DIRECTORY · 193 PAGES
Every page worth finding
Grouped by what each one is for. The page for a trade and one of its problems is reached from the trade or the problem, so it is not listed here.
THE BOOK · 12
The book
- CONTROL: C.F.O.S. Construction Financial Operating System
- Chapter 1, Job cost structure
- Chapter 2, Equipment cost basis
- Chapter 3, Overhead calculation
- Chapter 4, Estimating system
- Chapter 5, Software and bookkeeping alignment
- Chapter 6, Project management
- Chapter 7, Monthly cadence
- Chapter 8, Standards and accountability
- The templates
- Order ten or more copies
- A sample CEO report
THE TRADES · 59
The trades
- Civil
- Demolition
- Excavation
- Grading
- Paving
- Environmental remediation
- Sitework
- SWPPP and erosion control
- Underground utility
- Bridge
- Tunnel
- Concrete
- Concrete flatwork
- Masonry
- Precast concrete
- Concrete pumping
- Landscaping
- Irrigation
- Electrical
- Fiber
- Low voltage and AV
- Security systems
- Solar
- Telecom
- HVAC
- Mechanical
- Plumbing
- Process piping
- Fire alarm
- Fire protection
- Elevator
- Curtain wall and glazing
- EIFS and stucco
- Framing
- Insulation
- Roofing
- Siding
- Structural steel
- Waterproofing
- Acoustic ceiling
- Drywall
- Flooring
- Interiors
- Painting
- Tile and stone
- Marine
- Tank and vessel
- Scaffolding
- Carpentry
- Dewatering
- Door and hardware
- Fencing
- Land clearing
- Millwork and casework
- Post-tension
- Reinforcing steel
- Shoring and shielding
- Striping
- Tilt-up
WHAT GOES WRONG · 69
What goes wrong
- Profitable on the P&L, out of cash
- Pay-when-paid, and how to size what it costs you
- Your retainage is your whole net profit
- You're bidding below your own overhead
- Your overhead rate has not been updated in years
- Your equipment is reducing the margin
- The change orders you did and never billed
- Underbilling is masking the loss
- The estimate and the actual never match
- Your job costs are six weeks old
- Growth is using up your cash faster than it pays you
- The month payroll nearly didn't clear
- AP is stacking and you stopped opening it
- The MCA trap, and how subs fall in
- Your bonding capacity stopped growing
- You don't have a WIP schedule
- Cost codes the field ignores
- Your salary isn't in your overhead
- Mobilization you never got paid for
- The small jobs are the ones losing money
- One GC is too much of your revenue
- You can't see which crew makes money
- Material prices moved and the bid didn't
- Your bookkeeper can't answer the question
- You've outgrown QuickBooks
- There's no monthly close, only a tax return
- PMs aren't accountable for margin
- Winter costs you every year
- You can't price a change order fast enough
- You have no idea what good looks like
- You don't know what an hour of labor really costs
- Revenue is up and profit hasn't moved
- You're the bottleneck, so billing goes out late
- You signed before you knew whether they pay
- Demolition scrap is revenue inside your cost of work
- SWPPP retainage releases when the grass comes in
- Late 811 locates bill you twice
- You float the switchgear for a year before you bill it
- You can't release for fab until someone else approves
- Copper moved and your bid didn't
- You set temp power first and wait two years for retention
- You are operating the company against an empty account
- The line of credit has no rules on it
- You have four debts and no order to pay them in
- You cannot tell whether the next hire pays for itself
- You need to cut and do not know what is safe to cut
- Buying the machine is a gut call
- You missed the preliminary notice. Now what?
- The GC is withholding pay on one job over another
- The change order work is done and no one signed it
- A sub has no insurance and you already owe them
- What goes on the lien waiver, and who sends it
- How to track labor time so it reaches the right job
- Receipts and invoices pile up with no job on them
- The punch list and the callbacks never end
- How much to set aside for taxes is a CPA question
- PM or superintendent: who does what on a job
- Does labor go in cost of goods sold for a contractor?
- Customers pay late, or don't pay at all
- You bid low and the job is already under way
- When can you ask for your retainage back?
- Is pay when paid legal, and what do you do about it?
- Estimating turns the job over and the PM starts cold
- The WIP report takes days every month
- You don't know your cash flow until it's tight
- How to decide which jobs to bid
- The contract is signed and estimating never read it
- You lost the bid and no one looks at why
- Who should set up the chart of accounts and cost codes?
RESULTS · 20
Results
- Outcomes
- Projects making 22 to 30% gross profit
- The company with 12% net profit
- $650,000 in the bank at all times
- Client results
- $24,000 of net profit became $1,105,000
- A maxed $348,000 line of credit, paid off in 60 days
- Two maxed credit lines and an SBA loan, cleared in 90 days
- 6.7% to 11.2% net profit in 120 days
- Four merchant cash advances gone, gross profit 5% to 33%
- $1.3M less revenue, and more profit than the year before
- Jobs 80% spent at 60% complete, now bidding at 10% net
- $365,000 of receivables recovered, all debt cleared in 120 days
- $2.3M to $5.5M in business value on identical revenue
- $2.6M paid out in profit sharing, bank never below $1.2M
- 33 points of overhead found in the first 30 days
- The months stopped being random once the books were right
- Prices went up 15% and the customer said thank you
- Breakeven to $12,000 a month in cash, in 75 days
- What readers say