CONTROLQORE FOR IRRIGATION CONTRACTORS.
Generic accounting software can't report cost per linear foot of mainline, separate a bored crossing from open trench, or tell you what the reroute cost when the field conditions changed. ControlQore can.
ControlQore for irrigation contractors uses cost codes by install phase, meaning mobilization, sleeving, mainline trenching, lateral trenching, bored crossings, zone valves and wire, heads, controller and electrical tie-in, testing, and closeout, to track cost per linear foot against the rate set in the bid. Bored crossings post apart from open trench so the two rates never blend into one average. Scope boundaries with the landscape, sitework, and electrical trades are documented in writing before trenching starts, and field changes are logged the day they happen. The WIP schedule is produced monthly from cost-to-cost percentage complete.
Irrigation contractors at $1M to $5M net 7 percent before taxes in the SPM 48-trade dataset, rising to 13 percent by $25M to $50M, against a CFOS target of 10.5 percent before taxes. Install work decides that thin net. Irrigation install is usually sold inside a landscape or sitework package, and it takes on the package's boundary problems: who sleeves under the hardscape, who pays for the mainline reroute the excavator caused, and where irrigation wire stops and electrical scope starts. The cost of the seam falls to whoever documented least. Cost per linear foot by phase turns a boundary argument into a priced change order.
See the full benchmarks for every revenue band on Run On CFOS.
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 irrigation subcontractor can read cost per linear foot by install phase while the trencher is still on the site.
WHERE IT GOES WRONG.
One Job Total, No Cost Per Linear Foot
QuickBooks job tracking reports what the job cost. It can't report what mainline trenching cost per linear foot against the rate in the bid, or the lateral rate on the same job. Those are the two numbers an irrigation bid is built from. Pipe, heads, valves and controllers post to one material line, and every crew hour posts to one labor line. At closeout the job was fine or it wasn't. The per-foot rate goes into the next bid unchanged, because nothing tested it.
Bored Crossings Blended Into the Trench Rate
Open trench and bored crossings are different work at different rates. The bore is the one that moves when field conditions do. Blend them into one trenching code, and a job with four crossings reads as an expensive trench rate. You can't see that the crossings cost more than the bid allowed. The next bid then prices crossings off a blended average. That's wrong in both directions, depending on how many crossings the next site has.
The Package Seam Nobody Documented
Irrigation install is often part of a landscape or sitework package, and it comes with that package's scope seams. Who sleeves under the hardscape. Who pays when the mainline gets rerouted around what the excavator found. Where the controller wire stops being irrigation scope and becomes electrical scope. When those boundaries aren't in writing before trenching, the cost of the seam goes to whoever documented least. With no cost code on the disputed work, you have no number to bring to the conversation.
Milestone Billing Inside Somebody Else's Schedule
Install billing is often set as a milestone inside a package schedule of values, and the irrigation sub doesn't control it. Work done ahead of that milestone stays underbilled until the package catches up. So you're paying for a phase that's already finished. Without a WIP schedule that reads cost against billing job by job, you don't see the underbilled position. Then somebody wonders why the bank balance doesn't agree with the month the P&L reported.
WHAT WE BUILD.
SPM builds ControlQore cost codes for irrigation clients by install phase: mobilization, sleeving, mainline trenching, lateral trenching, bored crossings, zone valves and wire, heads, controller and electrical tie-in, testing, and closeout. Labor, material and equipment post to the phase that used them. Cost per linear foot is calculated from those codes weekly and compared to the rate set in the bid for that phase. Variance over 10 percent triggers a review while the trencher is still on the site.
Crossings get their own code and sleeving gets its own code, so the open trench rate doesn't include either one. That gives you three per-foot rates: what open trench costs on this soil, what a bored crossing costs under this drive, and what sleeving costs when it's yours to do. You price the next proposal from those three rates. You also settle a scope argument about sleeving with them.
SPM reviews the subcontract and the package documents before signing and gets the three usual boundaries in writing: sleeving responsibility under hardscape, who owns a mainline reroute caused by field conditions, and where irrigation wire ends and the electrical sub's scope begins. Field changes then get logged in ControlQore the day they happen, with a cost code behind them. The review takes one meeting. It's the difference between a change order and a donation.
Pipe, heads, valves and controllers are bought on resin and electronics markets that move on their own schedule. Material posts to the phase that used it, against the estimated material for that phase. So you can read the price movement while the job is in progress. Added scope on the controller side, meaning smart controllers and flow sensing an owner asks for late, gets priced as a change order.
The WIP schedule for irrigation clients is produced monthly from cost-to-cost percentage complete by job. Underbilled positions, meaning work performed but not yet billed, show right away and trigger a corrected pay app. That's most important on package work, where your milestone depends on somebody else's progress. Overbilled positions flag jobs where billing is ahead of the installed work. You see both before either one becomes a cash problem.
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.
