What it looks like when it's running
Three numbers, at three different levels of the business. Any one of them can happen by accident. All three at once is a system.
Projects making 22 to 30% gross profit. The company running 12% net profit. And $650,000 in the bank at all times, which is the working capital rule at the $5M mark.
The three numbers
How far these sit from the published averages
The benchmark reference carries 48 trades. Here is where the targets sit against what those trades average at $1M–$5M.
| Number | Published average | Outcome target | Trades already there |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross profit | 22.1% | 22 to 30% | 31 of 48 average inside the range |
| Net profit | 7% | 12% | 0 of 48 |
| Cash held | Not surveyed | 13% of revenue | Read off your own balance sheet |
Read this the right way. The middle column is a survey of what companies do. The target column is what a run company produces. Published net profit at $1M–$5M spans 2 to 10% across the 48 trades, so 12% sits above the whole population. That's the point of a target.
- 2024 Construction Financial Benchmarker, Executive Summary, Construction Financial Management Association, 2024. The survey puts gross profit margin at 21.8%, SG&A at 11.8%, and net income before taxes at 6.3% across all respondents. The best-in-class top quartile reaches 11.9% net income before taxes. Those figures are the whole-population reading, so a single trade can sit well either side of them.
- 2025 Performance Benchmarks, Construction Companies, Jones Maresca and Company, 2025. This study reports specialty contractor gross margin between 15% and 25%. It puts net profit at 5% to 8% for a well managed company, and total indirect cost between 8% and 15%. The indirect cost band is the one worth reading twice, because it's the number most owners have never calculated for their own shop.
- SPM Trade Benchmark Reference, Sulphur Prairie Operations LLC, 2026. The reference holds 48 trades, and net profit in it is stated before taxes. It publishes here as 47 trade pages, because landscaping and irrigation share an identical benchmark profile and are one market, so they're presented together. Everything else carries its own row.
How these figures were built. Gross margin and overhead come from CFMA's 2024 and 2025 financial survey data, plus a January 2026 specialty trade study. Net profit comes from a 48 trade master dataset that covers 24 served trades and 24 adjacent trades. The reference holds 48 trades and the site publishes 47 pages, because landscaping and irrigation carry the same figures and are the same market. Where the survey and the master disagree on net profit, the master carries it. Benchmarks are reviewed against each new CFMA survey release and reconciled before publication.
They come one at a time, in sequence
The step behind each number
All 8 steps sit on one page with the dependency chain drawn out, or open the diagnostic to see your own trade and revenue band against the benchmark set.
What owners ask
What should a construction company’s financials look like?
Three numbers, at three different levels. Projects at 22 to 30% gross profit, the company at 12% net profit, and $650,000 in the bank at the $5M mark. Each one sits on the one before it, so they come in that order and in no other.
Are these averages or targets?
Targets. The distinction carries weight here. Across the 48 benchmarked trades, gross margin at $1M–$5M averages 22.1% and net profit averages 7%, with a published span of 2 to 10%. Not one trade averages 12% net profit. These are what a run business produces, not what the population does.
Why do they have to come in that order?
Gross profit is a project number a crew can move this week. Net profit is a company number that only moves when overhead recovery changes. Cash is a balance sheet number that lags both. Chase the third one first and you get a good month followed by the same year.
Where does $650,000 come from?
The working capital rule at one revenue size. You want 10 to 15% of annual revenue in working capital and you aim at 13%. 13% of $5M is $650,000. At a different size the rule gives a different number, and the rule is the part that travels.
How long does it take to get there?
The install is 8 steps over 60 days. The numbers don't all turn up at once. Gross profit moves on the next jobs you bid, net profit moves on the next full quarter, and the bank balance is the one that takes a year of both holding.
Josh Luebker ran commercial construction projects before he ran the numbers behind them, on data centres, military bases, hospitals, and high-rises. He wrote CONTROL: The Construction Financial Operating System, which is an eight-step framework for commercial subcontractors, and it publishes on October 1, 2026. He is a master electrician who moved into the office and kept the field vocabulary.
Sulphur Prairie Operations LLC maintains the benchmark reference behind these figures. Every edition is reconciled against the newest CFMA survey release before it publishes here. Where a figure changes between editions, the older edition keeps its year in the title so a citation to it stays correct.