Advanced QBO ProAdvisor · Knowify Advisor Certified · Procore (Financial Management) Certified · Jobber · 🇺🇸 Remote

Construction & MEP Financial Strategy — turning messy books into real project margins.

I'm a Financial Strategist for HVAC, Plumbing & Electrician contractors across Texas & Florida. I transform chaotic books into job-level margin intelligence, WIP forecasts and cash-flow strategy — using QuickBooks Online + Knowify, Procore & Jobber as the data backbone.

Financial Strategy Construction & MEP HVAC Plumbing Electrical Project Margin Analytics WIP & Cash Forecasting AIA Billing (G702/G703) Retainage Strategy 🇺🇸 TX & FL
4
Strategy Engagements
TX · FL
Primary Service Area
1 Day
Response Time
4+
Certifications
Meet Your Financial Strategist

Hi, I'm Gesh.

My full name is Murugeshwari (Moo-roo-gesh-wa-ree) — clients call me Gesh. In the trades, Gesh = Cash — and my job is to turn your numbers into a strategy you can act on.

I'm a Construction & MEP Financial Strategist for HVAC, plumbing and electrical contractors. I go beyond clean books — I build job-level margin models, WIP forecasts and cash-flow strategy so owners stop guessing and start pricing, bidding and growing with real numbers.

🛑 The real cost of running blind

Most trade contractors don't realise their margin is leaking until a bonding review, refinance or tax filing forces the question. Without strategic financials you bid the wrong jobs, hire too fast, and discover losses 90 days too late.

Are your job costs dumped in one bucket? Do you know which contracts actually fund payroll next month? I build the financial picture that answers both — remotely, without disrupting the field.

Strategy Services

Financial strategy for trade contractors.

I use QuickBooks Online integrated with Knowify, Procore and Jobber as the data backbone — then layer strategy on top: margin analytics, WIP forecasting, pricing models and cash-flow planning that drive owner decisions.

Construction & MEP Specialty

Built for construction financial strategy.

Construction finance is not generic accounting. AIA billing, retainage, WIP, change orders, bonding capacity, working-capital cycles — these are strategic levers, not paperwork. Here's exactly where I drive value.

📈

Project Margin Analytics

Gross profit by job, phase, crew and service line — so you bid what wins and walk away from what bleeds.

Margin Intelligence
💧

Cash-Flow Strategy

13-week rolling forecast tied to draw schedules, retention release and payroll cycles — never a surprise Friday again.

Working Capital
📊

WIP Forecasting (CFMA)

Contract value, costs to date, % complete, overbillings & underbillings — modelled forward, not just reported backward.

Bonding Ready
🧮

Bid & Pricing Models

Burdened labor rate, equipment recovery, overhead absorption, target margin per trade — your estimating spreadsheet, financially honest.

Estimating Support
📄

AIA Billing Strategy

Schedule of Values, G702 / G703 applications, draw timing and retention release sequenced to protect cash position.

G702 · G703
📝

Change Order Economics

Approved, pending and disputed COs modelled against original contract value. No more "I thought we billed for that" at close.

CO Strategy
📡

KPI Dashboard

Gross margin %, WIP slip, AR days, backlog months and cash runway — one screen owners actually open.

Owner Dashboard
🏦

Bonding & Lender Strategy

WIP, job-level P&L, balance-sheet narrative and ratios — packaged the way sureties, banks and CPAs evaluate capacity.

Capacity Planning
🎯 Why this matters

Recording transactions is the floor, not the ceiling. Strategic finance tells you which jobs to chase, which crews to grow, and when to refinance — the difference between a healthy backlog and a stalled business.

Who I Help

HVAC, Plumbing & Electrician contractors.

Serving Texas & Florida construction & MEP contractors — new construction, commercial, bonded, design-build and residential service shops running 2–25 active jobs.

🔥

HVAC Contractors

Install + service shops that need per-truck, per-job and per-line margin clarity.

  • Install vs service margin split
  • Equipment recovery per job
  • Tech utilisation & profitability
  • Maintenance-agreement revenue strategy
🔧

Plumbing Contractors

Service plumbers, re-pipe specialists and new-construction subs.

  • Service-ticket margin modelling
  • Materials markup & recovery
  • Progress billing strategy
  • WIP forecasting for bonded work

Electrician Contractors

Residential, commercial and solar EC's running multiple crews.

  • Margin per project & per phase
  • Change-order economic impact
  • Subcontractor cost strategy
  • Lender / bonding capacity reports
🏗️

General & MEP Contractors

GCs, design-build firms and MEP subs running multiple bonded jobs.

  • AIA G702 / G703 strategy
  • Retainage & working-capital planning
  • WIP forecast for surety review
  • Bonding capacity modelling
Tools I Work With

Your software. My strategy.

Already on one of these? I plug right in — no disruption to dispatch or field ops.

📊

QuickBooks Online

Financial backbone — class tracking, job costing and job-level P&L tuned for strategy, not just compliance.

QBO Advanced ProAdvisor
🔧

Knowify

Job costing, contracts, progress billing and WIP for specialty-trade contractors.

Knowify Advisor Certified
🔩

Procore

Construction project & financial management, budgets, change orders — wired into strategic reporting.

Procore (Financial Mgmt) Certified
🛻

Jobber

Field-service scheduling, invoicing & QBO sync for HVAC, plumbing and electrical service shops.

Jobber Partner →
Strategy Engagements

Four strategy tracks. One financial strategist.

Each engagement is scoped to how your construction or MEP shop actually runs — not a generic retainer.

