Construction finance runs on WIP and bonding. A construction CFO owns the WIP schedule, manages the bonding relationship, and installs the job-cost discipline that protects gross margin project by project.
Metrics that matter
- WIP over/under billing by job
- Percentage of completion vs. billed
- Job-level gross margin
- Bonding capacity utilisation
- Cash flow by project phase
- Backlog and pipeline coverage
Common finance challenges
- Percentage-of-completion accounting
- Change order tracking and approval
- Job-cost variance vs. bid
- Bonding surety relationship management
- Union and prevailing wage compliance
What to look for in a specialist CFO
- Prior construction / GC / subcontractor CFO experience
- ERP comfort (Sage 300 CRE, Viewpoint, Procore)
- Surety and bonding relationship experience
- Union accounting familiarity where applicable
Frequently asked questions
- What is a WIP schedule?
- A work-in-progress schedule reconciles each open project's billings, costs, and estimated cost at completion — it's the single most important report in construction finance.
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