CONTROLQORE FOR FIRE PROTECTION CONTRACTORS.
Generic accounting software can't tell you what a foot of installed sprinkler pipe cost against the bid, separate the pre-permit engineering spend from the install, or tie a billing milestone to the inspection that releases it. ControlQore can.
ControlQore for fire protection contractors uses cost codes by system phase, meaning engineering and hydraulic design, fabrication and spool delivery, underground lead-in and riser, overhead mains, branch lines and drops, heads and trim, firestopping, and test and inspection, to track installed cost per foot of pipe against the bid rate. Engineering and fabrication deposits post to their own codes, so the pre-permit spend is visible instead of buried in a job total. Contract work and NFPA 25 inspection work run as separate divisions with separate P&Ls. The WIP schedule is produced monthly from cost-to-cost percentage complete.
Fire protection contractors at $1M to $5M net 7.5 percent on the SPM 48-trade dataset, and the CFOS target at that revenue is 11 percent before taxes. The distance between those two figures is rarely a bid problem in this trade. It's a timing problem. $1,200 to $3,000 of hydraulic calculations and stamped drawings leave the account before a permit exists, fabricated steel deposits follow on 12 to 16 week lead times, and the first billing milestone waits on somebody else's inspector. Cost codes by system phase turn the same fitter hours into an installed cost per foot you can read against the bid in week two, which is early enough to change the crew, change the method, or start a change order conversation.
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 a fire protection subcontractor can read installed cost per foot of pipe by system phase while the fitters are still in the building.
WHERE IT GOES WRONG.
One Job Total, No Cost Per Foot of Pipe
QuickBooks job tracking gives a fire protection contractor a labor total and a material total for the whole job. Steel pipe installs at $15 to $25 per foot, and a system that runs underground lead-in, riser, overhead mains, branch lines, and CPVC in finished areas can't be read out of one number. When the branch line phase runs over and the mains run under, the two average each other out and the job looks fine until it doesn't. The estimator gets no rate back from the field, so the next bid uses the same numbers that just missed.
The Pre-Permit Spend Buried in the Job
Commercial sprinkler work requires hydraulic calculations and stamped shop drawings before a permit can be pulled, and that runs $1,200 to $3,000 per project. Fabricated steel deposits follow, against lead times of 12 to 16 weeks in many markets. When all of it posts to a generic material or subcontractor code, nobody can say what the design and procurement cycle cost, and a schedule of values that starts billing at installation makes the contractor the project's design bank.
Inspection Coordination Nobody Codes
A sprinkler system inspects at rough-in, at the hydrostatic pressure test, at final, and often again at the alarm tie-in, and commercial inspection coordination alone consumes 8 to 16 labor hours per project. Those hours almost always post to install labor, which inflates the cost per foot and hides the coordination cost in the same stroke. Every one of those gates is also a billing milestone, and the authority having jurisdiction signs the last one, so retainage release waits on the date the contractor controls least.
Contract Work and ITM in One P&L
New construction and NFPA 25 inspection, testing, and maintenance are two businesses with opposite cash profiles. ITM recurs annually at $1,000 to $2,100 per system, with five-year internal inspections at $800 to $2,500, and it pays fast in small pieces. Contract work pays big and slow behind inspections and retainage. One P&L across both hides which side funds the company, and owners price both wrong until the two are reported apart.
WHAT WE BUILD.
SPM builds ControlQore cost codes for fire protection clients by system phase: mobilization, engineering and hydraulic design, fabrication and spool delivery, underground lead-in and riser, overhead mains, branch lines and drops, heads and trim, backflow and specialty devices, firestopping, and test and inspection. Fitter labor, pipe, fittings, and equipment post to the phase that consumed them. Installed cost per foot is calculated weekly by phase and compared to the bid rate, and a phase running over gets reviewed while the crew is still on it.
SPM reviews the schedule of values on every new fire protection subcontract before it's signed. Hydraulic calculations and stamped drawings get their own line, billed with the first pay application, because $1,200 to $3,000 spent before a permit exists is either billed or paid out of profit. Fabrication deposits and stored materials get lines of their own for the same reason, with steel fabrication sitting at 12 to 16 weeks. The review takes one meeting and the cash benefit runs the length of the project.
Rough-in, hydrostatic test, final, and alarm tie-in are entered in ControlQore as the billing milestones they already are, each tied to the SOV line it releases. Inspection coordination gets its own cost code, so the 8 to 16 hours a commercial job consumes stop inflating the installed rate per foot. Firestopping is coded separately too, at $35 to $50 of material plus roughly $45 of labor per penetration, because an incomplete penetration fails an inspection and a failed inspection holds the milestone behind it.
SPM sets up contract work and NFPA 25 inspection, testing, and maintenance as separate divisions in ControlQore, with separate P&Ls and separate overhead recovery. ITM is costed per system against the $1,000 to $2,100 annual rate the market pays, so a route that stopped earning is visible before it's renewed rather than after. Contract work is costed by phase. After two quarters the owner can see which side of the business carries the company, and price both accordingly.
The WIP schedule for fire protection clients is produced monthly from cost-to-cost percentage complete by job. Underbilled positions, meaning work performed and not yet billed, are common in this trade because engineering and fabrication spend so early, and each one triggers a corrected pay application. Overbilled positions flag jobs where billing has outrun installed footage. You see both while there's still contract left to work with.
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.
FREQUENTLY ASKED.
