CONTROLQORE FOR ACOUSTIC CEILING CONTRACTORS.
Generic accounting software can't report grid and tile cost per room, count the re-entries that five trades above the grid cause, or price lay-in production separately from specialty systems. ControlQore can.
ControlQore for acoustic ceiling contractors uses cost codes by scope and by room, meaning layout, hanger wire and seismic bracing, grid installation, tile drop, specialty systems, and punch tile swaps, so labor cost per room is tracked against the rate the bid carried. Above-ceiling inspection sign-offs are recorded by room and treated as the notice to proceed. Every re-entry into a room already gridded posts its own hours with the cause recorded, so the remobilization is a documented cost instead of absorbed labor. Lay-in grid and specialty systems carry separate cost histories. The WIP schedule is produced monthly from cost-to-cost percentage complete.
A ceiling is bid by area and lost by the room. Duct, pipe, sprinkler, cable tray, and conduit all finish and inspect above the grid before tile drops, so five other trades set the mobilization date, and every one more fix reopens a room the crew already closed out. Access decides the rest: a low corridor and an open lobby reached only from a lift are the same square footage and nothing like the same hours, and a job-level labor total can't tell them apart. Cost per room, read weekly against the bid, is early enough to bill the re-entry while the superintendent still remembers whose work caused it.
THE NUMBERS GENERIC SOFTWARE MISSES.
WHAT IT IS.
ControlQore is a job costing and WIP platform for contractors that tracks cost by job and cost code, so an acoustic ceiling subcontractor can see grid and tile cost per room, and the remobilization cost of every room reopened after it was closed, while the floor is still in progress.
WHERE IT GOES WRONG.
Ceiling Labor Blended Across Rooms and Access Conditions
Grid work is layout skill and lift access, and both change room to room. A low corridor, a mechanical space full of obstructions, and an open lobby reached only from a lift carry the same square footage on a takeoff and nothing like the same hours. Seismic categories add bracing, wire spacing, and perimeter details that vary by jurisdiction and are invisible on the reflected ceiling plan, and code-comment revisions after permit move those details again. Generic accounting software reports one labor total for the job, which averages all of it and tells you nothing about which rooms are losing money while there are still floors left to install.
Re-Entries That Nobody Counted
The ceiling closes last in every room because everything lives above it: duct, pipe, sprinkler, cable tray, and conduit all finish and inspect before tile drops. The acoustic contractor mobilizes on a date set by five other trades' completion, grids rooms that then reopen for one more above-ceiling fix, and eats the remobilization. Nobody disputes that the re-entry happened, because nobody counted the hours or wrote down whose fix caused it. Without above-ceiling sign-offs recorded by room, the trade has no record of when it was cleared to work and no basis to bill the second trip.
Lay-In Grid and Specialty Systems in One Book
Standard lay-in grid is production work, priced from repetition. Wood, metal, felt, cloud, and open-plenum systems are engineered installations with submittal cycles, long-lead custom material, and layout closer to millwork than to grid. Run through one blended cost history, the specialty work gets priced like production and the production work gets priced like specialty, so both are wrong in opposite directions. The submittal and lead-time cash curve on specialty systems is also nothing like the lay-in curve, and one book can't forecast either.
Tile Damage Booked as a Waste Factor
Ceiling tile is the most fragile finish on the job and the last one in, stored on site while every other trade works around the pallets. Spec'd attic stock inflates quantities, large orders need dye-lot matching, and damage is a constant. When crushed tile and a waste factor post to the same place, the estimate learns the wrong lesson and repeats it next year. Tile a lift ran into is a back-charge to the trade that ran the lift, not a waste percentage the ceiling contractor absorbs, and the difference is whether anybody logged the cause.
Retainage Held Behind Everyone Else's Punch
The ceiling is the punch walk's easiest target because every scuffed tile is visible from the floor, and it's the last release on the retainage line because near-last completion means the hold waits on the whole project's closeout. Acoustic ceiling contractors at $1M to $5M net 6 percent before taxes on the SPM 48-trade dataset, so a 10 percent hold rivals the entire profit on the job, and the CFOS target at that revenue is 10 percent net. Tile-swap punch labor is real work with real hours behind it, and most bids carry none. Every extra day spent arguing over a scuffed tile is another day the hold is outstanding.
WHAT WE BUILD.
SPM builds ControlQore cost codes for acoustic ceiling clients by scope: mobilization, layout, hanger wire and seismic bracing, grid installation, tile drop, specialty systems, lift and high-access work, and punch tile swaps. Rooms and floors carry their own codes so hours post where they were worked. Weekly actual labor cost per room is compared to the rate the bid carried, and seismic bracing is priced by code category rather than absorbed into the grid rate. A jurisdiction whose bracing details cost more than the bid assumed is visible on the first floor instead of the last one.
SPM sets up room-readiness tracking in ControlQore, where the above-ceiling inspection sign-off is recorded per room and treated as the notice to proceed for that room. Crews don't grid a room without it, which converts the trade's position from hostage to gatekeeper. Every re-entry after a room is closed posts hours to a remobilization code with the cause recorded and a photograph attached. That record is what turns the second trip into a billed change order instead of donated labor, and the argument happens while the superintendent still remembers the fix.
SPM configures lay-in grid and specialty engineered systems as separate divisions in ControlQore, with their own cost codes, their own labor histories, and their own margins. Lay-in builds a production record you can bid from. Specialty carries its submittal dates, long-lead material commitments, and the cash curve those create, so a deposit on custom wood doesn't read as a bad month. After a few jobs the two divisions report separate gross margins, which is usually the first time an owner sees which one is carrying the company.
Ordered quantities post against installed quantities by tile type in ControlQore, so waste factors come from your own history rather than a rule of thumb. Spec'd attic stock is carried as its own line so it stops inflating the waste number, and dye-lot requirements on large orders are recorded with the order. Damage posts to a log with a cause on it: site storage, handling by the ceiling crew, or another trade's equipment. The third category is a back-charge with documentation behind it, and it only exists if somebody wrote down what happened the day it happened.
The WIP schedule for acoustic ceiling clients is produced monthly from cost-to-cost percentage complete by job. Underbilled positions, meaning work performed but not yet billed, are visible immediately and trigger a corrected pay app, which is common on this trade because room milestones get billed late when the sign-offs run behind. Overbilled positions flag jobs where billing has run ahead of production. Retainage is tracked as its own receivable class by job and by GC with release conditions dated from day one, and tile-swap punch labor is priced into the bid as its own code so closeout is funded work instead of a margin refund.
FLAT MONTHLY FEE. NO SOFTWARE INVOICE.
Three tiers, priced by your trailing twelve month revenue. ControlQore comes with Strategic, and it never appears as its own line item on an SPM invoice. Which tier you're in depends on how much of the work you want off your desk.
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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