WHY CONTROLQORE ONLY WORKS WITH EXPERT SETUP.
Job costing software is only as accurate as the cost code structure and WIP logic configured into it. Self setup and generic bookkeeper setup commonly misalign cost codes to the real estimate structure and skip validation against a live job, which produces WIP and job profitability numbers that look authoritative and are wrong in a way nobody sees. Expert setup catches both failures before the system ever reports a number anyone relies on.
Buying job costing software doesn't fix job costing, the same way buying a treadmill doesn't fix fitness. ControlQore can calculate WIP and job profitability accurately, but only when the cost codes underneath it match how the business bids and bills work, and only when the WIP logic matches the revenue recognition method the company really uses. Get either one wrong during setup and the software produces confident looking numbers that stay wrong until a bonding company, a bank, or a bad closeout finds the error for you.
WHAT IT MEANS.
Job costing software, ControlQore included, is a calculation engine that takes cost code structure, billing data, and cost to complete estimates as inputs and produces WIP and job profitability numbers as outputs.
A calculation engine can't check its own inputs. It will take a generic cost code template and a mismatched WIP method and produce a clean report off both, because nothing in the software knows what your estimate looks like. That's why the configuration step is the whole fix and the purchase isn't, and it's why the validation has to happen against a job that has already closed.
WHERE IT GOES WRONG.
We bought ControlQore, so our job costing problem is solved
Software calculates from whatever structure it's given. Buying the platform doesn't build the cost codes or the WIP logic, and that configuration step is where the fix happens. A contractor who buys the tool and skips the structure has spent money to produce the same wrong numbers faster.
Our bookkeeper can set this up, they know our numbers
Knowing the numbers isn't the same as knowing how to structure job costing and WIP calculation logic correctly. This is a specific configuration skill rather than a general bookkeeping one, and most general bookkeepers have never been trained in it. That describes what the work requires, and no bookkeeper is being criticised for it.
We set it up ourselves a while back, it's probably fine
A self setup with no validation step often runs for months producing numbers that read reasonable and don't reconcile to what the jobs really did. Nothing in the system will flag it, because the math is correct on the wrong inputs. The only way to know for certain is to check it against a real job that has already closed.
THE VALIDATION STEP THAT DECIDES IT.
The cost codes get built from how your company bids and bills work, not from a generic template that came with the platform. When the codes match the estimate, a variance report compares like to like and the PM can read it without translating. When they don't, every comparison between bid and actual is comparing two different structures and calling the difference a variance.
The WIP logic has to match the revenue recognition method and billing structure the company really operates on. A mismatch here doesn't produce an error message, it produces overbilling and underbilling figures that are internally consistent and externally wrong. Those are the same figures a surety underwrites off, which is why this one gets checked before anything else goes live.
Before the system reports a number anyone uses, the configuration gets validated against one real job that has already finished. The test is simple: does the system's output match what happened on that job. If it doesn't reconcile, the setup has a structural problem and no amount of monthly discipline will paper over it.
Setup isn't a one time event, because job types change, cost codes get added, and the field starts coding things in new ways. A monthly reconciliation catches drift between what the system reports and what the jobs are doing. Configuration done by the same team that runs the monthly engagement is what keeps that reconciliation from becoming somebody else's problem.
If ControlQore is already in place and nobody is sure it was set up correctly, the setup gets audited against a completed job. That audit identifies where the cost codes or the WIP logic don't match real performance, and the configuration gets corrected as part of the engagement. It's a faster conversation than most owners expect, because a single closed job usually settles it.
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 run the bookkeeping and the controllership as well. Your office stops answering coding questions and stops chasing a reconciliation on the last day of the month.
We do the books. No payroll.
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 books, the job costing, and the software. No payroll.
FREQUENTLY ASKED.
