PROFITABLE BUT NO CASH.
A profitable subcontractor is short of cash for six reasons. Work is done and not billed. The GC pays on pay-when-paid terms, which stretch collection to 75 to 90 days. Retainage holds 5 to 10 percent of every pay app. Directed change orders go unbilled. Receivables age with nobody calling. And growth needs cash before it produces any. Profit is recognized when work is billed, so each of these leaves a good income statement and a short bank account.
We work this problem on every engagement, and the first 30 days is usually a collections event. We collect the earned but unfollowed AR, correct billing cycles that lag, and build a 13 week forecast off expected collection dates rather than income statement dates. That forecast shows what the bank will hold in eight weeks, which is a different question from whether the jobs made money. The one that decides whether payroll clears on Friday is the cash answer.
Rather talk it through first? Book a 20 minute call. Nothing gets sold on this call.
Want Josh to build it with you? Cash Flow Intervention, $497 one time. A 90 minute session that fills in the 13 week forecast with your real numbers and makes the billing changes on the call.
WHAT IT MEANS.
Profitable but no cash is the normal condition of a growing subcontractor, because profit gets recognized when the work is billed while the money for it comes in 30 to 60 days later.
This timing distance is structural. It exists on every project, every month, for the whole life of the business. It's not a problem to be solved so much as a feature of the business model that has to be funded and managed on purpose.
SIX REASONS THE BANK DISAGREES.
Work is done and not billed
Underbilling means more work is complete than has been invoiced. On a $500,000 contract that is 60 percent complete and billed at 45 percent, $75,000 of earned work is outside any invoice. The income statement counts it as profit and the bank has none of it.
Pay-when-paid terms stretch collection to 75 to 90 days
Net 30 takes 45 to 55 days to collect, and pay-when-paid takes 75 to 90. On $4M of annual subcontracts under net 60 terms, the cost of financing the wait is $40,000 to $80,000 a year, and most bids absorb it without a line for it.
Retainage holds 5 to 10 percent of every pay app
A $5M subcontractor typically has $250K to $500K of retainage held at any time, for 12 to 18 months and at zero interest. A $350K balance costs about $28K a year, and it is earned, documented revenue that cannot be spent.
Directed change orders go unbilled
On a $3M project with active scope changes, unbilled change orders commonly represent $80K to $200K of performed work. The cost is on the job and the revenue never follows, because nobody priced and submitted the change inside 48 hours.
Receivables age with nobody calling
A company billing $12,000 a day holds $660,000 of AR at 55 days outstanding and $420,000 at 35 days. The $240,000 difference is earned profit held in a receivable instead of the bank, and collections discipline, not new revenue, moves it.
Growth needs cash before it produces any
A business that grows 30 percent deploys 30 percent more crew, material and equipment before the billing events come in. The profit from existing work is consumed by the working capital the new work requires.
WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE IN DOLLARS.
A company billing $12,000 a day, or $4.4M a year, holds $660,000 of AR at 55 days outstanding and $420,000 at 35 days. That $240,000 is spendable inside two to four weeks of systematic follow up. It is the cheapest money in the business, because it is already earned and already billed.
A $6.7M civil contractor had $309K in the bank within 30 days of starting with us, from AR collections alone. No new work was sold and no bids were changed. Every client who comes to us profitable and broke has AR that nobody has been calling, which means the profit was always there and the process was not.
RESEARCH FROM OTHER SOURCES.
These figures come from another company's survey, not from SPM's clients. Each one cites the report and the page.
Billd's 2026 National Subcontractor Market Report found 83 percent of business owners reported worrying about their cash flow in 2025.
Source: Billd, 2026 National Subcontractor Market Report, page 5 (survey of 623 respondents, published May 13, 2026).
Billd's 2026 National Subcontractor Market Report found subcontractors reported waiting an average of 51 days for payment, against 35 days reported by general contractors.
Source: Billd, 2026 National Subcontractor Market Report, pages 4 and 5 (survey of 623 respondents, published May 13, 2026).
The report doesn't state when the 51 days start. The 2024 and 2025 reports measured the wait from the pay application.
WHAT WE CHANGE.
We model when the cash comes in, not when the profit gets recognized. The 13 week forecast gets built from expected collection dates, so it reports the cash position instead of the income statement position. That's the report you make a payroll decision off of.
The working capital needed to fund each new revenue dollar has to be available before the commitment gets made. We calculate that number against your current cash and your line of credit, and then you grow at the rate the structure supports. Signing first and funding later is how a good year turns into a payroll scare.
Every invoice past 45 days on the AR aging gets a collections call every Monday. The $240,000 that is earned but uncollected is available within two to four weeks of systematic follow up. Nobody has to sell anything new for that money to reach the bank.
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.
Built for subs doing $1M to $12M. Above $12.5M we quote.
| Last 12 months revenue | Core | Strategic | Platinum | One-time onboarding |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under $1M | $1,900 | $3,100 | $3,300 | $2,500 |
| $1M to $3.5M | $2,600 | $4,100 | $5,300 | $4,500 |
| $3.5M to $6.5M | $3,800 | $5,900 | $8,300 | $6,000 |
| $6.5M to $9.5M | $5,100 | $7,600 | $11,800 | $7,500 |
| $9.5M to $12.5M | $6,100 | $8,900 | $14,900 | $9,000 |
| Above $12.5M | Quoted | Quoted | Quoted | Quoted |
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, and it moves with your revenue band. Your first month is prorated, and your monthly engagement starts on the first of the first full month.
Just want the setup? Onboarding only is the same onboarding work with no monthly service after it, one time, at the onboarding fee plus $2,000. Start a monthly engagement later and $2,000 counts toward it. It starts at $4,500, and the price for every band is on the pricing page.
The three tier columns are the whole price. Which one fits 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.
- Online software only: QuickBooks, Sage, Viewpoint and similar. No VPN or hosted desktop.
- Not in any tier: payroll, pay applications, collections on receivables.
- Pricing valid through 2027.
CFO work. Your own bookkeeper keeps doing the books.
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.
Core, plus bookkeeping and bank reconciliations, plus job costing and WIP software set up and managed for you. Use your own online accounting software or we supply it, one price.
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.
Strategic, plus a controller who handles payables and receivables the way an in-house controller would. You approve every payment.
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.
