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Case studies

Real builders. Real money found.

Five contractors, five different problems, five real results. Names shortened for privacy. Numbers from our book of business.

Case #01
$8.4K recovered
in 60 days
Zach — Custom home builder
Residential custom homes, $2.4M annual revenue
Problem

Zach couldn't tell which of his 7 active builds were profitable. His bookkeeper gave him a P&L but no job-level data. Change orders were getting missed.

What we did

We rebuilt his QuickBooks with NAHB job costing in 3 weeks. Wired Buildertrend into QBO. Set up weekly change-order reviews. Built a 13-week cash forecast.

Result

$8,400 in missed change orders recovered in the first 60 days. 4x ROI on our annual fee before month 3. Profit per job visible every Friday.

Case #02
$34K recovered
in one quarter
Rachel K. — Commercial contractor
Ground-up commercial and TI, $6.8M annual revenue
Problem

Rachel was chasing retainage across 14 projects from the last 2 years. No one was tracking it. Her surety was asking for a cleaner WIP schedule for a bigger bond.

What we did

We ran a full retainage audit. Rebuilt her WIP schedule to percentage-of-completion standard. Packaged it for her surety in the format they wanted.

Result

$34,000 in forgotten retainage recovered in one quarter. Bond line increased 40%. Rachel bid on (and won) a $1.2M project she couldn't have touched 6 months earlier.

Case #03
+2.3 pts
gross margin
Dave — Remodeler
Whole-house remodels, $1.1M annual revenue
Problem

Dave was working 65-hour weeks and doing his own books on Sundays. He knew his margins were slipping but couldn't see where.

What we did

Full BuilderCFO setup. NAHB chart of accounts, weekly job reviews, owner dashboard, allowance tracking separated out.

Result

Dave stopped doing weekend bookkeeping. Found his labor burden was under-allocated by 14%. Raised prices accordingly. Gross margin up 2.3 points in 90 days.

Case #04
36 hours
draw turnaround
Marcus T. — Spec builder
Spec home builder, $3.2M annual revenue
Problem

Marcus was carrying 3 spec builds at once. His lender wanted draw packages in 48 hours. His old bookkeeper took 2 weeks.

What we did

We set up a draw package template matched to his lender's format. Land, CIP, carrying cost, and gain-on-sale all tracked separately. Drew up a 13-week cash map across all 3 specs.

Result

Draw package turnaround dropped from 14 days to 36 hours. Cash visibility across all 3 specs. Lender trust up, rate on next construction loan dropped 0.5%.

Case #05
21-day
AR cut
Adam — General contractor
Residential GC, $4.5M annual revenue
Problem

Adam was bidding blind. He knew he was busy but had no idea if he was actually making money or just churning work.

What we did

NAHB job costing with labor burden properly allocated. Weekly job reviews on every open job. Custom dashboard showing margin per job in real time.

Result

Adam killed 2 unprofitable job types from his bidding mix. AR aging dropped 21 days. He now knows his cash position 8 weeks out and bids bigger work with confidence.

Cory Salisbury

You'll meet with

Cory Salisbury

Ready for your case study?

Book a free 30-minute call. Bring your books. We'll find the leak.

30 minutesFreeNo pitch90-day guarantee

What we'll cover

  • A 10-minute look at where your numbers are today.
  • 3 specific profit leaks I'd chase first for a business your size.
  • Whether we're a fit — honest yes or no, no pressure either way.
May 2026
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“Recovered $34,000 in forgotten retainage in Q1.” — Rachel K. · specialty trade, 8 GCs

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