THE OPERATING MODEL

WHAT CFOS REPLACES IN CONSTRUCTION.

QUICK ANSWER

Most construction subcontractors already have a bookkeeper, a CPA, and a spreadsheet, and they still can't say whether they made money on an individual job. CFOS replaces that setup rather than adding a layer on top of it. Each of those three pieces does something useful, none of them talk to each other, and the owner ends up doing the interpreting that none of them are positioned to do.

Before CFOS, the financial setup for a $3M to $8M subcontractor is three vendors and one tired owner. The bookkeeper records what happened, the CPA files taxes in March, the spreadsheet holds numbers nobody fully trusts, and the owner decides off the bank balance. CFOS replaces the structure that produces those outcomes. A controller closes the books and runs the WIP, a CFO works the numbers with you every month, and ControlQore holds the job cost and WIP so it reconciles to the books. The owner gets about 5 hours a month and an action list.

BY JOSH LUEBKERPublished 2026-08-06Updated 2026-08-07
THE DEFINITION

WHAT IT MEANS.

CFOS is a financial operating system for construction subcontractors that replaces the bookkeeper, CPA, and spreadsheet setup with one structure covering bookkeeping, controllership, and CFO advisory.

Each piece of the old setup does something. None of them talk to each other. The owner ends up as the integration layer between three vendors who have never spoken, which is the most expensive job in the company and the one nobody was hired for.

THE SETUP BEFORE CFOS

FOUR BLIND SPOTS.

01

The bookkeeper can't read the numbers forward

A bookkeeper codes transactions and reconciles accounts accurately. They can't run WIP, build a cash forecast, or tell you whether Job 14 is losing money. That describes the role rather than the person, and it leaves the interpreting to whoever is left holding the file.

02

The CPA looks at the business once a year

A tax firm reviews the business in March and files the return. Nobody is reviewing job margins in July or flagging the overhead rate problem in October. Nobody is in the room when you decide whether to take a $2M job that will break cash flow.

03

The spreadsheets don't reconcile

Numbers stitched together manually are numbers nobody fully trusts. The WIP is three months old by the time a decision gets made off it. Job cost doesn't tie to the bookkeeping because the two live in different systems, so every meeting starts by arguing about which file is right.

04

The owner is doing the interpreting alone

You get bookkeeping output, a tax return, and a spreadsheet, then work out what it all means by yourself. Cash flow decisions get made off the bank balance because that's the one figure you trust. The business runs on instinct, because the setup doesn't produce anything you can act on.

THE ARITHMETIC

WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE IN DOLLARS.

The concrete sub doing $4.9M

A concrete sub had a bookkeeper, filed taxes on time, and tracked jobs in a spreadsheet. The business netted $161K on $4.9M of revenue, or 3.3 percent, and nobody could say where the rest went. Overhead was running 28 percent against the 10 percent carried in the estimates, so every job was priced 18 points below what it cost to execute. After the bid structure was rebuilt, net profit went to $1.1M on $5.2M of revenue the following year.

The job nobody caught in time

One job closed $80K worse than estimated and nobody saw it coming. Under CFOS that job gets flagged in month two, when cost burn is running 12 points above estimate and the PM is in the room. The problem gets worked while there's still job left to fix it.

The 48 percent MCA

An owner took an MCA loan at 48 percent APR to cover payroll, working the math out alone at 11pm. A 13 week cash forecast reports that payroll shortfall eight weeks ahead of it. The line of credit draw gets planned, the MCA never happens, and nobody is doing arithmetic at 11pm.

WHAT CFOS PUTS IN ITS PLACE

THE FOUR REPLACEMENTS.

A controller instead of a bookkeeper

A controller closes the books, reconciles the accounts, runs the WIP, reviews cost to complete on every job, and reports to the CFO monthly. You keep the same transaction accuracy and get the interpreting layer that turns records into decisions. It's one team, so nothing gets tossed between vendors.

A monthly CFO meeting instead of a March review

Monthly strategic meetings on cash position, job margins, and the overhead rate. Not tax advice, operating advice, covering the decisions you make between January and December. CFOS works alongside your CPA rather than instead of them.

ControlQore instead of spreadsheets

A job costing and WIP platform connected to the books, so the numbers reconcile because they come out of the same system. WIP runs monthly off closed books. The cash forecast gets built from the AR aging and the billing schedule instead of somebody's memory of what's coming.

About 5 hours a month instead of the owner doing it alone

One monthly meeting with the CFO and an action list that comes out of it. You run the business and CFOS runs the financial operating system. Same team, no scope gaps.

$10.7M+
Client AR Recovered Since 2023
48
Active Trade Specializations
60 DAYS
Average Onboarding Time
PRICING

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.

Last 12 months revenueMonthly 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.

Core

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.

Executive

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.

Strategic

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.

COMMON QUESTIONS

FREQUENTLY ASKED.

CFOS replaces four things most subcontractors already have that aren't working together: a bookkeeper who records transactions but can't interpret them, a CPA who files taxes but isn't advising between filings, spreadsheets that produce numbers nobody fully trusts, and the owner doing the interpreting alone. CFOS pulls all four into one operating system with no scope gaps between what the books say and what the CFO advises.
CFOS includes bookkeeping, because the controller handles the monthly close, the bank reconciliations, and record accuracy. But CFOS is an operating system, and bookkeeping is one layer inside it. The controller who closes the books is the same person who runs the WIP, reviews job cost, and reports to the CFO, so nothing gets tossed between separate vendors.
Most fractional CFO services give strategic advice without touching the books. CFOS is a complete financial operating system covering bookkeeping, controllership, and CFO advisory in one structure, built for construction subcontractors. The CFO and the controller are on the same team looking at the same system, so there's no daylight between what the books say and what the CFO advises.
Three tiers, and which one you are in depends on how much of the work you want off your desk. Core is where you stop guessing: job costing built against the way you estimate, a 13 week cash forecast, monthly WIP, and a monthly meeting that ends in decisions, while your bookkeeper keeps doing the books. Executive is where you stop touching the books, because we run the bookkeeping and the controllership as well. Strategic is where every job shows its margin while it is still running, because the job costing and WIP platform is set up and managed for you. No payroll. No scope gaps.
Sixty days. We migrate your books back to the start of your last taxable year, set up ControlQore, and build your job costing structure from scratch. Fully operational in two months.
WHAT THIS TIES INTO
Josh Luebker, The Construction CFO
Josh Luebker
FRACTIONAL CFO · THE CONSTRUCTION CFO

Former commercial project manager and master electrician: 150+ projects worth $2.1B combined, from $50,000 to $300M. Now fractional CFO to commercial subcontractors.

STILL DOING THE INTERPRETING YOURSELF?

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You don't hire a CFO because it's safe, you do it because the real risk isn't having one.
Book a 20 minute diagnostic

20 minutes. No sales pressure. We will tell you exactly what's broken before we talk about anything else.

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