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General Contractors

Part-Time CFO and Controller for General Contractors

Running several jobs at once and not sure which ones are making money? Monthly job reports, a WIP schedule your bank and surety can rely on, and cash planned job by job, from a team led by a former construction CFO.
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(855) 732-7861

Sound Familiar?

  • You find out how a job did after it’s closed out.
  • Your WIP schedule is late, or it doesn’t match what your PMs say.
  • Change orders pile up while the work keeps going.
  • Subs and suppliers need to be paid before the owner pays you.
  • Billing runs ahead of the work on some jobs and behind it on others.
  • Your bank or surety wants statements you can’t produce on time.
If two or more of these sound familiar, let’s talk.
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What We Do

General Contractor Accounting and CFO Services

General contractor accounting has to keep track of many jobs at once, each with its own budget, subs, change orders and pay applications. We close your books every month, keep a WIP schedule your project managers agree with, and give you a cash forecast, so you can change course on a job before it’s too late.

Every month

  • Books closed and reconciled on time
  • Job costing on every job, with cost to complete checked with your project managers
  • A WIP schedule with over and under billing
  • Pay applications (G702/G703) reviewed before they go out
  • Aged pending change orders and backlog by job
  • A 13-week cash flow forecast and a monthly meeting to walk you through it

When you need it

  • An annual budget and business plan
  • Lines of credit, term loans and mortgage loans
  • Bonding support and the reports your surety asks for
  • Gain and fade analysis on finished jobs
  • Getting ready to sell or bring in a partner
Learn more in our guide to construction profit margin, see how we handle WIP and job costing, or see all our services.

Why It Matters

Why Job Profit Is Hard to See Mid-Project

A general contractor runs several jobs at once, each with its own budget, subs and billing schedule. The accounting system shows what each job has cost so far, but not what it will take to finish, so a job can look fine on paper until it’s nearly done. On large GC and public work, pending change orders are a common risk too.
Billing can hide problems as well. For example, if you’ve put $100,000 of material into a job but billed only $80,000 for it, you’re $20,000 short in cash even though the work is done. A WIP schedule that tracks over and under billing job by job shows where that money is, and a forecast built on it shows how much cash or credit you need.

What We Track for General Contractors

Profit by Job

Percentage of completion, costs and billings for every job while it’s running.

Change Orders

Pending change orders by age, so none go unbilled.

Backlog

Signed work by job and what it means for the months ahead.

Bank and Bonding Reports

The statements and WIP reports your lender and surety ask for, on time.

Results

Results for Contractors

Obtained over $10 million in lines of credit, term loans and mortgage loans for a construction company.
Read More Client Reviews

Meet Alan

Led by a Former Construction CFO

Alan G. Lefkowitz, CPA, founded CFO Strategies in 2009 and has more than 30 years of financial leadership experience. For over 10 years he was CFO of mid-sized construction and real estate companies, overseeing the financial performance of major New York projects, including the Yankee Stadium and the Goldman Sachs office tower. Today he and his team bring that experience to contractors who need CFO-level help without a full-time hire.

Read Alan’s Bio

From First Call to Monthly Reporting

1. Book a Call

Tell us about your company, your software and what isn’t working.

2. Free Cash Flow Review

We look at your books, WIP and cash position and tell you what we’d fix first.

3. Cleanup and Setup

We clean up what needs fixing and set up job costing and monthly reporting.

4. Monthly Reporting

Every month you get clear reports on job profitability, WIP and cash.

We can usually start within a couple of weeks, after a short review of your books. See how it works or view our pricing.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Straight answers for general contractors and construction managers.

Yes. General contractors and construction managers are among our clients, mostly on commercial work with some residential, along with subcontractors, roofers and HVAC companies.

Closing the books every month, job costing, a WIP schedule with over and under billing, pay application review, tracking change orders and backlog, payroll and sales tax filings, and a forecast of cash for the months ahead.

Yes. We build it from your job costs, check cost to complete with your project managers every month, and track over and under billing on every job.

We can help. We prepare the financial statements and WIP reports your surety reviews, and we’ve negotiated a larger bonding line for a construction company so it could take on more public work.

QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, Sage 100 Contractor, Sage 300 CRE, Foundation, Sage Intacct, Viewpoint Vista and Plexxis. See what we do in each one.

Yes. We don’t prepare income tax returns or run audits. We work alongside your tax accountant and focus on your financials, WIP and cash flow.

Guides

General Contractor Guides

Short reads from our team on cash, jobs and the WIP.

The Construction WIP Schedule: How to Read It, With an Example

Construction Profit Margin: How Commercial Contractors Measure and Improve It

Construction Cash Flow: Why Projects Run Short and How to Fix It

Find Out Which Jobs Are Making Money

Book a free consultation. We’ll look at your numbers and tell you what we’d fix first, with no obligation.
Book a Free Consultation
(855) 732-7861

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