Construction Finance From Someone Who's Run the Work.
Josh doesn't speak from a spreadsheet. He's been the PM on Google data centers, military bases, hospitals, and high-rises. He's seen what happens when subcontractors run the work but not the numbers. He talks about it plainly, specifically, and in a way that field operators actually respect.
Available for podcast appearances, webinars, keynotes, workshop sessions, and contractor group training. 12+ industry appearances. Converge Construction Summit 2026 speaker. Topics tailored to your audience and format. Contact: schedule a call or Josh@ConstructionCFO.net.
What Josh Talks About.
Every talk is built around practical financial systems subcontractors can use — not accounting theory. Topics are customized for audience and format.
Profitable on Paper, Zero in the Bank
Why commercial subcontractors consistently run out of cash even in good years — and the three structural cash flow problems that most owners never fix. Pay-when-paid, retainage, and mobilization timing explained plainly.
Job Costing That Actually Works
The difference between bookkeeping and job costing, why QuickBooks isn't enough for commercial subcontracting, and how to build a system that tells you a job is going sideways at Week 4 instead of at closeout.
What Your Overhead Rate Is Actually Telling You
Most subcontractors' overhead rates are wrong because equipment costs run to overhead instead of jobs. Here's how to find the distortion, correct it, and recalibrate bid markup to reflect true cost structure.
The WIP Schedule — What It Is and Why Your Bonding Company Cares
A plain-language explanation of percentage of completion, WIP reporting, over/underbilling, and why surety agents and lenders use the WIP schedule to evaluate financial health.
Growing Through $5M Without Breaking the Business
The financial inflection points that trip up subcontractors as they scale — and the systems that need to be in place before revenue hits $5M, $8M, and $12M.
Building a Construction Company Worth Selling
What drives valuation for commercial subcontractors, how adjusted EBITDA is calculated, and the 3-year financial preparation timeline that commands a premium exit multiple.
How Josh Shows Up.
Available for in-person keynotes, workshop sessions, podcast appearances, trade association events, and contractor group training. He keeps things direct and practical — no slides full of buzzwords.
Where Josh Has Shown Up.
Background and Credibility.
Josh Luebker is a former commercial construction project manager and master electrician who managed over 150 projects totaling more than $300M in construction value — including Google data centers, military bases, hospitals, and high-rises across multiple states.
He founded Sulphur Prairie Management (The Construction CFO) to provide fractional CFO services for commercial subcontractors doing $1M–$12M. That field background is what makes his talks land differently than a CPA or consultant reading from slides.
Josh is authoring CONTROL: The Construction Financial Operating System — the book version of the CFOS methodology. He is an official ControlQore implementation partner and works with subcontractors across 18 trades nationally.