A CFO for construction and service businesses
A full schedule can conceal a shortage of the one foreman who can start the next job. A service crew can stay busy and lose money on callbacks. Apex helps contractors and field-service owners turn the work they have sold into a crew plan, a margin forecast and a collection schedule they can run each week.
Decide which work earns a place on the schedule
Separate signed backlog from open bids and tentative dispatch calls. For each signed job, list remaining crew hours by trade, the earliest start allowed by permits or materials, its expected margin and the next billable milestone. For service routes, reserve time for travel, warranty calls and emergencies before offering an arrival window. Compare quoted versus actual hours on recently completed jobs before using the old labor allowance again.
Illustrative example: two crews and one promised start
Two crews have 80 crew-hours available next week. Existing commitments use 60 and scheduled warranty work uses 8, leaving 12. A bid calls for 20 crew-hours. Even before checking specialist skills, the start is short by 8. The scheduler can move the start, split the scope with the customer or price outside help. Compare each choice after travel, supervision and overtime, then check whether it delays a draw on another job.
Put margin and cash on the same weekly agenda
The field lead updates quantities and cost to complete. Dispatch explains productive hours against available hours and tags callbacks separately. Accounting reconciles job codes, identifies work ready to bill and names the next collection action for each overdue invoice. The CFO tests payroll and supplier dates against expected receipts, including retainage. If cash is tight, distinguish a short billing delay from work repeatedly quoted below cost before discussing funding.
Build a review that works when the owner is in the field
Use one job ID from quote through dispatch, timecards, purchasing, billing and collections. Give the estimator responsibility for quote assumptions, the project lead for cost to finish and the controller for reconciling reports to the books. Reserve owner approval for exceptions such as a margin concession or an equipment commitment. For a truck purchase, compare rent and ownership at realistic utilization, including downtime, maintenance and the down payment.
For a first review with Apex, bring the backlog, next month’s crew calendar and one job whose margin changed. We can trace the handoff that changed the decision, then name who should own it next week. In the public BOOST walkthrough, choose Construction to explore the handoff from quote to field work.