CONTROLQORE FOR MARINE CONTRACTORS.
Generic accounting software can't price a spread day by vessel, separate weather standby from productive in-water time, or tell you what the tow to site cost against what you bid it at. ControlQore can.
ControlQore for marine contractors uses cost codes by vessel and by phase: mobilization and tow, spud setup, productive spread days, weather standby, in-water production, and demobilization. It tracks cost per spread day against the day rate set in the bid. Weather standby posts to its own code, apart from production labor. Mobilization and demobilization are billed as their own schedule of values lines. Permit milestones under USACE Section 404 and state Section 401 are placed on the cash forecast, because permit timing is cash timing. The WIP schedule is produced monthly from cost-to-cost percentage complete.
In marine work the trouble is the calendar. A P&L closes weeks after the spread demobilized. So the day rate that lost money on this job goes into the bid for the next one. Cost codes built by vessel turn the same fuel, crew and ownership cost into a cost per spread day you can read against the rate you bid. Standby on its own code tells you what the weather window cost, separately from what the work cost. Both numbers belong in the next proposal.
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 marine contractor can read cost per spread day by vessel, with weather standby coded apart from productive time, while the spread is still on the water.
WHERE IT GOES WRONG.
Spread Day Cost Pooled Into One Equipment Line
Marine work uses barges, cranes, tugs, spuds and workboats. Every one of them has a daily ownership cost whether the weather allows work or not. Maintenance is saltwater grade, so that cost is heavier than the equipment math on a dirt job suggests. When all of it posts to a single equipment expense line, there's no cost per spread day for any vessel. The day rate in the next bid is a guess.
Weather Standby Coded as Production
A spread that waits through a blow costs the same as one that works. Environmental windows, tides and sea state decide when the work happens. Peak-window competition alone can move dredging bids by 10 to 25 percent. If standby hours post to the same code as in-water production, the productive day rate reads worse than it is. The standby cost reads as nothing at all, and you can't price either number into the next job.
Mobilization Priced Inside Unit Rates
Getting a spread to the site is a six-figure cost on real work: tug transit, permits for the tow, crane rigging and spud setup. Put that inside unit prices and you pay for the owner's job until production billing catches up. On canceled or suspended work you never get it back. Demobilization at the end has the same problem and gets even less attention, because by then everyone has moved on to the next award.
Federal Payment Deadlines Living in Somebody's Memory
A marine sub working under a prime on federal or port work has no lien rights against the government. The Miller Act payment bond replaces them. It has its own notice and suit deadlines that differ from state lien law. Flow-down clauses govern, and certified payroll has to stay clean. Retainage on long federal jobs adds to the exposure. When those dates aren't on the job record, a payment right can expire on a job that's otherwise going fine.
WHAT WE BUILD.
SPM builds ControlQore cost codes for marine clients by vessel and by phase: mobilization and tow, spud setup, productive spread days, weather standby, in-water production, and demobilization. Fuel, crew and ownership cost post to the vessel that used them. Actual cost per spread day is calculated from those codes and compared to the day rate set in the bid. The rate in your next proposal is the rate the last job proved.
Standby gets its own cost category. ControlQore has a standby code for each vessel, so the days the window closed are counted and priced separately from the days the spread produced. Over a season that number becomes the standby allowance in the bid. Then you know whether a job was mispriced or lost to weather.
SPM reviews every new marine subcontract schedule of values before signing. SPM recommends mobilization as its own front-loaded line, with demobilization as a separate line at the end. ControlQore is set up with the same line items as the subcontract, so pay app billings post against them and you can compare the mobilization cost to what you billed. The review takes one meeting, and the cash effect lasts the length of the job.
USACE Section 404 and state Section 401 permits, habitat consultations and environmental windows decide when the spread can work. Those dates go on the cash forecast as milestones, out of the project manager's inbox. Miller Act notice and suit deadlines get calendared at contract signing. Flow-down clauses get read before the signature. Permit timing is schedule timing, and schedule timing is cash timing.
The WIP schedule for marine 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 worth more on marine work than most trades, because each day of being wrong costs more. Overbilled positions flag jobs where billing is ahead of real production. On a permit-gated schedule that's easier to do than it sounds.
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.
