CONTROLQORE FOR WATERPROOFING CONTRACTORS.
Generic accounting software can't read cost per square foot by system type, carry a warranty reserve on a job that will be judged a decade from now, or bill a witnessed water test as its own milestone. ControlQore can.
ControlQore for waterproofing contractors uses cost codes by system type, meaning below grade membrane, plaza deck, air and vapor barrier, traffic coating, and joint sealant, so actual cost per square foot is compared to the estimated rate weekly by system rather than blended across all five. Detail work at terminations, penetrations, and transitions carries its own cost codes, because that's where the failures live. A warranty reserve is accrued on every job at booking from tracked callback history by system. Water testing and stage documentation are billed as their own milestones. The WIP schedule is produced monthly from cost-to-cost percentage complete.
The difference isn't the report list. It's when you find out, and in this trade there are two answers to that. The first is production: cost codes built by system turn the same hours into a cost per square foot you can read in week two against the rate you bid, by system, so a plaza deck running hot isn't hidden inside a good month of below grade work. The second is liability. Waterproofing contractors at $1M to $5M run 26 percent gross and 7.5 percent net before taxes on the SPM 48-trade benchmark, the strongest floor among the served trades, against CFOS targets at that band of 27 percent gross and 11 percent net. That gross is the premium for holding a tail the industry spends $8 billion a year cleaning up. The operators who keep the net are the ones who reserved for it.
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 waterproofing subcontractor can read actual cost per square foot by system type against the estimated rate every week while the membrane is still exposed.
Waterproofing is two products sold as one. The membrane is the first half and the record is the second, because buried work gets judged years later by whatever paper exists. Latent defect exposure commonly runs 10 years, and remediation runs $50 to $200 per square foot, with below grade repairs requiring excavation frequently exceeding $150 per square foot. Photo documented installation, written substrate acceptance, and witnessed water tests are the only testimony the membrane will ever give.
WHERE IT GOES WRONG.
No Cost Per SF Visibility by System
QuickBooks job tracking shows total labor cost by job. Below grade membrane, plaza deck, air and vapor barrier, traffic coating, and joint sealant all post into that one total, and the five run on entirely different production math and different crew skills. ControlQore reports actual cost per square foot by system against the estimated rate weekly, so the system that's running hot is identified in week two instead of at closeout, when the membrane is already buried and the crew is on the next building.
Detail Work Priced at the Field Rate
Terminations, penetrations, and transitions are where the failures live and where the hours go, and they run nothing like open field membrane. When detail work has no cost code of its own, its hours get charged against the field square footage, the field rate reads worse than the production was, and the next estimate gets calibrated against a blended number that describes neither. Detail belongs on its own code so both rates are readable.
Warranty Crew Hours With Nothing Accrued
Waterproofing warranties commit future crew hours against revenue recognized years earlier. A callback on a system installed in year one gets worked in year six, and without a reserve accrued per job it's taken out of the current year's margin instead of the job that sold it. The trade's strong net exists because disciplined operators reserve for the tail they sold. Unreserved, a company re-earns its old jobs every spring.
Water Testing Absorbed Instead of Billed
Flood tests, spray and dam tests on plazas and balconies, and integrity testing gate acceptance on a well run job. When testing has no cost code and no line on the schedule of values, the hours get spent, the milestone gets no billing, and the acceptance moment stays an opinion rather than a record. Testing billed as its own line, witnessed and documented, gets paid for in the month it happens and answers the question the claim will ask in year nine.
Overhead Carried Without a Recovery Rate
Certified applicator programs, manufacturer training hours, testing equipment, and estimating load on detail dense scopes push waterproofing overhead to 17 percent at $1M to $5M on the SPM benchmark, second highest among the served trades. The strong gross funds that building, but only if the recovery rate is in every bid. When overhead is a number someone set years ago, the heaviest building in the envelope family gets recovered by accident.
WHAT WE BUILD.
SPM builds ControlQore cost codes for waterproofing clients by system: below grade membrane, plaza deck, air and vapor barrier, traffic coating, and joint sealant, with detail work at terminations, penetrations, and transitions carried separately. Each code points at the corresponding line in the estimate, so labor, material, and equipment post where the bid put them. Actual cost per square foot by system is compared to the estimated rate weekly, and variance over 10% for two consecutive weeks triggers a review while the job is still open.
A warranty reserve is accrued on every job at booking, sized from tracked callback history by system type rather than a flat percentage across the board. Because callback history is kept by system, the reserve on a plaza deck isn't the reserve on a joint sealant scope. A callback in year six hits the accrual it was sold with, which is what keeps the current year's margin intact and what makes the trade's net survive its own liability tail.
Stage photos, written substrate acceptance, manufacturer spec compliance records, witnessed water tests, and burial turnover documentation each get a cost code, and testing gets its own line on the schedule of values so it's billed at occurrence. Two things come out of that. The hours are paid for in the month they're spent, and the job carries a year zero record that answers the terminations, counterflashing, and sealant thickness questions a forensic review will open a decade later.
Waterproofing installs early and then gets backfilled, covered, and trafficked by everyone who follows. Backfill crushes board, rebar punctures membrane, and pavers get set on plaza decks. SPM carries protection scope as its own billable cost code and its own SOV line, with photos at burial and a signed protection handoff, so a later leak has a documented timeline instead of defaulting to installer failure.
The WIP schedule is produced monthly from cost-to-cost percentage complete by job, with underbilled positions, meaning work performed but not yet billed, triggering a corrected pay application, and overbilled positions flagged where billing has outrun the work. The overhead recovery rate is reviewed quarterly against what the company spends on certifications, training, and testing equipment, so the 17 percent building gets recovered in the bid rather than out of the gross.
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.
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