TradesTrade 04 of 08
Construction financial management for Framing & Carpentry Contractors.
Framing turns jobs fast and runs on crews, so profit leaks through labor and lumber long before a P&L would ever show it.
In short
How does construction financial management work for framing contractors?
Labor is the whole game in framing, so we start with a loaded crew rate that reflects how piece rate actually lands, then build it into every bid. From there we run WIP on the active jobs and watch productivity against lumber, so a run of break-even work cannot hide under the next job.
ProofHidden loss surfaced
“Eleven years thinking I understood my books. First month in, they found a job I thought made money had quietly lost about $80,000 over two years.”
General contractor, Phoenix AZ
$80,000
What we do5 line items
On this trade
Lumber prices swing hard, crews often run on piece rate, and jobs turn over so fast that a loss on one is buried under the next before anyone catches it. Labor is the whole game and it is the easiest thing to misprice.
Labor is the whole game in framing, so we start with a loaded crew rate that reflects how piece rate actually lands, then build it into every bid. From there we run WIP on the active jobs and watch productivity against lumber, so a run of break-even work cannot hide under the next job.
- Labor productivity tracking by crew
- Lumber cost against bid tracking
- Loaded crew rate for accurate bids
- WIP schedules on active framing jobs
- Fast job-level profit reporting
Questions3 answered
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01
Our jobs turn over fast. Can you keep up?
Yes. Fast turnover is why job-level reporting matters, we surface the profit on each job as it closes so a losing streak cannot hide behind a full schedule.
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02
How do you handle piece-rate crews?
We build your true loaded labor cost, including the way piece rate actually lands, into every bid so your framing prices hold their margin instead of bleeding it.
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03
Do you track lumber price swings?
We track material against your bids so a lumber spike that is quietly eating margin shows up immediately, not at year end.
NextAustin, Texas
Which job loses money right now?
When jobs turn this fast, a losing job hides under the next one, and a whole season can pass before the pattern shows.