ELEVATOR OVERHEAD RATE BENCHMARKS.
Elevator contractors average about 18% overhead rate at $1M to $5M, rising to roughly 17% at $5M to $10M. The CFOS target at $1M to $5M is 17%, 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 18 percent overhead rate is among the heaviest in this dataset, and for elevator contractors the point down to 17 is worth $10,000 on a $1M year and $50,000 on a $5M year. That's what a service business costs. Licensed mechanics under union agreements, a dispatch function, a parts inventory spanning open and proprietary equipment, and the state inspection calendar are all capacity you carry between calls rather than costs a single job creates. The trade should reach 15 percent by $25M to $50M, and the way there's per-unit costing, because overhead spread across contract count is a rate you can price against.
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.
ELEVATOR FINANCIAL BENCHMARKS. WHERE YOU SHOULD BE.
| METRIC | INDUSTRY AVERAGE | CFOS TARGET | AT $10M TO $25M | NOTES |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overhead Rate ($1M to $5M) | 18% | 17% | 16% | Industry figure rises to 17% at $5M to $10M and 16% at $10M to $25M. |
| Gross Margin ($1M to $5M) | 27% | 29% | 29% | Full detail on the gross margin page. |
| Net Profit Margin ($1M to $5M) | 9% | 12% | 13% | Full detail on the gross margin page. |
| Days Sales Outstanding | 90 days | 45 days | 30 days | Ninety 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.
Trade figures are from the SPM Trade Benchmark Reference, 48 trades, published by Sulphur Prairie Management. 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.
- /* Only the benchmarks references. A surety prequalification article does not validate a gross margin figure, so citing it here would overstate what the reference covers. See _appliesToRule in sources.json. */
- 2024 Construction Financial Benchmarker, Executive Summary, Construction Financial Management Association, 2024. 21.8% gross profit margin, 11.8% SG&A and 6.3% net income before taxes across all respondents, with a best-in-class top quartile at 11.9% net income before taxes.
- 2025 Performance Benchmarks, Construction Companies, Jones Maresca and Company, 2025. Specialty contractor gross margin of 15% to 25%, net profit of 5% to 8% for a well managed company, and total indirect cost of 8% to 15%.
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.
FLAT MONTHLY FEE. NO SURPRISES.
Priced by trailing 12 month revenue. No hourly billing. No payroll. No add-ons.
| 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.
