DAYS IN AR FOR SUBCONTRACTORS.
Days in AR measures the average number of days it takes to collect payment after billing. For commercial subcontractors, 45 to 60 days is typical, and anything rising past 60 signals a billing or collections process problem, not just a slow-paying GC. Days in AR is one of the earliest warning signs of a cash problem, because it moves before the bank balance does. A subcontractor whose days in AR rises from 45 to 70 over six months will feel the squeeze months before the P&L shows any sign of trouble.
The number counts because it moves first. Cash tells you where you're today and the P&L tells you what happened last month, but the collection clock tells you what next quarter is going to feel like. A sub at 45 days has about a month and a half of billed work funded out of the business at any moment. At 70 days that funded amount grows by more than half, and none of the increase comes from a worse job or a thinner bid. Same revenue, same margin, more of your own money out on the street.
WHAT IT MEANS.
Days in AR, also called days sales outstanding, is the average number of days it takes to collect payment after billing.
Track it monthly rather than annually, so a trend surfaces while it's still small. A yearly figure smooths out the climb that would have warned you in March, and by the time the annual number is compiled, two more quarters have been billed under the same broken routine.
WHERE THE DAYS COME FROM.
Past 60 points at your own process
Every contractor blames the general contractor when collections fall behind, and sometimes that's right. A number rising past 60 days usually points at the billing and collections routine inside your own office instead. Pay applications going out late, a schedule of values that invites pushback, and nobody calling on an approved invoice all add days that have nothing to do with the GC's check cycle.
It moves before the bank balance does
Days in AR is one of the earliest warning signs of a cash problem, because the collection clock stretches long before the account gets thin. A sub whose number rises from 45 to 70 over six months feels the squeeze months before the P&L shows any sign of trouble. By the time cash is the topic at the kitchen table, the number moved two quarters ago.
Nobody tracks it monthly
A yearly figure misses the rise. Tracked once a year, the number is a report card on something you can no longer change. Tracked every month, the same number is an early alarm you can act on while the change is small and one conversation with a GC still fixes it.
Over 90 is a dispute or a broken routine
Once the average passes 90 days, the cause is rarely spread evenly across all your invoices. It's usually one unresolved dispute in the aging report, or a collections routine nobody owns. Both are findable in an afternoon, and both stay put until somebody goes looking for them on purpose.
WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE IN DOLLARS.
Divide accounts receivable by total credit sales for the period, then multiply by the number of days in that period. A subcontractor billing $500,000 a month with $750,000 in outstanding AR is at roughly 45 days in AR.
Under 45 days signals strong billing and collections discipline. 45 to 60 days is the typical range for commercial subcontractors. 60 to 90 days is worth investigating, whether the cause is billing timing, the GC pay cycle, or the collections routine. Over 90 days is active cash flow risk, and it usually ties to a specific unresolved dispute or a broken collections process.
RESEARCH FROM OTHER SOURCES.
These figures come from another company's survey, not from SPM's clients. Each one cites the report and the page.
Billd's 2026 National Subcontractor Market Report found subcontractors reported waiting an average of 51 days for payment, against 35 days reported by general contractors.
Source: Billd, 2026 National Subcontractor Market Report, pages 4 and 5 (survey of 623 respondents, published May 13, 2026).
The report doesn't state when the 51 days start. The 2024 and 2025 reports measured the wait from the pay application.
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. The one-time onboarding fee is right here in the table.
| Last 12 months revenue | Monthly fee | One-time onboarding |
|---|---|---|
| Under $1M | $1,900 to $3,300 | $1,000 |
| $1M to $3.5M | $2,600 to $5,300 | $1,500 |
| $3.5M to $6.5M | $3,800 to $8,300 | $3,000 |
| $6.5M to $9.5M | $5,100 to $11,800 | $4,500 |
| $9.5M to $12.5M | $6,100 to $14,900 | $6,000 |
| $12.5M to $15.5M | $7,400 to $17,650 | $7,500 |
| $15.5M to $18.5M | $9,400 to $22,400 | $9,000 |
| $18.5M+ | Quoted individually | Quoted individually |
The onboarding fee covers migrating your books back to the start of your last taxable year and getting you fully operational in 60 days. It's billed once, with your first invoice. It's the same for all three tiers. Your first month is prorated, and your monthly engagement starts on the first of the first full month.
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. The onboarding fee is right here in the table.
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 and never in a report.
Your bookkeeper still does the books.
Every job shows its margin while it is still open.
Everything in Core, plus the bookkeeping and bank reconciliations done for you, and the job costing and WIP software set up, loaded with your cost codes, and managed every month. Use your own online software, or move to ours and we cover it.
A bookkeeper we choose does the books and reconciliations. No payroll.
You approve, and the money side gets handled.
Everything in Strategic, plus a controller we choose who handles your bills and receivables for you the way an in-house controller would. They call vendors, pay the bills and keep the accounting current. We plan the cash flow first, and you approve every payment because it is your money.
A controller we choose does the payables and receivables. No payroll, no pay applications, no collections.
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