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CFOS-01JOB COST STRUCTURE

STEP 01 OF 08 · CHAPTER 1

Job cost structure

Seven cost categories and three levels of granularity, built so the estimate and the ledger use the same words.

SYSTEM POSITION

Where this step sits

DEPENDS ON

Nothing. This is a starting step.

FEEDS

CFOS-03Overhead calculation CFOS-04Estimating system

PROOF

Contractors where this step did the work

SWPPP AND EROSION CONTROL

$24,000 of net profit became $1,105,000

An erosion control contractor was running seven figures of revenue and keeping almost none of it, because no site had a number of its own.

Four merchant cash advances gone, gross profit 5% to 33%

A civil subcontractor did everything right to grow and nearly finished the business doing it.

$1.3M less revenue, and more profit than the year before

A concrete subcontractor had overhead on the books at 5% when the real number was closer to 12%, so every bid was wrong by the difference.

Jobs 80% spent at 60% complete, now bidding at 10% net

A masonry contractor was making money on block and giving it back on brick, and the blended report couldn't show him which.

$365,000 of receivables recovered, all debt cleared in 120 days

A commercial electrical subcontractor had a collections problem long enough that it turned into a debt problem.

$2.3M to $5.5M in business value on identical revenue

A marine general contractor wanted to sell, and found out what a buyer pays for is provable profit, which he couldn't prove.

$2.6M paid out in profit sharing, bank never below $1.2M

A marine general contractor at eight figures had no job costing, no WIP reporting and no project-level visibility at all.

The months stopped being random once the books were right

A fiber splicing subcontractor had skilled crews and carrier clients, and a bank account with no discernible pattern.

QUESTIONS

What owners ask

What is the job cost structure step?

Seven cost categories and three levels of granularity, built so the estimate and the ledger use the same words. It's step 01 of 8 in CONTROL, drawn from chapter 1.

Does the order make a difference?

This is a starting step with nothing ahead of it, which is why it's where most installations begin.

What does it change downstream?

It feeds overhead calculation, estimating system. A change here moves every one of those.

What breaks if I skip step 01?

4 later steps read from it: 02, equipment cost basis, 03, overhead calculation, 04, estimating system, 05, software and bookkeeping alignment. Skip it and those run on numbers that were never established, so the output looks finished and isn't.

Where does step 01 sit in the sequence?

Position 1 of 8 once the dependencies are resolved. Nothing waits ahead of it, so it's a starting point. 2 steps wait on it. Most owners install all 8 inside 60 days.

AUTHOR

Josh Luebker

JOSH LUEBKER

MASTER ELECTRICIAN · 150+ PROJECTS · $2.1B+ MANAGED

Wrote CONTROL, the 8 step system these figures sit inside. More about the author.

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.

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