.
03
Overhead Grows Without Your Bids Catching Up
You added an office manager. A new truck. A software subscription. Each addition felt justified individually. Collectively they pushed your overhead rate from 12% to 17% over three years — but your bid template still shows 12%. Every job you've won since then has subsidized the difference.
How SPM Fixes It
Calculate Your Actual Overhead Rate Before the Next Bid
Add up every expense that isn't a direct job cost for the trailing 12 months — office staff, rent, insurance, equipment payments not allocated to jobs, vehicles, software, marketing, owner draws above field wages. Divide by total revenue for the same period. That percentage is your actual overhead rate. Compare it to what you're using in bids. If they're more than 2–3% apart, your bids are wrong.
Two Overhead Allocation Methods — Choose One and Use It Consistently
Method 1 — Percentage of direct cost: multiply your overhead rate by total direct job cost and add the result to the bid. Simple and consistent with how most estimating software works. Method 2 — Percentage of revenue: build overhead directly into your target margin so that the bid price, after direct costs, generates enough gross profit to cover overhead plus target net profit. Both methods work if used consistently — the problem is switching between them without realizing it.
Monthly Overhead Rate Verification
SPM calculates your actual overhead rate monthly for all clients — tracking whether it's moving up or down relative to revenue. When overhead rate changes materially, we flag it for the monthly meeting so bid overhead can be updated before you price another 30 jobs at the wrong rate. Overhead rate in ControlQore is a managed number, not an annual calculation.
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.
Should overhead be applied to subcontractor costs in my bid?
It depends on your overhead structure and how much management time subcontractors actually require. Many subcontractors apply a lower overhead rate to subcontract costs — typically 5–10% — than to self-performed labor and material. If subcontracting a scope eliminates significant field supervision and coordination overhead, applying the same overhead rate to subcontract costs as to self-performed work may overstate overhead on that scope. The right approach is to understand what overhead is actually generated by managing each subcontractor and price accordingly.
What if my overhead rate varies significantly between types of projects?
Some subcontractors have meaningfully different overhead profiles for different project types — prevailing wage vs. private work, large vs. small projects, certain GCs vs. others. If that's the case, calculate a separate overhead rate for each major project category rather than using a single blended rate. A blended rate that's correct on average is wrong for every individual project type — it overprices low-overhead project types and underprices high-overhead ones.
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.