01 · Service Trades

🛻 Service Margin Strategy

For HVAC / plumbing / electrical service shops on Jobber + QBO.

from $450/month
  • Per-truck & per-tech margin model
  • Service-line P&L strategy
  • Maintenance-agreement revenue plan
  • Monthly KPI & cash-flow review
  • Pricing & markup recommendations
  • Monthly 30-min strategy call
Book Strategy Call →
03 · Commercial

🏗️ Commercial / Bonded Strategy

For commercial trade contractors on Procore + QBO running bonded jobs.

from $1,150/month
  • Procore ↔ QBO budget & margin sync
  • Project-level margin per job
  • WIP forecast for bonding / lender
  • Subcontractor cost strategy
  • AIA-style progress billing strategy
  • Weekly status & cash touchpoint
Book Strategy Call →
04 · Fractional CFO

🏗️ Fractional CFO — GC / MEP

Full fractional-CFO strategy for GCs & MEP subs running multi-job bonded work.

from $1,450/month
  • AIA G702 / G703 billing strategy
  • Retainage & working-capital planning
  • CFMA-style WIP forecast
  • Bonding capacity model
  • 13-week rolling cash forecast
  • Bonding / lender / CPA strategy pack
Book Strategy Call →
How I Work

Your monthly strategy cycle.

Step-by-step — every month, without exception. Same disciplined cycle, every close.

1

Data Integrity Check

QBO, Knowify, Procore and Jobber data reconciled — strategy is only as good as the numbers feeding it.

2

Job Margin Refresh

Labor, materials and subs tied to the right job & phase — true gross margin per project updated.

3

WIP & Cash Forecast

% complete, over/under billings and the 13-week cash forecast refreshed — no surprises for bonding or payroll.

4

KPI Dashboard Update

Gross margin, AR days, backlog months, cash runway and WIP slip updated on the owner dashboard.

5

Strategy Review

We walk through what the numbers actually mean — pricing, hiring, bonding, refinance, bid/no-bid.

6

Decisions & Actions

Each cycle ends with a written action list — not just reports. Strategy is what gets executed.

Case Studies

Real problems. Real margin.

Client names kept private. Numbers are real.

🔧 Plumbing Contractor · Texas

"My WIP was a mess — I had no idea if I was over- or under-billed."

The Problem

A small plumbing GC running 8 active commercial jobs had all costs in one bucket. No job-level margin. WIP hadn't been touched in 4 months. The bonding company was asking questions.

The Strategy

Rebuilt margin tracking in QBO with a class per project, layered a monthly WIP forecast off Knowify data, and modelled draw timing. Surfaced $23,000 in underbillings the owner didn't know existed.

  • $23,000 in underbillings recovered & invoiced
  • Bonding company satisfied with clean WIP forecast
  • True per-project margin visible monthly
  • Owner saw real job profitability for the first time
🔥 HVAC Contractor · Florida

"14 trucks, no idea which service techs were actually profitable."

The Problem

A residential HVAC shop on Jobber + QBO mixed install and service revenue. Material costs weren't tied to tickets. Maintenance-agreement money hit income as cash arrived — not as earned.

The Strategy

Split install vs service margin models. Wired Jobber line items to QBO classes per truck. Moved maintenance agreements into deferred revenue. Built a per-truck profitability dashboard.

  • Per-truck margin visible every month
  • Install gross margin recovered: 11% → 19%
  • CPA saved 8+ hours at tax time
  • Owner finally trusted his month-end numbers
Common Questions

Frequently asked.

Are you a bookkeeper or a strategist?

I'm a Financial Strategist for construction & MEP contractors. Clean data is the floor — the value is in the margin models, WIP forecasts, cash strategy and KPI dashboards I build on top of it.

Do you only work with HVAC, plumbing & electrical?

Those are my specialty trades inside construction & MEP. I also work with mechanical, low-voltage, solar EC's and general construction subs. If your shop runs contracts, draws and retainage, I'm a fit.

Do you handle AIA progress billing (G702 / G703) strategically?

Yes. I sequence Schedule of Values, % complete, draw timing and retention release to protect your cash position — not just file paperwork.

How do you treat retainage?

Retainage is modelled as a working-capital line in the 13-week cash forecast — tracked per job and per sub, with release timing built into strategy, never just dropped into AR/AP.

Can you produce a WIP forecast for my bonding company?

Yes — monthly CFMA-style WIP with contract value, costs to date, % complete, billed to date and over/under billings — in a format your surety underwriter and CPA already know.

Do you work with my CPA?

Yes — I deliver tax-ready financials and the strategic narrative your CPA needs. You stop being the middleman.

I'm not in Texas or Florida — can you still help?

TX & FL are my primary focus. I take a limited number of out-of-state contractors — book a call and we'll see if it's a fit.

What software do you use?

QuickBooks Online (Advanced ProAdvisor) as the financial backbone, integrated with Knowify, Procore or Jobber depending on how your shop runs. I'll recommend the right stack on the discovery call.

My books are months behind. Can you help?

Yes — this is one of the most common situations I step into. We start with a free diagnostic, agree a catch-up plan, then move into the monthly strategy cycle once data is clean.

Do engagements scale as my shop grows?

Yes. Engagements are tiered by active jobs, trucks and revenue. As you grow, the strategy scope expands — no surprise invoices, everything agreed upfront.

Free Margin Diagnostic

Let's find the margin you're missing.

30 minutes, no pitch. We'll look at your current QBO + Knowify / Procore / Jobber setup and pinpoint exactly where margin is leaking — before your next bonding review, refinance or tax season.

📅 Book Your Free Strategy Call