Grow the book without losing control of the numbers
Know where each project stands on cost, billing and cash. Level brings together project records, labor and the books, including progress billing and retainage (amounts held back until contract requirements are met). Level is a finance service supported by software and AI. Our team reviews work in progress (a schedule of project costs, progress and billing) and records requested by a surety (the company backing a bond), so your team can choose the next action.
The General Contracting Problem
Can you tie project revenue, costs and field hours to the same work?
An open-job list is a queue to investigate, not proof of missing revenue. A business running a few large projects needs a different review from one tracking hundreds of small work orders. Count completed, billable work separately from open records. For 90-day-old jobs without invoices, check progress-billing terms, actual completion, approved changes, disputes and uninvoiced scope before calling the balance a leak. Reconcile profitability project by project. Gross profit per field hour is recognized job revenue less defined direct job costs, divided by matched field hours; declare whether the hours are worked or billable. This page claims no GC benchmark for that ratio.
Reconcile financial statements and WIP before surety review. Unreconciled books can make underwriting harder, but limits depend on the surety, project mix, equity and indemnity. Missing project-manager fields make responsibility harder to see. Confirm who actually manages each job and how issues are escalated before changing assignments.
Trace draft invoices, approved billings, disputed amounts and retainage separately. A fictional $300K draft-invoice queue is not $300K of confirmed collectible cash. Level's billing and collection distributions describe different measures and do not prove same-day billing causes higher collection. Assign an owner to accepted overdue balances and completed unbilled work.
Analyzed with the CLEAR Framework
Cash · Labor · Earnings · Accounts · Risk, the five pillars we evaluate for every business.
General Contracting Benchmarks and Planning Inputs
Use Level observations as cross-trade context. Other cards are planning scenarios, not measured industry percentiles. Match your business model, period and cost definition before comparing.
Gross Profit Margin
15-25%
Planning inputs to test, not measured industry percentiles: Independent planning cases: 15-25% overall, 18-25% residential and 10-20% commercial. Use recognized revenue and complete direct job costs; these are not measured GC percentiles.
Collection Rate
85.1%
Cross-trade Level median, n=464; P75 is 92.7%. Cash collected / billed revenue, with no published measurement window. A gap is not automatically recoverable cash or permanent loss.
Source definition and sampleBilling Speed
7 days
Cross-trade Level post-completion invoicer median. The broader n=733 sample, including progress billing, has a 1-day median. These are different populations, not a promised collection date.
Source definition and sampleOverhead Planning Range
10-25%
Planning inputs to test, not measured industry percentiles: For a clearly chosen planning scenario, test overhead at 10-25% of recognized revenue, using the same period as gross margin. The original reference has no established denominator or population, so it is not a measured rate. The separate gross and net ranges are not outcomes that every combination will produce; subtract all remaining costs on the same basis.
Subcontractor Cost
40-60%
Planning inputs to test, not measured industry percentiles: Test subcontractor expense at 40-60% of total direct project cost, with materials and owned labor defined separately. Cost share alone cannot identify an overpriced or inefficient subcontractor.
Net Margin Planning Range
6-15%
Planning inputs to test, not measured industry percentiles: A 6-15% net-margin sensitivity after overhead and owner compensation, not an observed top-performer distribution. Reconcile gross profit and below-gross-profit costs before assigning a cause.
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What Level Does for General Contracting
WIP Schedule & Percentage of Completion
Sureties and lenders may request reconciled WIP schedules; tax-method implications depend on your contracts and your CPA's review. We build and maintain yours monthly, tracking remaining-work cost estimates, estimated profit and billed-versus-earned revenue on active projects in scope. Overbilling means billed ahead of earned revenue under the chosen method; underbilling means earned revenue exceeds billing. Confirm the progress method and estimates with your CPA.
Surety Reporting Preparation
Prepare reconciled working capital, equity, WIP and debt schedules for the surety. Bonding capacity depends on underwriting, project mix, indemnity and other terms; cleaner statements alone cannot guarantee a larger limit.
Project-Level Profitability
Revenue, labor, materials, subs, equipment, and allocated overhead, separated by project. You'll see which projects look profitable or at risk as costs, commitments and estimates to complete become available.
Retainage & AR Management
Track retainage by project, owner, accepted billing, contractual release trigger and due date. A $200K hypothetical held balance is an investigation input: identify the contract, customer, original billing and release condition before forecasting it. No contract percentage, age or payment date is supplied by that amount alone. Separate valid held amounts from approved amounts that are actually overdue.
Cash Flow Forecasting by Project
Progress billing draws, sub payments, material deposits, each project has its own cash flow cycle. We model them individually and roll up to a company-wide forecast with assumptions and funding gaps visible for review.
Growth & Exit Readiness
Clean WIP schedules, documented backlog and project financials give lenders and buyers better information for underwriting; value depends on the business and transaction. We build the financial infrastructure that lenders and buyers expect.
Bookkeeper, your CPA, vs. Level
Comparison illustrates engagement scopes, not a survey of providers. Confirm each firm's actual services, cadence and contract; Level features depend on the agreed scope and available records.
| Capability | Bookkeeper | CPA | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Record transactions | ✓ | No | ✓ |
| Tax-ready books and CPA handoff | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Job-level profitability | No | No | ✓ |
| Cash flow forecasting | No | No | ✓ |
| Compare verified benchmarks or planning scenarios | No | No | ✓ |
| Monthly strategy calls | No | No | ✓ |
| AR aging & collections tracking | No | No | ✓ |
| Crew utilization analysis | No | No | ✓ |
| Exit readiness preparation | No | No | ✓ |
| Understands general contracting operations | Varies by firm | Varies by firm | ✓ |
Your bookkeeper records the past. Your CPA files taxes. Level helps your team connect work, costs and cash to the decisions ahead, using the records and review scope agreed for your engagement.
Work from the tools you already use
Accounting tools hold your books; operating tools hold jobs, sales or service records; payroll and payment tools show labor costs and money movement. We compare the relevant records to answer your financial question. These are systems to evaluate, not a promise of a native connector for every product. Access and setup vary by software, plan and permissions. We use approved connections or exports and request read-only access where supported.
Operating review
General-contractor decisions the numbers should explain
The margin, cash, and operating questions we check first when reviewing your numbers.
Is project profit turning into cash at the expected milestones?
Progress billing and cash receipts can lag costs even when a project is profitable.
Which subcontractor costs belong to the cutoff?
Incurred, invoiced and paid subcontractor costs are different populations.
Does WIP distinguish approved changes from proposed scope?
A contract estimate can include work whose acceptance or billing status is unresolved.
Simple pricing
Three tiers, one ladder.
$500+/mo
Bookkeeping
The clean data layer: monthly books, reconciliations, and organized financials AI can work with.
$1,500-$5,000/mo
Scale
The full AI operating layer: custom agents, weekly actions, and benchmarks to grow margin per hour.
Custom
Platform / Multi-Office
Multi-branch benchmarking and scorecards for PE-backed and multi-location groups.
Book a call
Book a free 15-min General Contracting audit.
We'll review your general contracting records and compare supported measures with relevant references or planning inputs. No commitment.
Or have us reach out instead.
Share your details and Level will follow up to arrange your general contracting financial review.
No commitment. Real numbers, not generic advice.