EXCAVATION: ROCK, SPOIL, AND THE CHANGED-CONDITIONS FIGHT

Classify soils in the bid, carry unit prices for rock and unsuitable material, and tie both to a written changed-conditions clause. The cost of extra spoil gets spent before any dispute resolves; the paper trail is what turns a surprise into a paid change order instead of a donation.

Excavation contractors at $1M to $5M in revenue net 5.5 percent on average, rising to 8.5 percent by $25M to $50M. The CFOS target at $1M to $5M is 10 percent, and it rises with revenue. The gap usually sits in untracked production rates, haul-off cost drift, and iron that bills nothing. Every net profit figure here is stated before taxes, the same basis CFMA reports on, so the two are directly comparable.

Because the trade pays you last and charges you first. Equipment payments and fuel run daily, trucking subs bill weekly, and the receivable lands 60 to 90 days later, minus retainage. Add one rock surprise or one failed compaction test and the quarter's cash is spoken for.

Three tiers, and which one you are in depends on how much of the work you want off your desk. Core is where you stop guessing: job costing built against the way you estimate, a 13 week cash forecast, monthly WIP, and a monthly meeting that ends in decisions, while your bookkeeper keeps doing the books. Executive is where you stop touching the books, because we run the bookkeeping and the controllership as well. Strategic is where every job shows its margin while it is still running, because the job costing and WIP platform is set up and managed for you. No payroll. No scope gaps.

Sixty days. We migrate your books back to the start of your last taxable year, set up ControlQore, and build your job costing structure from scratch. Fully operational in two months.