OWNER-OPERATOR TO CEO.
Every growing construction subcontractor reaches the same wall: you built the business on your expertise and relationships, and now the business is too big to manage the way you've been managing it. The financial transition from owner-operator to CEO is where most construction businesses either scale successfully or plateau permanently.
The wall isn't a motivation problem and it's not a capability problem. It's that the business outgrew the reporting the owner built for it, so every decision still routes through the one person who can interpret the numbers. Delegation is impossible while interpretation is a skill only you have. Build reporting anybody on the team can read and the same owner who was the bottleneck last quarter becomes the person reviewing exceptions and making the calls that need judgment.
WHAT IT MEANS.
The financial transition from owner-operator to CEO is the point where the owner stops being the system that holds job cost, cash, and margin in his head and starts managing off reports that work without him.
WHERE IT GOES WRONG.
You're the bottleneck in your own business
Every financial decision routes through you. You approve every invoice, manage every GC relationship, and hold every job's margin in your head. That works at $1M. It breaks at $5M. If you're still managing the finances manually at $7M, your growth ceiling is however many hours you can personally work in a week.
The business can't operate without you
If you disappeared for 30 days, would the financial side of the business keep working correctly? Most owner-operators answer no, and that answer means the business isn't really a business yet. It's a job you own. A business has systems that work without the owner touching every transaction.
You don't know what to delegate or to whom
The move from operator to CEO is about working differently. Most construction business owners know they need to delegate and don't have the financial systems, the reporting, or the team structure to delegate with confidence. Without visibility into what's happening financially, delegation feels like losing control, because it is.
THE SYSTEMS COME FIRST.
You can't delegate what isn't systematized. Before you step back from day to day financial management you need job costing that works without your interpretation, a monthly WIP anybody can read, cash flow forecasting that gives you 90 day visibility, and financial reporting that tells the story without you next to it explaining. SPM builds all of that during the 60 day onboarding.
A CEO manages by exception: reviewing reports, making the strategic calls, and stepping in when something is off. The SPM engagement is built around that model, with monthly meetings, actionable to-dos, and a financial dashboard that surfaces what needs a decision. You spend about 5 hours a month on financials instead of 50.
When you can see every job's margin while the month is still open, when cash flow is forecast 90 days out, and when financial problems appear in a report before they appear in your bank account, delegation becomes confidence instead of guesswork. SPM gives you the visibility that makes stepping back feel safe rather than reckless.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Under $1M | $1,900 to $3,300 | $1,000 |
| $1M to $3.5M | $2,600 to $5,300 | $1,500 |
| $3.5M to $6.5M | $3,800 to $8,300 | $3,000 |
| $6.5M to $9.5M | $5,100 to $11,800 | $4,500 |
| $9.5M to $12.5M | $6,100 to $14,900 | $6,000 |
| $12.5M to $15.5M | $7,400 to $17,650 | $7,500 |
| $15.5M to $18.5M | $9,400 to $22,400 | $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.
Every job shows its margin while it is still open.
Everything in Core, plus the bookkeeping and bank reconciliations done for you, and the job costing and WIP software set up, loaded with your cost codes, and managed every month. Use your own online software, or move to ours and we cover it.
A bookkeeper we choose does the books and reconciliations. No payroll.
You approve, and the money side gets handled.
Everything in Strategic, plus a controller we choose who handles your bills and receivables for you the way an in-house controller would. They call vendors, pay the bills and keep the accounting current. We plan the cash flow first, and you approve every payment because it is your money.
A controller we choose does the payables and receivables. No payroll, no pay applications, no collections.
FREQUENTLY ASKED.
