SUPERVISION COSTS ARE HIDING IN THE WRONG BUCKET.
Foreman, superintendent, and project coordinator compensation is one of the most commonly misclassified cost categories in commercial subcontracting. Most companies run all supervision through overhead. But a superintendent who spends 80% of their time on a specific project belongs in that project's direct job cost. Getting this split right changes the overhead rate, the job margin, and the bid model all at once.
The reason this one hides so well is that the P&L nets out either way. Total cost is total cost, so the bottom line doesn't care which bucket a superintendent sits in. Everything above the bottom line does care. Your overhead rate is the number you bid with, your job margin is the number you judge a project by, and this one coding decision moves both of them in opposite directions. Most subcontractors have spent years bidding off an overhead rate several points too high while reviewing job margins several points too generous, and both errors trace to the same line in the chart of accounts.
WHAT IT MEANS.
Supervision cost is the compensation paid to foremen, superintendents, and project coordinators, and it belongs to a job rather than to overhead whenever one person spends most of their time on that job.
Supervision cost belongs in one of three buckets, and time allocation decides which one. A person spending 60% or more of their time on one project is a direct job expense on that project. A person spending less than 40% of their time on any single job is overhead. Anybody in the 40% to 60% range gets a blended allocation, split by the time they spent.
WHAT THE WRONG BUCKET BREAKS.
The overhead rate is overstated
When a superintendent who is 80% dedicated to one job gets coded to overhead, the overhead rate inflates by that superintendent's entire cost. The overhead rate reads higher than it's and the job margin reads better than it is. Both numbers are wrong, and they're wrong in directions that cover for each other, which is why the P&L never gives it away.
Jobs look more profitable than they are
Direct supervision cost that misses the job makes the job appear to hit its margin target even when it didn't. The superintendent's cost is real, it just isn't visible on the job cost report. Month after month and job after job, the P&L reports margins that don't match what happened in the field.
Bids get built on the wrong overhead assumption
If overhead includes direct supervision cost, the overhead rate in the estimate is overstated and the direct cost in the estimate is understated. When somebody finally reviews the estimate structure, the supervision assumption isn't in there at all. The job gets bid at the right total number for the wrong reasons, and the next job with a different supervision load gets bid wrong.
WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE IN DOLLARS.
Take a superintendent at $180K a year who spends 80% of their time on one project. That's $144K of direct job cost sitting in overhead. The job reads as though it beat its margin by that amount spread across its duration, and company overhead reads as though it's $144K heavier than it really is. One employee, one coding decision, and two reports you can't use.
Foreman time on specific projects is the piece that goes uncaptured most often. Foremen are usually paid as hourly field employees and coded straight to payroll, and that payroll cost rarely gets split between the jobs they supervised and company overhead. On a $75K foreman who spent 70% of the year on two specific projects, $52K is direct job cost that's currently sitting in overhead or getting lost in the payroll bucket.
THREE BUCKETS, ONE RULE.
Any supervision employee spending 60% or more of their time on a single project gets coded as a direct job expense on that project. A foreman on a 9 month project is a direct job cost. A superintendent running one large civil job is a direct job cost. The overhead rate doesn't include either of them.
A project coordinator managing three concurrent jobs, a general superintendent overseeing all active work, and an estimator doing part time PM work all stay in overhead. The cost is real, but it can't be assigned to one project because the work is spread across all of them. Forcing an allocation there would trade one distortion for a different one.
Some supervision roles genuinely split, such as a superintendent on one large project who also spends 20% of their time on other company work. CFOS uses a time based allocation, so 80% of their cost goes to the primary project and 20% goes to overhead. It's not perfect, and it's far more accurate than running the whole cost through overhead and calling it done.
THE OUTPUTS, NAMED.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Up to $1M | $1,900 to $2,900 | $1,000 |
| $1M to $3.5M | $2,600 to $3,900 | $1,500 |
| $3.5M to $6.5M | $3,800 to $5,700 | $3,000 |
| $6.5M to $9.5M | $5,100 to $7,100 | $4,500 |
| $9.5M to $12.5M | $6,100 to $8,500 | $6,000 |
| $12.5M to $15.5M | $7,400 to $11,000 | $7,500 |
| $15.5M to $18.5M | $9,400 to $13,500 | $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.
You stop touching the books.
Everything in Core, and we do the bookkeeping and the controllership as well. Your office stops answering coding questions and stops fixing a reconciliation that will not balance on the last day of the month.
We do the books. No payroll.
Every job shows its margin while it is still open.
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 books, the job costing, and the software. No payroll.
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