CONSTRUCTION PRODUCTION TRACKING VS ACCOUNTING.
Production tracking and accounting aren't the same thing. Accounting captures costs after they occur. Production tracking measures output, meaning cubic yards moved, linear feet placed, and square feet installed, against the production rate the estimate was built on. When the production rate drops below estimate, the cost to complete changes immediately, before any cost line has gone over in accounting. Production tracking is the early warning system and accounting is the record.
Both reports are correct and only one of them is useful while you can still act. The accounting close is a history book, and a good one, but it gets written after the crew has already worked the hours. The unit count gets written the day the hours are worked. Every subcontractor who has been surprised by a labor overrun at month end had the data to see it coming, sitting in a foreman's head or on a clipboard, unmeasured. Building the log isn't a technology project. It's one number per work type per day.
WHAT IT MEANS.
Production tracking is the measurement of daily field output against the production rate the estimate was built on, which makes it an early warning system rather than a record of what was spent.
Most subcontractors have accounting. Most subcontractors don't have production tracking. That's why production problems, which are the most common source of labor overruns in field-intensive trades, stay hidden until they reach the job cost report weeks later.
SPM corrects the operational breakdowns that create financial instability, and a production rate problem is an operational breakdown. By the time it reaches accounting it has already produced a financial outcome you can't undo. CFOS builds the production tracking system that catches the breakdown at the source, while there's still time to correct it.
WHAT ACCOUNTING WILL NOT TELL YOU.
Accounting records what happened, not whether it was productive
A weekly close records last week's labor costs, the material invoices received, and the subcontractor payments made. It tells you what the business spent. It doesn't tell you whether what you spent produced what was estimated. A job cost report shows actual against estimated cost and says nothing about whether the production rate behind those costs was at, above, or below estimate.
The problem stays invisible until the close, which is weeks late
Accounting closes monthly. A production rate problem that starts in week one of a project doesn't appear in job cost until the month end close at the earliest, and if the close runs late it appears at the 6 week mark. By then a crew running at 72% of estimated production rate has already consumed 38% more labor hours than planned for the work performed. Production tracking catches that in week one.
You can't tell a rate problem from a scope problem
A job that's over on labor cost needs a diagnosis before it needs a response. Is it over because the production rate dropped and the crew is moving slower than estimated, or is it over because scope was added without a change order and the crew is doing more than what was estimated? A rate problem calls for a supervision conversation, a sequence adjustment, or a crew composition change. A scope problem calls for a change order submitted right away, before more scope gets performed. Accounting alone can't tell you which one you have.
WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE IN DOLLARS.
Production problems stay invisible until they reach accounting, which is always at least two weeks after they started. Two weeks of a crew running at 70% of estimated production rate is a significant labor overrun. It could have been caught on day three with a unit count and a calculator, which is the whole argument for tracking output separately from cost.
A crew running at 72% of estimated production rate consumes 38% more labor hours than planned for the work performed. Nothing on the cost report objects while that's happening, because the hours are being worked and the payroll is being coded correctly. The overrun only becomes an accounting fact at the close, six weeks after it became a field fact.
MEASURE WHAT IS BEING PRODUCED.
Production tracking measures daily output against the production rate the estimate was built on. For a grading contractor that's cubic yards moved per machine hour. For a concrete contractor it's cubic yards placed per crew hour, and for a framing contractor it's linear feet or square feet per crew day. When the actual rate drops below the estimated rate, the cost to complete changes even if no individual cost line has gone over yet.
Start with a daily foreman log carrying one number per work type per day: units produced, hours worked, and the calculated units per hour. Compare that against the estimate rate. Knowing whether you're on pace, ahead, or behind for the phase is worth more than any software feature. Once the manual process runs correctly, it gets formalized into the job cost system.
The job profitability system for field-intensive trades includes production rate tracking by work type, with actual units produced set against the estimated production rate, updated from weekly foreman logs. When the rate drops below estimate on an active phase, it appears in the cost to complete as a projected labor overrun. It appears with enough of the phase remaining to adjust, which is the entire point of measuring it.
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.
Pricing
| 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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