Most contractors doing $1M–$10M know their revenue — but not which jobs, crews, or service lines are actually making money. MarkupCFO delivers CFO-level financial clarity built specifically for the trades.
Your bookkeeper gives you one blended P&L. But commercial, residential, service, installs, and maintenance all have different margins. The losers hide inside the winners — and you keep bidding more of them.
Revenue is strong and the bank account is tight. You're not losing money — but with payroll weekly, invoices net-30, and seasonal dips, the gap between profit and cash can be $150K or more. Without a weekly view, it's invisible until it's urgent.
Most contractors don't know their true overhead rate per billable hour. If your pricing doesn't cover labor + materials + overhead + profit margin, every busy season just makes the problem bigger. This is usually where the money disappears.
The financial challenges are the same across every trade — job costing, overhead allocation, seasonal cash flow, crew profitability. We understand every one of them.
Seasonal cash swings, install vs. service margins, maintenance agreement ROI, overhead rate per tech hour
Residential vs. commercial margin split, WIP schedules for commercial projects, billing cycle cash gaps
Emergency vs. planned work margins, parts markup analysis, subcontractor cost tracking per job
Storm work vs. scheduled margins, material cost variance, crew efficiency by job size and type
Multi-phase project billing, change order tracking, overhead per division for complex jobs
Subcontractor margin management, multi-project cash flow, retainage tracking, WIP across all open jobs
Right-size check: MarkupCFO is built for contractors doing $1M–$10M in annual revenue. Below that, a good bookkeeper is your next move. Above that, you need a full-time controller. We're the gap in between — and we're priced for it.
Every month, on schedule. The same package that would cost $150K/year in a full-time hire.
Revenue and gross margin broken out by category — not blended. See exactly where each service line stands every month.
Top jobs ranked by margin. Flags underperforming jobs before you bid more like them. The report that pays for itself.
Today's balance, what's coming in, what's going out — 30/60/90 days forward. Know before it's a problem.
Walk through the numbers together. Explain what they mean. Agree on 2–3 specific actions. Every month, not once a quarter.
12 key metrics tracked monthly — margins, overhead rate, AR days, labor efficiency. Trend vs. prior month and prior year.
After every call: a concise email with what matters, what's at risk, and exactly what to do. No digging through PDFs.
"I've had bookkeepers, I've had accountants — nobody ever told me which jobs were making money until MarkupCFO. First month in, I found out my commercial service work was basically breaking even. We repriced it and that was a six-figure difference in year one."
"Cash flow used to blindside me every October. Last year was the first fall in eight years that I didn't have to draw on my line of credit. The 90-day cash forecast changed how I think about the slow season entirely."
"We were doing $2.1M and I couldn't figure out why I felt broke. Turned out our overhead rate was $8/hour short of what it needed to be — we were subsidizing every job. Fixed the rate cards, and I actually saw the money this year."
No minimum commitment. No surprise invoices. Pay monthly and cancel with 30 days' notice whenever you want.
No minimum commitment. Cancel anytime with 30 days' notice. First month invoiced in advance. All fees in USD.
30 minutes. We review your numbers live and give you 3 specific findings on the spot. No slides, no pitch — just your financials.
Simple engagement letter. First month invoiced in advance. Digital signature, 5 minutes. Cancel anytime after.
Grant us read access to your accounting software. Fill out a short checklist (1 hour). We configure your report templates.
Within 5 business days of receiving access. Monthly from there — same schedule, every month. You always know what's coming.
MarkupCFO is operated by a CPA, CMA with over 20 years of management accounting experience working specifically with trades and contracting businesses. That means we understand job costing at the individual ticket level, what a realistic overhead rate looks like for a 12-truck operation, and why your March cash flow doesn't match your February P&L.
We're not a bookkeeping firm. We're not a tax preparation service. We're the financial layer between your books and your decisions — the analysis and forward-looking management that turns your data into clarity.
Matt leads every client relationship and every call. Behind him is a specialized team of financial analysts, bookkeeping specialists, an industry operations expert, and a modeling analyst — all built specifically for trades contractors.
Matt has spent 20+ years in the financial trenches of trades and construction businesses — not in a boardroom. He's on the call with you every month. Every client relationship runs through Matt: strategy, review calls, deliverables, and everything in between.
Former VP Finance at a regional HVAC company that grew from $4M to $22M. Rachel builds the monthly reporting packages and catches job cost issues before they become habits.
QuickBooks ProAdvisor and Xero-certified. Derek handles data imports, reconciliation review, and AR aging analysis — making sure the numbers going in are the numbers that actually happened.
12 years in small business and construction accounting. Priya coordinates with your existing CPA — cleaning up management reports, flagging timing decisions, and making sure tax season doesn't create surprises.
Former operations manager at a $15M HVAC company. James bridges the gap between what's happening in the field and what it means in the financials — he's why our job costing reports actually reflect how trades businesses work.
FP&A background in PE-backed service businesses. Sofia builds the 30/60/90-day cash models, annual budgets, and scenario analyses that answer "what if we add a crew?" or "can we afford that equipment purchase?"
All client communications and calls go through Matt. The team works behind the scenes to make every call substantive.
30 minutes. We review your numbers live and give you three specific findings — job margins, cash position, overhead rate. Real information, no obligation.
Not a sales call. We look at your actual numbers and give you real findings before you commit to anything.
You'll leave with actionable insights on your margins, overhead rate, or cash position — whether you become a client or not.
If it's a fit, we'll tell you which tier makes sense and what to expect. If it's not, we'll say that too.
Fill out the form and we'll follow up to schedule your diagnostic. Or email directly: matt@calnan.co
Check your inbox for a confirmation. We'll follow up within 1 business day to schedule your diagnostic.
