Job costing
We rebuild your books job by job, so you know which work made money while you can still do something about it, not at year-end.
The construction CFO your bookkeeper can’t be
At $2M to $15M in revenue, you can price a job perfectly and still not know if it made money. Your P&L says one thing. Your job cost report says another.
Check Your WIPYour back-office problems are as real as the foundation you build on. Let’s measure them.
Your books are kept, but you don't know which jobs make money.
1You are constantly terrified of surprise year-end IRS bills.
2You have no idea what your construction company is actually worth.
3The whole business, in real numbers.
We put a real number on every job’s margin, not the guess your P&L hands you. You see the tax bill months before it lands. And we tell you what the company would actually sell for. What you build from there is your call.
The change shows up in the numbers.
Real results, written up the way you’d write them.
Change OrderNo. 001
General Contractor · Phoenix, AZ
Description of change
Eleven years thinking I understood my books. First month in, they found a job I thought made money that had quietly lost about $80,000 over two years.
$80,000Hidden loss surfaced
Stephen B.Blackthorne Wicker
Change OrderNo. 002
Electrical Contractor · Seattle, WA
Description of change
Our surety took our aggregate bonding from $5M to $10M in six months. A completely different product than what our old CPA produced.
$5M → $10MBonding capacity, six months
Ryan S.Blackthorne Wicker
Change OrderNo. 003
Plumbing Contractor · Houston, TX
Description of change
Selling the business, our books were a mess. They cleaned up three years in eight weeks. The normalized numbers added about $350,000 to what the buyer paid.
+$350,000Added at close
Lee T.Blackthorne Wicker
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We build the numbers the way you build the job.
Construction is the only industry we serve. Not a general CPA firm that also takes contractors.
Foundation
Your books, rebuilt on job costing. Every job, every cost code.
Framing
A tax plan set months ahead. You see the year-end number long before it lands.
Topping out
A monthly read on margin, cash, and what the company is worth.
You keep building. We handle all three.
What a construction CFO handles
One seat for the whole money side of the business, built only for contractors doing $2M to $15M. Your crew keeps building. We take the rest.
WIP schedules and cash flow
We keep a work-in-progress schedule that shows where every job really stands, and forecast the cash so a slow month never blindsides you.
Construction tax planning
We plan and file your taxes in-house, led by an Enrolled Agent, so the year-end bill is a number you saw coming months out.
Bonding and surety-ready financials
We build the statements a surety wants to see, so your bonding line stops capping the size of work you can bid.
Certified and prevailing-wage payroll
We run certified payroll and the WH-347 filings that keep you compliant and on the bid list for public work.
Exit and M&A planning
We clean up the financials and normalize earnings two to three years ahead, so you keep more of the number when you sell.
Priced by the day, like your field guys.
You already pay by the day out on the job. This is the day rate for the crew working on your numbers, sized to your business.
Footing
Starting at
$75/day
Billed monthly
- Books rebuilt on job costing
- Monthly close and job-level P&L
- Retainage and AIA billing tracking
- Certified and prevailing-wage payroll
For when your books can’t tell you which jobs actually made money.
Most chosen
Structure
Starting at
$150/day
Billed monthly
- Everything in Footing
- Year-round tax planning and filing
- WIP schedule and cost-to-complete
- Bonding-ready financial statements
- Quarterly numbers review
For when you’re bidding bigger work and done with surprises come tax time.
Keystone
Starting at
$300/day
Billed monthly
- Everything in Structure
- Fractional construction CFO
- Cash-flow forecasting and overhead rate
- Business valuation and exit planning
- Dedicated advisor, priority access
For when you’re scaling up, or getting the business ready to sell.
We set your rate on a short call, based on your revenue and how many jobs you run. As your business grows, we revisit it together, never by surprise.
Questions, answered.
Do you work with contractors in Austin and Central Texas?
Yes. Blackthorne Wicker is headquartered in Austin, Texas, and Austin-area contractors are our core focus. We work with general contractors, subcontractors, and specialty trade contractors throughout Austin, Round Rock, Cedar Park, Georgetown, San Marcos, and the surrounding Central Texas region. Being local means we understand the Texas construction market and can meet in person at our office at 5000 Plaza on the Lake. We also support construction clients on the West and East coasts, but Austin and Central Texas is home.
What does a construction CFO do that my regular CPA doesn't?
A construction CFO works with the financial mechanics specific to contracting, things like WIP schedules, percentage of completion revenue recognition, job cost variance, overbillings and underbillings, retainage receivables, AIA billing formats, and certified payroll for prevailing wage jobs. A general CPA may prepare your tax return correctly but typically lacks the framework to deliver bonding-ready financials, identify job-level profitability issues, or support a business sale to a strategic buyer.
See how a construction CFO and a CPA compare, side by side →
What is an Enrolled Agent?
An Enrolled Agent (EA) is a tax professional licensed directly by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, with unlimited rights to represent taxpayers before the IRS in all 50 states, including audits, collections, and appeals. It is the highest credential the IRS issues. Like a CPA, an EA can prepare and file your returns and represent you before the IRS; the EA credential is focused specifically on taxation and federal representation. Our founder is an Enrolled Agent, so your construction taxes are prepared and defended by a federally licensed specialist.
We already have an in-house bookkeeper or controller. Why hire Blackthorne Wicker?
Most in-house accounting staff came up through general accounting and were never trained in construction-specific methods. A surety-ready WIP schedule, overbilling analysis that catches a cash flow problem early, certified payroll compliance, and sale-ready financials all require expertise your staff likely does not have, and the gaps only surface at the worst moment, when a surety flags your statements or a buyer finds problems in due diligence. We work as the senior construction-finance layer above your existing team. They handle the day-to-day. We handle the work that protects your bonding capacity, your tax bill, and what your business is worth. You keep your staff. You also get a construction CFO without the full-time salary.
Do you work with trade contractors like electrical, plumbing, HVAC, and concrete?
Yes, as long as the work is construction. We work with specialty trade contractors who build, electrical, plumbing, mechanical and HVAC, concrete, masonry, framing, roofing, sitework, and similar trades doing project-based construction and renovation. We are built for contractors who bid jobs, run job costs, carry retainage, and may do prevailing wage or bonded work. We are not the right fit for residential home-services companies whose revenue is service calls, repairs, and maintenance, since the accounting needs there are different. If you build, we can help.
You can’t eyeball profit from a job just by looking. Put your books on the level.
Check Your WIPNo sign-up. See what a job actually made in two minutes.
Prefer to talk it through? Book a Call →