WHAT DOES A CONSTRUCTION CFO ACTUALLY COST?
A fractional construction CFO is priced as a monthly retainer, set by your trailing twelve month revenue and how much of the work comes off your desk. A full-time in-house CFO costs $150,000 or more a year in salary alone, before benefits, payroll tax, and the overhead of another full-time employee. For most subcontractors doing $1M to $12M in revenue, the fractional math works in a way a full-time hire doesn't.
The cost question is really a model question. A full-time hire is a fixed line on your payroll that doesn't care whether you closed four jobs this month or fourteen, and for somebody with genuine construction finance experience that line runs well past $150,000 once benefits and payroll tax are added. A retainer moves with your revenue instead, so it costs less when you're smaller and more when you're bigger. Somewhere around $15M to $20M in revenue the volume gets large enough that a fixed seat starts to make sense, and below that it rarely does.
WHAT IT MEANS.
A fractional construction CFO is financial leadership bought on a monthly retainer scaled to your revenue, rather than as a full-time salaried seat on your payroll.
Comparing the two on one number is what gets contractors into trouble here. A salary is a commitment for the year, and a retainer is a commitment for the month, so the two aren't the same kind of cost even when the annual totals look close. The useful comparison is the fully loaded seat against the retainer, and then both of those against what the finance work is worth to the business.
WHERE THE FIXED COST STOPS WORKING.
The salary is only where the number starts
A full-time construction CFO typically costs $150,000 or more in salary, and that figure is the beginning of the cost rather than the end of it. Benefits, payroll tax, and the overhead that comes with another full-time employee all sit on top of it. By the time the seat is fully loaded, most subcontractors under $12M are carrying a fixed cost their volume never asked for.
A fixed seat costs the same when the work slows
A salaried position costs the same in a slow quarter as it does in a busy one, because payroll doesn't flex with your backlog. Construction revenue does flex, and sometimes it flexes hard. A retainer set against trailing twelve month revenue moves with the business instead of sitting on top of it.
Below roughly $15M to $20M the volume doesn't fill the seat
Fractional makes the most sense for subcontractors under roughly $15M to $20M in revenue, where the transaction count and the number of open jobs don't yet fill a full-time finance role. Above that range the calculation runs the other way, because the volume can carry the fixed cost. That threshold is about how much finance work there's to do, not about how good the CFO is.
WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE IN DOLLARS.
Somebody with real construction finance experience typically costs $150,000 or more in base salary, and the fully loaded seat runs well past that once benefits, payroll tax, and employee overhead are counted. That's a fixed annual commitment against a variable revenue stream. Above roughly $15M to $20M in revenue the volume can justify it, and below that it usually can't.
FLAT MONTHLY FEE. NO SURPRISES.
Three tiers, priced by your trailing twelve month revenue. Which one you're in depends on how much of the work you want off your desk. No hourly billing, no payroll, and no add-ons.
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.
FREQUENTLY ASKED.
