Main contractors

The numbers that matter to a main contractor

You get paid on certification, you hold retentions on your supply chain and your clients hold them on you, and every live job has its own cash profile. Accounts that don't reflect that are worse than useless: they tell you the business is profitable while the overdraft says otherwise.

What we do differently

• Revenue recognised on certified value, with applications tracked separately
• A retention ledger both ways: what you hold and what's held from you, with release dates
• Job-level margin every month, so a job that's slipping is spotted at month two rather than at practical completion
• CIS as contractor: verification, deductions, statements and returns by the 19th
• A 13-week cash flow built from the payment schedules of each contract

Common issues we inherit

Profit overstated through recognising applications as sales. Retentions written off because no one chased them. Subcontractor status never reviewed. Corporation tax bills that arrive as a surprise because the year-end accounts were the first time anyone looked.