Construction Finance FAQ

Most contractors between $500K and $10M don't need a full-time CFO yet. What they need is someone to fix the data first. That's what a fractional CFO does — controller-level work at a fraction of the full-time cost.

No. We work best when you already have someone handling daily tasks like scanning receipts and basic invoicing. We're the layer above — reviewing their work, managing complex entries, and producing reports that actually tell you what's going on.

Regular accounting is one-dimensional — it tracks the General Ledger and files taxes. Construction accounting is three-dimensional: General Ledger + Job Cost Reports + Cash Flow Timing.

Regular accountants miss retainage, progress billing, and overbilling/underbilling. Those aren't small details — that's where your cash flow problems live.

We don't hide pricing. Here it is:

Zach: Recovered $8,000 in change orders in 60 days — 4x ROI.

Rachel K.: Found $34,000 in forgotten retainage in Q1.

Setup fees depend on how much cleanup is needed. Book a free assessment and we'll give you an exact number.

"Fix It or Free" Guarantee: If we don't find at least one big profit leak in your financial systems within 60 days, we keep working — for free — until we do.

In 100% of our projects, we've found profit leaks. Usually more than one. Construction companies almost always have money falling through cracks when systems aren't built for construction.

This is the most common problem we see. It happens when expenses hit your books but don't connect to a specific project. The cost is recorded, but nobody knows which job it belongs to.

The fix: track every dollar to a specific job and phase. We call it project-based accounting. See our complete system breakdown.

Because it's the only way to separate direct job costs from overhead — which is the only way to know your real gross profit margin.

The NAHB chart of accounts is the construction industry standard. It makes your reports useful to banks, bonding companies, and CPAs who know construction.

Quick test: Do you know your overhead percentage right now? If you had to think about it, your chart of accounts might need work.

WIP stands for Work-in-Progress. It tells you if you've billed more or less than you've earned on each job.

Without WIP tracking, you can pay taxes on money you haven't really earned. Bonding companies also require WIP reports to increase your capacity.

Regular bookkeeping tracks categories. Construction bookkeeping tracks jobs.

A regular bookkeeper sees an expense and asks "What category?" A construction bookkeeper asks "What job? What phase? What cost code? Was this in the original estimate or a change order?"

We track labor by job, subs by phase, materials by project, equipment, change orders, progress billing, retainage, and WIP. See our tech stack for how it all connects.

The major platforms:

Plus Jobber, ServiceTitan, and others. The key is two-way sync with QuickBooks Online so you never type the same number twice. Details on our tech stack page.

Integration. QBO connects to Buildertrend, Procore, and Knowify automatically. Desktop doesn't. That means manual data entry, that one computer in the back office nobody can access remotely, and reports that are always two weeks behind.

If it connects to QuickBooks Online via API or Zapier, we can usually make it work. During your assessment, we map your current tools and find integration opportunities. Sometimes the answer is "your tool works fine — it just needs to be set up right."

We get your core job costing working first, then add reporting and automation in layers.

We move you from "checking your bank balance and hoping" to knowing exactly what's coming in and going out for the next 13 weeks.

We build a 13-Week Rolling Forecast that maps upcoming payroll, material draws, sub payments, and expected deposits. You see cash crunches weeks before they happen.

But the biggest result is confidence. Knowing exactly which jobs make money and why.

One client saw $137K total impact in year one: $8K recovered change orders, $34K forgotten retainage, improved margins from accurate bidding, and faster collections. Read the case studies.

Most clients see measurable results within 60–90 days.

Yes. We can set up emergency job cost tracking mid-project. It won't fix sunk costs, but it stops the bleeding and gives you documentation for difficult conversations with clients or subs.

Knowing exactly how far over budget you are — with proof — puts you in a much stronger position.

We don't run payroll — on purpose. Construction payroll is complex: prevailing wage, certified payroll, labor burden, multi-state rules. That takes a dedicated system. We partner with ADP for payroll processing.

You get ADP's payroll systems plus our construction-specific bookkeeping tying it all together.

We don't prepare or file taxes — also on purpose. Construction tax rules around job costing, depreciation, retainage, and revenue recognition are specialized. We partner with licensed CPAs who focus on that.

Our job is building clean, construction-grade financials. When your books are right — with proper job costing, WIP reports, and documentation — your CPA can maximize deductions and keep you compliant.

Think of it as checks and balances. We handle the financial data. They handle the tax law. Together, you get better results than either alone.