WHO CONTROLS FINANCES IN A CONSTRUCTION COMPANY: DECISION AUTHORITY AND WHAT HAPPENS WITHOUT IT.
Financial control without defined authority produces one failure mode over and over: errors of omission. The LOC that should have been increased isn't increased, because nobody owned that decision. The change order that should have been submitted isn't submitted, because nobody owned that accountability. Writing the authority down, with clear scope and clear triggers, is what turns those omissions into decisions that happen on schedule.
Errors of commission get caught. Somebody made a call, the call was wrong, and the cost of it's visible in the job cost report. Errors of omission never get caught, because there's no transaction to go find. The draw that was never requested, the change order that was never written, and the labor overrun that never triggered a crew conversation all cost money, and none of the three leave a trace behind. That's why a written authority matrix is worth more than a sharper owner. It puts a person on every decision that has to happen whether or not anyone remembers it.
WHAT IT MEANS.
Financial authority is the written assignment of which financial decisions belong to the field, which belong to the CFO function, and which belong to the owner.
This is a structure question rather than a trust question. Most owners who haven't delegated financial authority didn't decide against it, they simply grew past the point where one person could hold it all and never wrote down what should have moved. The matrix is how the business stops depending on the owner being in the room.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN NOBODY OWNS IT.
The default state, where the owner controls everything
In most subcontracting companies under $2M, the owner controls every financial decision. Every invoice approved, every LOC draw authorized, and every bid submitted goes through one person. That works at $1.5M in revenue, because one person can hold the whole financial picture in mind. Above $3M with 6 active projects and 20 crew, that same person can't be in every financial decision without becoming the bottleneck, and the business slows down while the owner burns out.
Undefined authority produces errors of omission
When financial authority isn't defined, the damaging failures aren't errors of commission where somebody makes a wrong decision. They're errors of omission, where nobody makes the decision at all. The LOC that should have been increased isn't increased, the change order that should have been submitted isn't submitted, and the overspent labor budget that should have triggered a crew conversation never gets flagged. In all three cases the reason is the same, and it's not competence: nobody owned it.
The owner is the only one who can read the numbers
In a lot of these companies the financial reporting is legible only to the person who built it, and that person is the owner. Authority can't move to a PM who can't read a job cost report, or to a controller who has never seen the bid it came from. So the structure stays centralized by default rather than by choice. Building financial reporting a non-accountant can read is the prerequisite for defining who owns what.
WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE IN DOLLARS.
Purchases under $500 sit with the foreman or the PM at their discretion, with a purchase order behind them. Purchases from $500 to $5,000 need PM approval. Purchases above $5,000 need owner approval, and so does any new vendor relationship. Those thresholds get adjusted to fit the company, because the structure counts for more than the specific dollar amounts do.
A new contract above $500K requires a working capital analysis before it gets signed. A new hire requires an overhead rate model before the offer goes out. An equipment purchase requires a utilization analysis before the order. Change orders get submitted by the PM within 48 hours of any directed scope change, and the owner reviews anything above $10,000 before it goes to the GC.
THE WRITTEN AUTHORITY MATRIX THAT MAKES IT EXPLICIT.
The PM and the foreman own change order cost coding, production rate management, and material ordering inside purchase order limits. Those decisions take job-level cost information and a written scope of authority to work at all. Give a PM the responsibility without the cost report and you've delegated the blame rather than the authority.
The CFO function owns closing the books, producing the cost-to-complete, managing AR, and maintaining the 13 week forecast. Those take financial skill and a consistent cadence more than they take judgment calls. This is the tier most subcontractors have no seat for, which is why the owner ends up doing it at the kitchen table on Sunday.
The owner owns which projects to bid, whether to increase the LOC, whether a new hire is justified, and how profit gets allocated. Those decisions run off the CEO Report and the monthly strategic meeting as the information base. An owner making them off a bank balance is guessing, just with more confidence than the guess deserves.
The CFO function flags when a draw is required, based on the 13 week forecast. The owner authorizes it. No draw happens without both, which stops both of the common failures there: the draw nobody saw coming, and the draw nobody needed.
The financial authority matrix is one component of the broader financial governance structure. The matrix documents who owns which decisions. The cadence documents when those decisions get reviewed. The accountability structure documents how the outcomes get tracked. Together they produce a financial control system that runs because of its structure rather than because the owner is watching every transaction.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Up to $1M | $1,900 to $2,900 | $1,000 |
| $1M to $3.5M | $2,600 to $3,900 | $1,500 |
| $3.5M to $6.5M | $3,800 to $5,700 | $3,000 |
| $6.5M to $9.5M | $5,100 to $7,100 | $4,500 |
| $9.5M to $12.5M | $6,100 to $8,500 | $6,000 |
| $12.5M to $15.5M | $7,400 to $11,000 | $7,500 |
| $15.5M to $18.5M | $9,400 to $13,500 | $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.
You stop touching the books.
Everything in Core, and we do the bookkeeping and the controllership as well. Your office stops answering coding questions and stops fixing a reconciliation that will not balance on the last day of the month.
We do the books. No payroll.
Every job shows its margin while it is still open.
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 books, the job costing, and the software. No payroll.
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