WHAT DOES A CONSTRUCTION CFO DO?
A construction CFO owns job costing accuracy, cash flow forecasting, overhead calculation, and monthly financial reporting, built specifically around how subcontractors bill and get paid. That's different from a bookkeeper, who records transactions, and different from a general CFO, who may never have seen a construction billing cycle.
The title gets used loosely, so it helps to be specific. A construction CFO doesn't reconcile the bank account or file your taxes. Those are bookkeeping and CPA functions, and both of them look backward at what already happened. A construction CFO owns the financial control system: job costs tracked against the estimate while the job is running, cash flow forecast against your true billing cycle, overhead calculated from what you spend rather than from a guess, and a monthly review that ends in assigned to dos. It's an operational role as much as a financial one.
WHAT IT MEANS.
A construction CFO is the person who owns job costing accuracy, cash flow forecasting, overhead calculation, and monthly financial reporting, built around how subcontractors bill and get paid.
The distinction that counts is timing. A bookkeeper and a CPA both work on the period that closed, and they need to, because somebody has to tie out the history and file the return. A construction CFO works on the period that hasn't happened yet, which is the only place a decision can still be changed.
THE FOUR RESPONSIBILITIES.
Job costing accuracy
Every job gets a cost structure that mirrors the estimate, tracked while the work is running, so you can tell which jobs are making money before they close out. The cost codes match the way the estimate was built, which is what makes bid against actual a usable comparison instead of a guess. Without that, job costing produces a report nobody can price the next job from.
Cash flow forecasting
A rolling forecast gets built and maintained against your true billing cycle: pay app timing, retainage, and vendor terms. A generic template doesn't work here. The timing of a subcontractor's money is set by the pay app calendar and by the GC's habits and not by the calendar month, so the forecast has to be built off the jobs you have in front of you.
Overhead calculation
The true overhead rate gets calculated from your financials, with direct job costs separated correctly from real overhead, so every bid is priced against a number that holds up. When the rate moves because you added a PM or the comp renewal came in higher, the estimating side gets the new number before the next bid goes out. That is a monthly task.
Monthly financial cadence
The monthly review ends in specific to dos with an owner and a date, rather than a summary of what already happened. A report nobody acts on is a report nobody needed. The point of the meeting is the list you leave the meeting with, and the point of the next meeting is checking whether the list got done.
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.
FREQUENTLY ASKED.
