PROFITABLE ON PAPER, BROKE IN PRACTICE.
AJ Waters had Josh on TheEngiNerdLife to work through the question every owner in this trade eventually asks out loud: the jobs look profitable, the year looks decent, and the bank account disagrees with both. Two client stories, including a company scaling fast and weeks away from missing payroll, then the four financial figures an owner should track and the order to read them in.
THE TOOLS FROM THE CONVERSATION, IN ONE PLACE.
Nothing below is held back and none of it needs the episode. If you heard something you wanted to try on Monday, this is where it lives.
The forecast, which is most of the first half
The method costs nothing and ispublished in full: receipts dated on how each general contractor really pays you, retainage carried on its own line, and a floor that warns you before a short week reaches payroll. The13-week cash flow forecast template is the same method with the arithmetic already wired in, $49 once, and it carries the overhead calculator in the same workbook.
The overhead rate, which is where the margin went
Most subcontractors bid ten percent and run between twenty five and forty two. The method is written out, and the equipment cost basis workbook is the piece people miss, because equipment charged at a rate somebody guessed at puts the floor under every bid in the wrong place.
Billing what you already earned
The fastest cash in a construction business is work you performed and never invoiced. The SOV and Pay Application template and the G702 and G703 pair are on one page, and the WIP schedule template is the one your bank or surety reads first.
Your own trade's numbers
The conversation gets to what good looks like, and an industry-wide figure describes nobody. Gross margin, overhead and net profit for 48 trades across 7 revenue bands are published with the source cited on every figure. Read your own row.
The monthly numbers, and the order to read them in
The second half of the episode is the owner's monthly view. The six part video series covers the same material with the arithmetic on screen, and part six is the one on this: Reading the Red Flags While You Can Still Fix Them. If a term in it was unfamiliar, the construction finance glossary defines each one in a sentence.
Where can I listen to the TheEngiNerdLife Podcast episode with Josh Luebker?
On Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify. It runs 35min and it was released Aug 2026. Every link is at the top of this page and they all go to AJ Waters's own feed and not to a copy hosted here.
What is the 13 week cash flow forecast Josh talks about?
A rolling weekly view of money in and money out, dated on when each general contractor really pays you and not on contract terms. The written method costs nothing and is published in full. The workbook that does the arithmetic is $49 once.
What overhead rate should a subcontractor be running?
Yours, calculated from your own expenses, and it is almost never the ten percent most contractors bid. The benchmark table on this site publishes the real average for 48 trades across 7 revenue bands with the source cited on every figure, so you can read your own row and not a number somebody quoted at a trade meeting.
