BENCHMARK · OVERHEAD RATE

EIFS AND STUCCO OVERHEAD RATE BENCHMARKS.

QUICK ANSWER

EIFS and Stucco contractors average about 15% overhead rate at $1M to $5M, rising to roughly 14% at $5M to $10M. The CFOS target at $1M to $5M is 14%, set a point leaner than your trade's average at your revenue. The point we take off is the easy one: overhead you're carrying and haven't costed. The harder work is knowing the rate to the month and loading it into the bid, because a rate set a year ago is wrong in both directions.

An EIFS and stucco overhead rate of 15 percent is heavy because compliance is production here, and taking a point off is worth $10,000 on a $1M year and $50,000 on a $5M year. Manufacturer certification requirements, mockups on commercial specs, heated enclosures in the shoulder seasons, and the QC documentation a sealed system demands all get paid before a square foot is coated. Charging them to the jobs that require them is what pulls the rate down, and the trade should reach 12 percent by $25M to $50M. Knowing the number month by month is the point, since a remediation division and a new-construction division carry completely different office loads.

BY JOSH LUEBKERPublished 2026-08-06Updated 2026-08-06

How to calculate your overhead rate: Total overhead divided by Total Revenue, times 100. Overhead is every cost not attributable to a job: office staff, rent, insurance, software, vehicles not charged to work, and owner salary. It moves every month with revenue, which is why a rate set a year ago is wrong in both directions.

THE BENCHMARKS

EIFS AND STUCCO FINANCIAL BENCHMARKS. WHERE YOU SHOULD BE.

METRICINDUSTRY AVERAGECFOS TARGETAT $10M TO $25MNOTES
Overhead Rate ($1M to $5M)15%14%13%Industry figure rises to 14% at $5M to $10M and 13% at $10M to $25M.
Gross Margin ($1M to $5M)23%24%25%Full detail on the gross margin page.
Net Profit Margin ($1M to $5M)8%10%12%Full detail on the net profit margin page.
Days Sales Outstanding90 days45 days30 daysNinety days is weak, 45 is the target, 30 is strong. Nothing else moves cash faster.

Industry figures are the AVERAGE for the trade at each revenue band, from the SPM Trade Benchmark Reference, not a floor. Net profit is stated before taxes. The CFOS target is what we build toward. The third column is what companies at $10M to $25M average, shown for direction of travel; that is a larger company, which is a different thing from a better run one.

SOURCES AND METHOD

Trade figures are from the SPM Trade Benchmark Reference, 48 trades, published by Sulphur Prairie Management, LLC. Net profit is stated before taxes, on the same basis CFMA reports, so the two are directly comparable. Re-validate against CFMA reporting on the normal quarterly cycle, per the benchmark reference's own instruction.

The reference itself is published at EIFS and stucco overhead rate in the reference itself.

The same metric across every trade is published on Overhead Rates by Trade, and the full dataset for all 48 trades across the published revenue bands is available as JSON and CSV, with one plain-language statement per row. Free to use with attribution.

PRICING

FLAT MONTHLY FEE. NO SURPRISES.

Priced by trailing 12 month revenue. No hourly billing. No payroll. No add-ons.

Last 12 months revenueMonthly 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.

Core

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.

Executive

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.

Strategic

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.

COMMON QUESTIONS

FREQUENTLY ASKED.

EIFS and Stucco contractors average 15% at $1M to $5M and 14% at $5M to $10M. The CFOS target at $1M to $5M is 14%. Companies in the trade at $10M to $25M average 13%, which measures size and says nothing about how well the place is run.
Overhead that never made it into the rate, job costing that doesn't match how the work was estimated, and receivables aging past 45 days. The jobs still look profitable while all three are happening, which is why the number drifts without anyone noticing.
We rebuild the overhead rate from your actual financials, align job costing cost codes to your estimate structure, and track weekly variance against budget. Fully operational in 60 days.
$10.7M+
Client AR Recovered Since 2023
48
Active Trade Specializations
60 DAYS
Average Onboarding Time
WHAT THIS TIES INTO
Josh Luebker, The Construction CFO
Josh Luebker
FRACTIONAL CFO · THE CONSTRUCTION CFO

Former commercial project manager and master electrician: 150+ projects worth $2.1B combined, from $50,000 to $300M. Now fractional CFO to commercial subcontractors.

ARE YOU HITTING THE EIFS AND STUCCO OVERHEAD RATE BENCHMARK?

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