CONTROLQORE FOR BRIDGE CONTRACTORS.
Generic accounting software can't report cost per unit against a measured DOT bid item, track a cofferdam as the engineered structure it is, or tell you whether new construction or rehab is the side of your business that pays. ControlQore can.
ControlQore for bridge contractors builds cost codes two ways at once. One is by measured bid item, so you can read actual cost per unit against the unit price bid. The other is by structure phase: mobilization, temporary works, foundations and piers, steel erection, deck and rehab work. Falsework, cofferdams and causeways get their own codes, with design, erection, in-place cost and removal inside them. In-water permit windows go on the cash forecast as milestones, because a missed window delays foundation work a season. The WIP schedule is produced monthly from cost-to-cost percentage complete. It's the same schedule the surety reads when it sets your bonding limit.
Bridge contractors at $1M to $5M net 7 percent before taxes on the SPM 48-trade dataset. The CFOS target at that revenue is 10.5 percent before taxes. Gross margin for bridge at the same revenue reads 22 percent. That figure comes from the nearest comparable trade in the dataset and isn't measured directly, so treat it as a reference point. The distance between 6 and 10 comes from a cofferdam nobody coded, an overrun on a measured quantity nobody priced per unit, and a permit window that cost a season. None of the three are visible in a P&L.
THE NUMBERS GENERIC SOFTWARE MISSES.
WHAT IT IS.
ControlQore is a job costing and WIP platform for contractors. It tracks cost by job and cost code. A bridge contractor can read cost per unit against each measured bid item, with falsework, cofferdams and causeways logged as their own cost centers, while the structure is still going up.
WHERE IT GOES WRONG.
Temporary Works Priced Inside General Conditions
Cofferdams, falsework, shoring and causeways are engineered structures built inside the project. Each has its own design, materials and erection cost. They can rival permanent line items before they demobilize as pure expense. If they're included in a general conditions allowance, you can't measure that cost against what the bid assumed. Underpricing temporary works is the classic loss in this trade. It repeats every time, because the last job never produced a number to correct it.
No Cost Per Unit Against the Bid Item
DOT work pays on measured quantities at unit prices, so overruns and underruns are ordinary. Without actual cost per unit by bid item, an overrun looks like extra revenue and an underrun looks like nothing at all. The answer depends on whether that item was priced above or below what it costs you to build. Final measurement is the wrong time to find out, because by then the crew is on the next structure.
In-Water Windows Nowhere on the Cash Forecast
USACE Section 404 and state Section 401 authorizations, fish passage restrictions and flow limits decide when piers, cofferdams and in-channel work can proceed at all. Miss a window by two weeks and that work moves a season. The cost appears in crew, equipment and bonding capacity, and in no single line item. When permit dates are only in a project manager's inbox, you find the delay as a cash problem months after it became a schedule problem.
Rehab and New Construction in One Blended P&L
Federal inspection standards keep the bridge inventory on a rating cycle. Those ratings create continuous deck replacement, painting and rehabilitation work next to new structures. Rehab has different economics: phased traffic control, unknowns inside an existing structure, and containment on older coatings. Blend it into one P&L with new construction and neither market has a margin history. Both get bid off the same overhead assumption, and one of them is subsidizing the other.
WHAT WE BUILD.
SPM builds ControlQore cost codes for bridge clients both ways. The bid item codes mirror the DOT schedule of quantities. Labor, material and equipment post against the same items the pay estimate measures, so you can calculate actual cost per unit every month. The phase codes cover mobilization, temporary works, foundations and piers, steel erection, deck and rehab, so you can read a structure the way it's built. Variance over 10 percent on any unit price item triggers a review.
Every cofferdam, falsework system, shoring scheme and causeway gets its own code with the full lifecycle inside it. That's design, materials, erection labor, rental or ownership cost while it's in place, and removal. It's the only way to compare what a temporary structure cost against what the bid included for it. After two jobs, the estimate prices temporary works from history. That's the largest correctable loss in the trade.
SPM puts the permit calendar on the cash forecast as milestones. That means authorization dates, in-water window open and close, and the environmental commitments attached to each. Mobilization is planned around those dates, and the delay contingency is priced into the bid. When a window closes early, the forecast already shows what the season costs. You make the funding decision before the week starts, while there's still money in the account.
Rehab work is set up in ControlQore as a separate division. It has its own cost codes for traffic phasing, existing-structure unknowns and coating containment, so it builds a margin history that new construction can't dilute. On the input side, most DOTs publish fuel and steel price-adjustment clauses. You have to elect those in the estimate and then administer them against the published index for the life of the contract. SPM tracks the election and the index administration on the job record, so a multi-year contract collects what it's owed.
In bridge contracting, bonding capacity sets how far you can grow. Both the aggregate and single-project limits come out of the balance sheet and WIP schedule the surety reads. The WIP for bridge clients is produced monthly from cost-to-cost percentage complete by job. Underbilled positions trigger a corrected pay app, and overbilled positions get flagged before they become a restatement. In this market, accurate WIP and retained equity are business development too.
FLAT MONTHLY FEE. NO SOFTWARE INVOICE.
Three tiers, priced by your trailing twelve month revenue. ControlQore comes with Strategic and Platinum, 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.
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.
We build your plan every month. Your team does the work.
You get the CFO work: job costing built to match the way you estimate, a 13 week cash forecast, WIP every month, and a monthly meeting that ends with decisions.
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.
We build the plan, track it and adjust it every month.
We only work with trade subcontractors. We know what to look for, and we fix problems while they're still small. 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 pay for it.
Our team does the bookkeeping and the reconciliations. We don't do payroll.
Strategic, plus a controller who handles payables and receivables the way an in-house controller would. You approve every payment.
We manage the money side for you, every week.
Everything in Strategic, plus our team does the controller work. We handle your bills and receivables the way an in-house controller would: we 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.
Our team does the payables and receivables. We don't do payroll, pay applications or collections.
FREQUENTLY ASKED.
