Questions contractors actually ask.
Straight answers to the questions we hear every week, laid out in full, no clicking around. Deep-dive topic pages follow for the subjects that need more than a paragraph.
Why hire a fractional CFO instead of a full-time in-house CFO?
A fractional CFO gives you the same financial leadership for a fraction of the cost. A full-time construction CFO runs $170,000 to $360,000 a year all-in (CFMA 2025), and a controller runs $130,000 to $200,000. Standalone fractional construction CFOs cost $3,000 to $9,000 a month. Our Command Retainer runs $3,500 to $12,000 a month by revenue tier, up to $15M+ at $9,000 to $12,000 a month, so you get senior financial leadership without a six-figure salary on the books.
What does a fractional CFO cost for a construction company?
We work in three steps. The 14-Day Financial X-Ray is $3,500, and it is free for exit or PE-track owners above $10M. The 6-Week Profit Command Sprint is $9,800 to $14,500 upfront, tiered by revenue. The ongoing Command Retainer is $3,500 to $12,000 a month by revenue tier, up to $15M+ at $9,000 to $12,000 a month. For scale, standalone construction fractional CFOs run $3,000 to $9,000 a month and a full-time construction CFO costs $170,000 to $360,000 a year all-in (CFMA 2025). Your books are handled inside the engagement, never a separate fee.
What is the 14-Day Financial X-Ray?
The 14-Day Financial X-Ray is our front-door diagnostic, $3,500 and free for exit or PE-track owners above $10M. In 14 days we connect QuickBooks and produce your baseline: a financial snapshot, a 7-KPI scorecard against construction benchmarks, your real cash position, your top profit and cash leaks, and a prioritized 90-day roadmap. The deliverable is the plan, so you know exactly where the money is before you commit to anything more.
What is the 6-Week Profit Command Sprint?
The 6-Week Profit Command Sprint is our core program: six weeks, defined scope, fast cash wins, $9,800 to $14,500 upfront and tiered by revenue. We clean the data, build job costing and a WIP schedule, recover under-billing, set a driver-based budget and a 13-week cash forecast, then hand you a board-grade package and a live forward plan. It is the fastest path from messy numbers to job-level profit you can trust.
What is your guarantee?
We find at least 3x our fee in recoverable cash, margin, or tax within 90 days, or you do not pay. That promise is written into the engagement letter, not buried in fine print. We only take on contractors we are confident we can help, so this rarely comes up. The risk sits with us, not you. Real client outcomes include $8,400 in missed change orders recovered in 60 days and $34,000 in retainage collected in one quarter.
How do you help with construction cash flow and a 13-week forecast?
We build and keep a live 13-week cash forecast so you can see what is coming in and going out before it happens, not after. For contractors that means timing draws, payroll, and supplier payments without surprises, and knowing 60 days out whether you can bid the next job. We pair it with weekly job cost reviews so the forecast reflects real jobs, not guesses. One builder cut bank-draw reports from 3 weeks to 36 hours once the system was in place.
How fast do I see results?
Most contractors see the first fix inside 30 days, usually a mispriced job or a margin leak we catch early. Full job-level profit visibility lands by day 90, once your chart of accounts and integrations are dialed in. We put that timeline in writing on the engagement letter, so you are not guessing about when the work pays off.
What results do clients typically see?
Real, verified client outcomes: $8,400 in missed change orders recovered in the first 60 days, $34,000 in forgotten retainage collected in one quarter, and a $4.5M GC who cut AR from 52 days to 31, a 21-day reduction. One builder cut bank-draw reports from 3 weeks to 36 hours. These are real cases, not cross-client averages, and results vary by contractor, but they are the patterns we look for.
Do you replace my CPA?
No. Your CPA files your taxes and keeps you compliant, and a good one is non-negotiable. We work alongside them as your fractional CFO, handing them clean books at year-end so their work gets easier and cheaper. If you do not have a CPA yet, we will refer a good one in your state who already understands construction.
Who can see my financial data, and how is it protected?
Only the people on your engagement touch your numbers, a small named team, not an offshore pool. Access runs through QuickBooks Online's own permission controls and bank-level encryption, and we never store your bank login. We sign your NDA on request, and access is removed the day an engagement ends. Your numbers are treated like our own.
What does onboarding look like, and how long does it take?
Week one we get read access to QuickBooks and your PM software and review your last 90 days. Weeks two to three we rebuild your chart of accounts to the NAHB standard and wire your integrations. By week four you are getting your first clean job-cost reports. If your books are behind, cleanup runs in parallel and we tell you the timeline up front.
What happens if I leave?
You own your QuickBooks file and every report, always. There is no lock-in and no data hostage situation. Give us 30 days' notice and we hand off cleanly: a documented chart of accounts, your reporting templates, and a call with whoever takes over so nothing drops. You walk away with a clean set of books, not a mess to untangle.
Do I have to use QuickBooks Online?
Yes. QuickBooks Online is the source of truth for every engagement. It is where the numbers live and what your banker, surety, and CPA expect to see. If you are on QuickBooks Desktop or another system, we handle the conversion as part of setup. We do not split your numbers across tools; one system, one number you can trust.
What software do you integrate with?
We live in QuickBooks Online and wire it to your job-ops software: Buildertrend, Procore, Knowify, CoConstruct, and Contractor Foreman. We also connect payroll (ADP, Gusto, QuickBooks Payroll) and estimating tools. If your crew already types it into a system, we make it flow into QuickBooks instead of getting re-keyed. See the tech-stack page for the full list.
