Week 0
You win a $1.2 million job.
The bid is solid. Your estimate says this job will earn $180,000 in profit, a 15% margin. On paper, it's a great quarter.
Know Your Zero · An interactive story
Why a profitable job can drain your cash.
Follow one $1.2 million construction job, week by week, and watch what happens to your cash. Scroll to play it out.
Week 1
The mobilization payment comes in.
Your customer pays $60,000 to get started, and you run your first payroll of $22,000. So far, the job is paying for itself.
Weeks 2 to 4
The bills start.
Materials, subcontractors, and payroll every Friday. By week four, this job has taken $208,000 more out of your bank than it has put in.
Week 5
You bill $300,000.
Your first pay application goes out. It feels like money is on the way, but it won't arrive for about three weeks, and that's if your customer pays on time. Payroll keeps going out every week while you wait.
Week 7
The low point.
This profitable job has now used $424,000 of your cash, more than twice what it will ever earn. Other jobs, your savings, or your line of credit are paying for it.
This is the week High Point helps you plan for ahead of time.
Week 8
Paid, but not in full.
The $300,000 payment lands, minus $30,000 held back as retainage. It helps, but the next round of bills is already coming.
Weeks 9 to 16
The same cycle, two more times.
Bill, wait, pay your people and your subs, get paid minus retainage, repeat. When the work is finished in week 16, the job is still $312,000 in the hole.
Week 20
The final payment arrives.
The job is done and the last check comes in. You've earned $180,000 on paper, but only $66,000 of it is in your bank. The rest is retainage you're still waiting on.
Week 30
Retainage finally comes home.
Seven months after you won the bid, the last $114,000 arrives. Only now does this job's cash finally match its profit.
How High Point helps
We can't change how construction pays. We can change how ready you are.
Every moment in this story is something a fractional CFO plans for. Here's where Guillermo and the High Point team step in.
Weeks 2 to 7
See the low point coming
We build a 13-week cash forecast across all your jobs, so you know how deep the dip gets and when, months before it hits your bank.
Week 5
Bill sooner and smarter
We review your billing schedule, pay applications, and over/under billing so cash comes in closer to when the work and the costs happen.
Week 7
Line up the right financing
We prepare the numbers your bank wants to see, so your line of credit is sized and ready before you need it, not after.
Week 8
Stop waiting on retainage
We help you track every dollar held back, push for timely release, and plan for the gap in your bids and contract terms.
Want to see your own version of this curve? Bring your backlog to a 30-minute call with Guillermo. We'll talk through your jobs, your billing, and where your cash gets tight.
What this means for you
Now picture three or four jobs like this at once.
Every job in your backlog has its own version of this curve, and they overlap. Your bank balance is the sum of all of them, which is why it can look healthy one week and tight the next. Knowing your zero means seeing those curves ahead of time, so you can plan payroll, purchases, and your line of credit before the low point arrives.
This story is an illustration. The numbers are a typical example, not a real client's job.