CONSTRUCTION OWNERSHIP AND EQUITY STRUCTURE.
Ownership structure decisions, meaning who owns what percentage, how equity is valued, and what happens when a partner wants out, carry major financial consequences that most construction subcontractors never think through until a dispute forces the issue.
Equity is worth what somebody can verify. A 50/50 handshake works for years and then costs both partners money the first time one of them wants out, because there's no agreed method for putting a number on the business. The fix isn't a document written during the argument. It's clean books, documented job costing, an accurate WIP, and a written distribution policy that applies to every owner the same way, all of it in place before anybody needs it.
WHAT IT MEANS.
Ownership structure in a construction company is the set of decisions about who owns what percentage, how that equity gets valued, and what happens when a partner wants out.
WHERE IT GOES WRONG.
You set up ownership informally and it's causing problems
Many construction partnerships are 50/50 by default, or built on a handshake agreement that seemed fair at the time. As the business grows, informal ownership arrangements produce compensation disputes, decision making deadlocks, and valuation disagreements that a formal structure would have prevented. The arrangement didn't get worse, the stakes did.
You don't know what your equity is worth
Most construction subcontractors can't answer what the business is worth today without a significant amount of guesswork. Without accurate financials, a documented job costing system, and clean WIP reporting, business value is largely theoretical. Theoretical value is fine right up until somebody has to write a check against it.
A partner wants out and there's no clear process
Without a buy-sell agreement and a documented valuation method, a partner exit becomes a dispute. The financial side, meaning what the departing partner is owed, how it gets calculated, and how it gets paid, has to be settled before the situation exists rather than while it's happening.
WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE IN DOLLARS.
Most small construction business valuations use a multiple of EBITDA, typically 2 to 5x for construction businesses in the $1M to $12M range, depending on revenue stability, customer concentration, and whether the business can operate without the owner. Clean financials and documented systems raise the multiple. Messy books and owner dependent operations lower it.
WHERE THE VALUE COMES FROM.
Business value is built on financial infrastructure: clean books, a documented job costing system, an accurate WIP, and growing working capital. SPM builds all of it as standard. When equity has to be valued, for a partner buy-in, a buy-sell, or a sale, the financial foundation is already there instead of becoming a cleanup project on a deadline.
SPM helps owners set a distribution policy: how much profit stays in the business to build working capital and equity, and how much gets distributed. The policy applies to all owners equally, which is what prevents the informal distribution habits that create partner disputes in the first place.
Ownership structure decisions, meaning entity type, equity percentages, buy-sell agreements, and partner agreements, belong with your construction attorney and your CPA. SPM makes sure the financial management systems work correctly inside whatever structure your advisors recommend, and provides the clean financials a valuation requires.
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, and 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.
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