Do you offer the AI systems I keep hearing about?
Yes. That work runs under our sister brand, Top Builder AI (topbuilderai.com), and it requires ServiceTitan today. Eight self-learning AI agents install on the ServiceTitan and QuickBooks you already run: Booking, Routing, Collections, Financial, Inventory, Workforce, Documents, and Pricebook. Booking and Routing outclass ServiceTitan's own; the rest cover work ServiceTitan has no agent for. You approve every change, and the reporting numbers stay locked. We do not bolt AI onto messy data; the financial system comes first, the automation second.
Can you build AI on Procore or Buildertrend?
ServiceTitan is the native platform today, and Buildertrend works through a custom build. Procore is in early access, and Marketplace approval is still pending, so we will not promise it as live. We will still wire Procore and Buildertrend into QuickBooks for clean job costing. That part works now. When the Procore approval lands, your engagement is first in line.
How are Salisbury CFO and Top Builder AI related?
Top Builder AI is the AI-operations brand run by the same founder, Cory Salisbury, from Eagle Mountain, Utah, sharing the same phone number, (385) 374-9295. Salisbury CFO is the money side: fractional CFO leadership for construction contractors. Top Builder AI (topbuilderai.com) is the operations side: self-learning AI agents installed on the ServiceTitan contractors already run. One operator, two systems.
How much does the Top Builder AI install cost?
Install is $0 this quarter (normally $8,000). The monthly service then runs from $3,000, scaled to your team size: Operator (up to 25 users) is $3,000/mo, Back-Office Command (26 to 125) is $4,500 to $6,000/mo, and Command Suite (126 to 250) is $8,000/mo, with 250+ quoted custom. The install carries a board-ready-or-refunded guarantee. You get eight self-learning AI agents on your existing ServiceTitan and QuickBooks. ServiceTitan is required today.
Do you only work with contractors?
Yes. 100%. Custom home builders, remodelers, general contractors, spec builders, and commercial and specialty-trade contractors. We do not do restaurants, e-commerce, agencies, or retail, and we will tell you on the first call if you are outside our lane. Construction money moves differently, and a firm that only does construction is the point.
What is job costing, and why does it matter for me?
Job costing assigns every dollar of labor, materials, subs, and burden to the specific job it belongs to, so you see profit per job instead of one blended number. It is the difference between knowing a job made money and hoping it did. For contractors it is the single most valuable report you can have, and most generic setups do not build it correctly.
What is a WIP schedule, and do I need one?
A work-in-progress schedule shows how much of each open job is billed versus earned, so you can spot over-billing and under-billing before it bites. If you carry jobs across months, run draws, or want a bigger bond, you need one. We build WIP schedules to percentage-of-completion standard, the format sureties and bankers actually trust.
Will you help me get a bigger bond line?
We do not issue bonds, but we build the financials sureties want to see: a clean percentage-of-completion WIP schedule, accurate retainage tracking, and reporting packaged the way underwriters expect. Several contractors we work with have grown their bonding capacity after we cleaned up their numbers. We get you bond-ready; your surety makes the call.
My books are months behind. Can you still help?
Yes, that is one of the most common ways contractors come to us. We quote catch-up cleanup separately based on how far behind you are, then get you current before we start the ongoing work. Falling behind is normal when you are busy running jobs. It is fixable, and we will not make you feel bad about it.
Where are you, and do you work remotely?
We are based in Eagle Mountain, Utah, and we serve builders across the country. We are remote-first by design: your numbers live in QuickBooks Online, your job data flows in from your PM software, and we meet by phone and video. You get a construction-specialist team without being limited to whoever happens to be in your town.
Who is Cory Salisbury?
Cory Salisbury founded the firm in 2023 in Eagle Mountain, Utah. He spent 7+ years as a Tesla Master Technician, with prior experience at SpaceX and Rivian, environments where a system that fails quietly is not acceptable. Today he runs construction finance and builds AI systems for contractors nationwide. He also founded Top Builder AI and Neuron, an AI training platform.
What is Neuron?
Neuron (neuron-hq.com) is an AI training platform that teaches teams to actually use AI at work. It is the third property from Cory Salisbury, the founder of Salisbury CFO and Top Builder AI. The three sites split clean: Salisbury CFO handles contractor money, Top Builder AI handles contractor operations, and Neuron trains teams to use AI tools well.
What if you do not fix it?
You do not pay. We find at least 3x our fee in recoverable cash, margin, or tax within 90 days, or you owe us nothing for that period, and the promise is written into the engagement letter. We only take on contractors we are confident we can help, so this rarely comes up. The risk sits with us, not you.
The six topics contractors want us to unpack in detail.
How much does a construction bookkeeper cost?
Real 2026 numbers, with and without fractional CFO.
Contractor tax deductions most builders miss
Section 179, vehicles, tools, home office, and more.
Job costing for construction, done right
Phase codes, cost types, and the NAHB chart of accounts.
Construction cash flow management
How to build a 13-week cash map that actually works.
Retainage accounting for contractors
How to track it, how to bill it, how to collect it.
WIP reporting that bankers and bonding agents trust
Percentage-of-completion, over- and under-billings, done clean.
You'll meet with
Cory Salisbury
Question not answered here?
Still have a question? Bring it to the call. Thirty minutes, your numbers, straight answers.
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.
Pick a date
Weekdays, 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM MT