WHY FRAMING CONTRACTORS MISPRICE MULTI-STORY WORK.
Framing labor productivity is not constant across floors. Ground floor framing runs faster — easier material staging, shorter lift distances, simpler logistics. Upper floors slow down as staging complexity increases, crane time extends, and safety requirements add overhead. A framing contractor who tracks all labor in one code cannot see the per-floor production rate — and cannot build a defensible estimate for the next multi-story job from actual cost history.
CFOS builds floor-by-floor cost codes into every multi-story framing engagement. Actual labor hours and fully burdened dollars by floor are compared to estimated rates weekly — so floor-level variance is visible before it compounds across the remaining floors.
A commercial framing contractor estimating a 6-story wood frame building typically builds a blended labor rate — an average across all floors that weights ground floor productivity too heavily. When the job runs, upper floors take longer than the blended rate assumed, and lower floors run faster. The result: labor comes in over budget on the top half of the building and the PM spends the last 8 weeks trying to recover.
Floor-by-floor cost tracking produces an actual productivity rate for each level. That data makes the next multi-story estimate accurate rather than optimistic on upper floors.
Upper floor framing requires crane picks, material hoisting, staging platforms, extended setup and breakdown, and additional safety equipment. These costs often land in general conditions rather than framing labor because the foreman does not have a specific code to charge them to. When the PM reviews framing labor, the upper floor cost looks lower than it actually is — because part of the cost is hiding in a different line.
CFOS creates floor-specific cost codes that capture all labor associated with each floor's work — direct framing hours and the framing-related staging and logistics hours. The total cost per floor is accurate, not split across multiple generic codes.
A framing contractor who has never tracked labor by floor cannot accurately estimate upper floor work. They bid from industry tables or gut feel, which tends to understate upper floors because the visible frame goes up at roughly the same pace — but the hidden labor hours for staging, hoisting, and safety are higher. The margin on floors 3 through 6 is consistently worse than estimated, and the contractor cannot fix it because there is no floor-level data to learn from.
After 2 to 3 CFOS-tracked multi-story jobs, the contractor has actual cost per floor data that makes every subsequent estimate defensible and accurate. The estimating advantage compounds over time.
FLAT MONTHLY FEE. NO SURPRISES.
Two tiers based on trailing 12-month revenue. No hourly billing. No payroll. No add-ons.
| Revenue | Core Financial | Executive Financial |
|---|---|---|
| Under $1M | $1,900/mo | $2,900/mo |
| $1M–$3M | $2,600/mo | $3,600/mo |
| $4M–$6M | $3,800/mo | $5,500/mo |
| $7M–$9M | $5,100/mo | $6,900/mo |
| $10M–$12M | $6,100/mo | $8,500/mo |
| $13M+ | Quoted | Quoted |
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