Real financial insights for contractors who want to know their numbers — written by a CFO who's worked inside the trades.
Most HVAC shops run at 6–8% profit when they should hit 12–18%. The gap isn't HVAC skill — it's financial visibility. Here's the breakdown.
Read article →Electrical contractors leave $50K–$150K on the table through bad job costing. The same four fixes work almost every time.
Read article →Profitable doesn't mean cash-healthy. The 13-week rolling forecast is the one tool that changes how contractors manage money.
Read article →If you run an HVAC company, you probably know the feeling: You're booked solid. Your crew is working. Revenue is coming in. But when you look at your actual profit, something feels off.
You're not alone. Most HVAC contractors are operating at 6–8% net profit when they should be hitting 12–18%. The gap isn't because you're bad at HVAC. It's because you don't have visibility into your real numbers.
| Revenue Range | Healthy Profit Margin | Reality (Most Shops) |
|---|---|---|
| $500K–$1M | 15–20% | 4–6% |
| $1M–$2M | 12–18% | 5–8% |
| $2M–$4M | 10–15% | 6–9% |
| $4M+ | 10–14% | 7–10% |
Most HVAC shops are operating 5–10 percentage points below industry standard. That's money left on the table every single month.
You bid a furnace replacement at $4,500 and think you'll make $1,500 profit. Real cost after accounting for travel time, truck overhead, office time, apprentice supervision, and warranty follow-ups? Probably $3,800. Real profit: $700, not $1,500. Across 10 jobs/month, that gap costs you $100,000/year.
Service manager, office rent, truck fuel, insurance — most shops don't know where these go in job bids. They take a flat markup and hope. Some jobs cover overhead. Some don't.
A replacement is a 6–8 hour job with high parts costs. A service call is 1–2 hours with minimal parts. Using the same markup percentage underprices service calls by 30–50%.
Most HVAC shops find replacements run 18–25% margin but service calls only 8–12%. This tells you where to focus.
Total payroll + overhead ÷ total billable hours. Your real cost is likely $65–$85/hour. If you're billing $110/hour, you have a problem.
Fixed costs ÷ annual revenue. For HVAC, this should be 25–35%. Above 40%, overhead is eating your profit.
Do this work and you'll typically see profit go from 8% to 14–16% within 90 days. Same revenue. Better pricing.
MarkupCFO helps HVAC contractors run real job costing, build pricing strategy, and go from 8% to 14%+ profit. Let's start with a diagnostic look at your numbers.
Book a Free DiagnosticYou're billing clients. Revenue looks good. But when you sit down with your accountant in December, profit is thinner than expected.
This is the electrical contractor's classic problem: broken job costing, overhead that's not allocated, and bids that don't reflect real costs.
A $12,000 commercial remodel bid looks profitable until you add the real costs: travel time (2 hours unbilled), truck cost ($400), job supervision (4 hours), apprentice supervision, warranty callbacks. Real labor: 51 hours, not 40. Real profit: $1,280, not $3,000 — a 43% miss. Across 15–20 jobs/month, that's $100,000+ in annual profit left on the table.
If you're only tracking "materials + direct labor," you're missing 25–35% of your actual cost.
For 60 days, log all time: on-job, travel, prep/cleanup, inspection waits, rework. Most contractors discover real hours are 15–30% higher than estimated.
Total overhead ÷ Annual billable hours = Overhead/hour. A $2M shop with $500K overhead = $250/hour in overhead. If you're not loading that into bids, you're underbidding on every job.
Review actual job costs monthly. Which job types win? Which crews are efficient? Where are the overruns? Adjust next month's bids. After 90 days, most electrical contractors move from 7–9% to 12–15% profit.
MarkupCFO specializes in electrical contractor job costing and pricing strategy. We'll help you go from 8% to 14%+ profit without changing your revenue.
Book a Free DiagnosticProfitable doesn't mean cash-healthy. This is the contractor's finance problem.
Your P&L says you made $300K this year. But cash is tight, payroll is Thursday, and your supplier is calling about a 30-day-past-due invoice. You're profitable on paper. You're broke in reality. This is a cash flow problem — and it's fixable.
Traditional monthly forecasting doesn't work. You need weekly visibility.
Finishing Thursday, invoicing Tuesday, customer receives Friday = 10+ days of unnecessary delay. Fix: Invoice same day, every time.
You agreed Net 30. They pay Net 45–60. Fix: 30–50% deposits on large jobs. Net 14 for small jobs. No exceptions.
Pre-buying materials ties up cash for 2–4 weeks. Fix: Just-in-time ordering. Buy for next week, not next quarter.
Flying blind. Fix: Build a 13-week rolling cash flow forecast.
A simple spreadsheet: week-by-week cash in (invoices expected to be paid), cash out (payroll, suppliers, materials, draws), net, and running balance.
Week 1: In $12K | Out $14K | Net −$2K | Balance $25K
Week 2: In $8K | Out $13K | Net −$5K | Balance $20K
Week 3: In $22K (big invoice) | Out $14K | Net +$8K | Balance $28K
Week 4: In $10K | Out $15K | Net −$5K | Balance $23K
This tells you exactly which weeks are tight, when you can hire, when to defer purchases, and how much working capital you need. Update it every Friday. Takes 20 minutes. Removes all the guesswork.
MarkupCFO builds 13-week cash flow forecasts and weekly cash management systems for contractors. Stop guessing. Start planning.
Book a Free DiagnosticA 30-minute diagnostic. Real findings. No commitment required.
Book Your Free DiagnosticOr email matt@calnan.co directly