Most construction finance pages are a list of services copied from the last consultant. I am not going to recap “we do cash flow, we do job cost, we do surety” and call it a practice. You already know those words. The work is whether the numbers in the trailer match the numbers in the file, and whether the bonding company can read the file without calling you a storyteller.

Did you run a construction company?

No. Read that again so we do not waste the next twenty minutes. I am not a former GC pretending the squadron was a jobsite. I enlisted as an E-1, worked aircraft, earned a commission, and in June 2020 took command of the 341st Comptroller Squadron — $720M, 140 people, nuclear ICBM wing. That is what “accountability” means on this page: a budget that had to survive an audit and a people system that had to survive a pandemic. It is an analogy for running a finance function under load. It is not a claim that I poured concrete.

What I will do in your shop is the finance seat. Job cost. WIP. The conversation with the surety. Cash through the next thirteen weeks. The pricing of the next bid. Your superintendent still runs the job. Your CPA still runs the books.

What does a construction fractional CFO actually do?

• Job cost that matches the field. Cost codes the superintendent will actually use. Labor, materials, subcontract, equipment. If the codes are a dump of the chart of accounts, the estimate-to-complete is fiction.
• A WIP the surety will read. Contract price, billed to date, cost to date, estimate to complete, percent complete, over/under billings. Updated from the jobs, not from last month’s hope.
• 13-week cash. Payroll Friday, supplier draws, retainage, and the job that is “profitable” on paper and empty in the bank. Construction dies on cash, not on the year-end P&L.
• Bonding pack. Working capital, backlog, WIP, bank line, indemnity conversation. I do not replace the agent. I make the package coherent.
• The pricing of the next decision. Bid or walk. Buy the excavator or rent. Take the change order now or fight it. Draw on the line or wait.

10 hours / $5,000 or 20 hours / $7,500 a month. Project work — a WIP rebuild, a surety package, a system stand-up — quoted after a 30-minute call. I will not invent dollar ranges. What’s in / what’s not.

Why does WIP matter more than last month’s P&L?

Percentage-of-completion without a living WIP is how a company reports income it has not billed and hides jobs that are underwater. Overbillings are a loan from the job. Underbillings are work you have funded and not invoiced. Either one can be honest. Neither one belongs as a surprise. The bank and the surety read the WIP. The owner who only reads net income finds out on a Friday when payroll clears and the supplier does not.

What you are looking at	What it tells you	What it hides
Monthly P&L	Whether the entity booked income this period.	Which jobs are overbilled, which are underwater, and whether cash can fund next month.
Job cost / estimate-to-complete	Whether this job still makes money at the current burn.	The cash lag, retainage, and the change order that is not executed.
WIP schedule	Percent complete vs billed. Over/under billings. Backlog quality.	Nothing useful if the ETCs are last month’s numbers with a new date.
13-week cash	Payroll, suppliers, draws, tax. The next bad Friday.	Long-term margin. It is a survival instrument, not a strategy deck.

I want all four in the file. If you only have a P&L, we start there and we do not pretend it is WIP.

What does a surety want to see?

A coherent story that ties. Working capital that is actually working capital, not a receivable you will not collect. A WIP that matches the jobs. Backlog that is real contracts, not a handshake. Bank line availability. An indemnity conversation you have already had with your spouse, not one you are saving for the meeting. I have not sat in a surety underwriting chair. I have sat in the finance seat when a pack had to be clean for someone who could say no — lenders, owners, a PE board at Entech. Same discipline. Different form.

How much does this cost versus hiring a construction CFO?

Retainers: $60,000 or $90,000 a year. CFMA’s 2025 Executive Compensation Survey for Contractors puts CFO (Vice President) base in a typical overall range of $180,000–$270,000, average salary $228,101, average bonus $128,700 (CFMA, 2025 Construction Compensation Trends). That is cash compensation. Add benefits and recruiting. I will not load those into a fake “all-in” and cite CFMA for a number they did not publish. Eightx’s 2026 all-in band at $5–25M is $210,000–$565,000+ — ecommerce, not construction, useful as a published fully-loaded range. Comparison: fractional vs full-time.

Bookkeeping stays with your CPA. I will not take the write-up so I can complain about the close. If the close is late or the job cost is a mess, I will say it in the room, with them present.

Who is this for?

$3–25M construction — GCs, specialty, and the shops that look like GCs even if the license on the wall says something else. Founder-led. US Central and Eastern. Cape Coral HQ. If you are $80M with a controller, a surety analyst, and a full-time CFO search, I am not the seat. If you are $8M, the books live at the CPA, and the WIP is a spreadsheet the project manager dreads, we should talk.

Questions I get

Did you run a construction company?

No. I did not run a general contractor. I ran a $720M budget and 140 people as squadron commander and nuclear-wing CFO. That is the accountability, not a GC claim. I sit in the finance seat: job cost, WIP, bonding, and 13-week cash.

What does a construction fractional CFO actually do?

Make job cost match the field, build a WIP the surety will read, run a 13-week cash forecast that survives payroll Friday, and price the next bid or equipment draw. Bookkeeping stays with your CPA. 10 hours / $5,000 or 20 hours / $7,500.

Why does WIP matter more than last month’s P&L?

A P&L on percentage-of-completion without a living WIP is a story. Overbillings are a loan from the job. Underbillings are cash you have not invoiced. The surety and the bank read the WIP. The owner who only reads net income finds out late.

How much does this cost versus a full-time construction CFO?

Retainers are $60,000 or $90,000 a year. CFMA’s 2025 survey puts construction CFO (Vice President) base in a typical range of $180,000–$270,000, average salary $228,101, average bonus $128,700 — cash compensation, before benefits. Bookkeeping stays with your CPA either way.

If the WIP would not survive a surety meeting, don’t wait for the meeting.

Book 30 min. Bring the current job list and last month’s P&L. We will know if this is 10 hours, 20 hours, or a project to rebuild the WIP.

Book 30 min or call (616) 881-6777

Gabriel Denny — E-1 to squadron commander, nuclear-wing CFO, PE-backed operator.

Gabriel Denny Financial Services, LLC · 1718 NW 14th Terrace, Cape Coral, FL 33993 · (616) 881-6777 · gabe@gabrieldenny.com