MASTER ELECTRICIAN · 150+ PROJECTS

Josh Luebker

He pulled wire before he pulled reports. That order counts for a lot, and it's why the system reads the way it does.

PROJECTS RUN
150+
Data centers, military bases, hospitals and high-rises.
CAREER PROJECT VALUE
$2.1B+
Managed across commercial construction.
PUBLISHED DATA POINTS
1,008
48 trades, 3 metrics, 7 revenue bands.
IN SHORT

From the field to the ledger

WHY THIS SYSTEM READS DIFFERENTLY

Most construction accounting is written by accountants who learned construction second. This was written the other way round. The cost categories match how a bid really gets built, the equipment rate covers what a machine costs to keep, and the monthly cadence assumes an owner has about five hours a month to give it.

He wrote CONTROL, the 8 steps behind it, and maintains the benchmark reference published here.

ON OTHER PEOPLE'S SHOWS

9 podcast appearances

Same material, other people's questions. Newest first.

THEENGINERDLIFE · August 18, 2026
Profitable on Paper, Broke in Practice with Josh Luebker
How revenue can look strong on paper while overhead and cash flow visibility sink a company without anybody seeing it coming, two client stories including one that nearly missed payroll while scaling, and the four numbers to watch in order. Hosted by AJ.
BLUE COLLAR BUSINESS PODCAST · June 17, 2026
Bidding the Cost: Stop Bleeding Cash in the Field
Estimating against real field conditions, labor burden, how a WIP report should be built, schedules of values written for cash flow, and catching a losing job while it can still be fixed. Hosted by Sy Kirby.
ROOFER GROWTH HACKS · April 12, 2026
Financial Hacks for Roofers: Cash Flow Over Loans
Why cash flow gets fixed before anything else, what overhead is costing a roofing company, and why taking on debt early usually treats the symptom. Hosted by Chris Hunter.
JUST SOME BS · February 17, 2026
Why Most Subcontractors Struggle With Cash Flow (And How to Fix It)
Pay-when-paid clauses, billing delays, unpaid change orders, and the contract language and AR discipline that decide whether a subcontractor between $1M and $12M makes payroll. Hosted by Brandon Stanchock.
CONSTRUCTIVE CONVERSATIONS · November 2025
Building Financial Foundations: Fractional CFO Services for Construction Companies
What a fractional CFO does inside a construction company, and where the work starts when the books have never carried job cost. Hosted by Eddie Thompson, CPA, CCIFP.
CO POD · May 13, 2025
Josh Luebker
The route from the field to running numbers for other contractors, what the early years cost, and where construction technology is heading. Hosted by Caroline Raffetto.
THE GRIT BLUEPRINT · October 8, 2024
Josh Luebker
How operations and financials sit on top of each other in a subcontracting business, drawn from 150 projects as a master electrician and project manager. Hosted by Stefanie Couch.
BUILDING BLOCKS · May 20, 2024
Navigating Career and Family Life: Advice from a Trailblazing PM
Moving out of hands-on project management, the checklists and trust that make a PM worth keeping, and what the job costs at home.
PARADIGM SHIFT
Paradigm Shift, Episode 003
A long conversation about what changes in a contracting business once somebody is watching the numbers every month. Hosted by Josh Haave.
QUESTIONS

What people ask

Who is Josh Luebker?

A master electrician who ran commercial construction projects before he ran the numbers behind them. 150+ projects and $2.1B+ in career project value across data centers, military bases, hospitals and high-rises. He wrote CONTROL: The Construction Financial Operating System, published October 1, 2026.

Why should a contractor listen to him on accounting?

Because the system was built from the field side, not the ledger side. The words in the cost codes are the words the crews already use, which is the difference between a structure people follow and one they route around.

What is the relationship with SPM The Construction CFO?

Run. On. C.F.O.S. is the system, the book and the templates. SPM The Construction CFO is the firm that installs it for owners who would rather buy the result than build it. Two businesses, one method.

Where has he talked about this outside his own sites?

9 podcasts, listed further down this page with links. The most recent is Profitable on Paper, Broke in Practice with Josh Luebker on TheEngiNerdLife.

What is this site for?

Publishing the benchmark reference and the 8 steps in the open. 1,008 data points across 48 trades, and the system that acts on them.

8 Steps 60 Days

CONTROL is the full system, written for commercial subcontractors from under $1M to $100M. It publishes on October 1, 2026. 8 steps, 6 working templates, and the order they install in. $9.99 ebook, $24.99 paperback.