CONTROLQORE FOR LOW VOLTAGE AND AV CONTRACTORS.
Generic accounting software can't report labor cost per drop against the bid rate, compare production per drop by building type, or tell you which drops are tested and documented well enough to bill. ControlQore can.
ControlQore for low voltage and AV contractors builds the drop into the system as a defined unit: pull, terminate, test, label and document. The base drop count is logged at contract. Actual labor cost per drop is compared weekly to the bid rate. Every added drop posts against that log, so it becomes a change order. AV integration gets its own cost codes for equipment procurement, programming and commissioning, so the integration tail reads separately from the cabling. Billing follows documentation complete: test results, the label schedule and the closeout package per drop.
A unit price is only as strong as its unit definition, and this trade sells by a unit almost nobody writes down. Cable in a ceiling with no test report and no label behind it is inventory. You can't bill it. Subcontractors already wait an average of 51 days for payment, per Billd's 2026 report, before a documentation clock gets added on top. Cost per drop, read weekly, tells you whether the crew is beating the rate you bid. Drops documented, read the same week, tells you what you're allowed to bill.
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 low voltage and AV contractor can read labor cost per drop against the bid rate while crews are still pulling cable.
WHERE IT GOES WRONG.
Nobody Counts a Drop the Same Way
Structured cabling sells by the drop. A drop is a cable pull plus terminations plus testing plus labeling plus documentation, or it's just the pull, depending on whose estimate you're reading. The unit price holds up only when the unit is written down. Underdefined drop scope is this trade's device-count problem. Change orders on added drops get turned down when nobody logged the base count at contract. The estimator bid one scope, the field delivered a bigger one, and there's no record of the difference.
Pulled Cable Counted as Progress
Billing in this trade depends on certification. You can't invoice until you have test results per drop, labeling to spec and the documentation package. AV work can't bill until commissioning: systems programmed, tested, and the client trained. Production that gets ahead of testing and documentation is unbillable inventory above the ceiling tile. It reads as progress in the field and as nothing at all on the pay application. That's how a job that's 80 percent pulled bills at half that.
AV Punch With No Written Acceptance
Integration work ends in programming, commissioning and client punch. Client punch without written criteria is taste. The conference room still drops calls, the room still feels off, and final payment and retainage wait while a technician who costs real money goes back a fourth time. Without a cost code for that return labor, the overrun goes into the job total. Then the same scope gets bid the same way on the next building.
Project and Service Work Blended Into One Statement
Install projects bill big and slow on construction terms, with equipment bought on deposit for long-lead displays and processors. Service contracts and managed AV bill small and recurring. In one blended P&L the recurring side covers project overruns, and the project side keeps you from seeing that service is priced from memory. The security market pays materially more for a contractor with recurring mix than for a project-only shop. So the divisional split is an operating decision and an exit-value decision at once.
WHAT WE BUILD.
SPM writes the drop definition into the ControlQore cost code structure first: pull, terminate, test, label and document, priced as one scope. The base drop count from the estimate is logged at contract, per building and per floor where the plans support it. Every added drop posts against that log as a change order candidate the same week it happens. With the unit and the count both on record, the unit price isn't something to argue about later.
Technicians log hours by cost code at the end of each day. ControlQore divides burdened labor cost by drops completed to get an actual cost per drop. That number is compared weekly to the rate in the estimate. Production per drop moves with building type, pathway conditions, plenum work, and how much of the day is spent on a lift. So the comparison also builds a production library you can bid from, and you're not bidding from the last job you remember.
SPM sets up ControlQore to track drops completed and drops documented as two counts, because only one of them is billable. Test results, the label schedule and the closeout package are tracked per drop, and the pay application is built from the documented count. Crews test and document daily as they pull, with no week-long push at the end. That keeps the documentation clock from adding to the 51-day wait.
AV integration gets its own cost codes for equipment procurement, programming, commissioning and client training. The commissioning protocol comes with written pass conditions: signal, latency, control functions, and training delivered. That turns subjective punch into a checklist the job can be closed against. Return visits after acceptance post to a service cost code. The support tail moves onto a service contract, where it earns recurring revenue and stops being unpaid warranty.
Division is a job attribute in ControlQore, so install projects, service, and managed contracts report separately every month with their own gross margin and their own days to payment. Burdened labor rates are built by classification, which is what public work demands from technicians who pull cable in the morning and program panels in the afternoon. The WIP schedule is produced monthly from cost-to-cost percentage complete on the project side, and underbilled positions trigger a corrected pay application.
THE OUTPUTS, LISTED.
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.
