The core financial mechanics of a contractor business
Start with a financial mechanic or the owner question you need to answer now. Each guide connects the decision to evidence, operating inputs, and a practical next step.
Guide
Contractor Cost Controls
A decision library for purchasing, supplier programs, software renewals, and equipment rentals. Start with the evidence and operating control, not a generic savings claim.
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Guide
Business Owner Finance Questions
Direct answers to the decisions owners actually face: hiring, working capital, another location, margins, finance roles, systems, growth, and exit readiness.
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Guide
How Much Working Capital Do I Need?
Build the answer from the deepest forecast cash deficit, a downside allowance, and the minimum cash floor needed to keep operating.
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Guide
Should I Open Another Location?
A six-gate test for unit economics, demand, management, capacity, cash, and location-level reporting before expansion.
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Guide
Job Costing for Contractors
How to build job costing that ties labor, materials, and subcontractors to revenue, what real job-level margin looks like, and how to fix the workflow in QuickBooks and your FSM.
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Guide
DSO and Collections
In Level's cross-trade sample (n=464), median cash collected was 85.1% of billed revenue; the top decile reached 96.0%. The measurement window is unpublished. The full playbook on billing speed, retainage, AIA billing, and AR escalation.
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Guide
Service Agreement Profitability
Service-agreement gross margin ranges from about -30% at the bottom decile to 70% at the top decile across 259 eligible companies. Pricing, scope control, customer mix, and the pull-through math.
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Guide
Cash Flow for Service Businesses
Why profitable companies go bankrupt, how to build a 13-week cash forecast, the seasonal trap, and the 7 numbers every owner should check weekly.
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Guide
Gross Profit Per Hour
Skilled labor is the scarce input, so gross profit per human hour is the number that matters, not revenue. Labor carries 47.7% margin but 40% of jobs run over their hour budget. How to price and protect the hour.
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Guide
Why Your Software Systems Don't Talk to Each Other
Your field platform and accounting system each hold half the truth, so margins look inflated and one person copies data all week. How to reconcile what you already run, without a rip-and-replace.
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Guide
AR and AP Migration Reconciliation Checklist
A practical cutover checklist for open receivables, payables, credits, payments, opening balances, and control accounts, so detail, aging, and the first close agree after a system change.
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Guide
Contractor Software Comparison (103-Tool Directory)
Filter 103 contractor software tools across 9 categories (FSM, construction PM, estimating, takeoff, accounting/ERP, payroll, AP/spend, and BI) with recommended stacks by trade and 3-year TCO math.
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