Construction & Real Estate Insights

For electrical contractors, bonding capacity is often the constraint that determines which projects you can chase and which ones stay out of reach. What many contractors don’t realize is that the single most powerful document influencing bonding capacity is not the audited financials, not the bank line, and not even the contractor questionnaire.

It’s your Work-in-Progress (WIP) report.

A clean, accurate WIP tells a story of control, predictability, and financial strength. In the current environment, where underwriters are tightening standards and scrutinizing construction firms more closely than they have in years, this difference matters.

Here’s how smarter WIP reporting can immediately strengthen your bonding profile and how electrical contractors can get there.

What Sureties See When They Look at Your WIP

WIP as the Surety’s Project Scorecard

While your team uses WIP to understand job status, sureties use it as a direct indicator of operational discipline. A WIP schedule shows:

• Original contract and the revised contract; accounting for change orders
• Estimated total cost and cost-to-date
• Revenue earned under percentage-of-completion
• Overbillings and underbillings
• Gross profit to date

An accurate WIP, along with CPA-prepared financials provide great insights to the health of the business. Sureties rely on these numbers to evaluate both job-level performance and overall backlog risk.

How WIP Connects to Bonding Capacity

Most bonding programs begin with adjusted working capital, which is allowable current assets minus current liabilities. But the multiplier a surety applies to that working capital, often 10 to 20 times for aggregate capacity, depends heavily on the quality of information in your WIP.

Underwriters often import your WIP into their own systems and trend performance across jobs. They look for:

• Predictability
• Margin stability
• Realistic cost-to-complete forecasts
• A backlog that your balance sheet can support

A contractor with accurate, timely WIP reporting is inherently a lower-risk account.

The Red Flags Underwriters Spot in WIP Reports

Underwriters look for specific patterns in a WIP report that signal elevated risk. These are the red flags electrical contractors should watch for when evaluating their own reporting.

Late-Stage Underbillings

Underbillings happen when you’ve earned revenue but haven’t billed it yet. Some underbilling is normal; however, significant underbillings on jobs that are 85-90% complete stand out as a major risk indicator.

Why it matters:

• They often signal unapproved change orders or disputes.
• Collection is uncertain, so sureties may discount those amounts.
• Discounted underbillings reduce working capital, which directly reduces bonding capacity.

Electrical contractors face this risk frequently because of design changes, coordination issues, and material-driven billing constraints.

Profit Fade Across Jobs

Sureties closely track whether job margins hold from bid to completion. Consistent margin decline (known as profit fade) raises concerns about:

• Estimating accuracy
• Job cost visibility
• Change-order discipline
• The contractor’s willingness to confront issues early

One fading job can be explained. A fading portfolio signals structural problems and limits how far a surety is willing to stretch your bonding line.

Billing and Cash-Flow Signals

Underwriters pay close attention to:

• Chronic underbillings, which strain cash and suggest slow billing or unresolved scope issues
• Overbillings that do not tie to cash or receivables, which may indicate job borrowing or cash stress

Outdated or Inconsistent WIP

A WIP schedule that is outdated, rushed, or does not reconcile to the general ledger undermines credibility. Underwriters expect:

• Updated WIP at least quarterly
• Clear tie-out between WIP, financials, and backlog
• Accurate retainage treatment
• No Excel-only schedules that conflict with the accounting system

How Electrical Contractors Can Turn WIP Into a Bonding Asset

Increasing bonding capacity has little to do with volume and everything to do with accuracy. Contractors strengthen their position by delivering reliable information on a consistent basis.

Build a Monthly WIP Cadence

High-performing contractors have a predictable rhythm:

• PMs or project accountants provide monthly cost-to-complete updates
• Accounting validates percent complete and earned revenue
• Leadership reviews margin movement and red flags

This cadence gives you accurate reporting and gives your agent and surety confidence that the numbers reflect reality.

Reduce Profit Fade Through Better Forecasting and Change Control

You strengthen your bonding position when your WIP demonstrates control. To do that:

• Start projects with conservative margins
• Document why margins change and adjust WIP in real time
• Follow a disciplined change-order workflow
• Avoid end-of-job write-downs, which signal delayed recognition of issues

Strengthen Working Capital by Improving A/R Quality

Sureties commonly discount A/R older than 90 days, unless clearly identified as retainage. To protect working capital:

• Break out retainage separately
• Address old receivables aggressively
• Prepare “subsequent collections” documentation for renewals
• Resolve disputes proactively

Cleaner A/R = stronger working capital = stronger bonding capacity.

Replace Spreadsheets with Construction-Focused WIP in Sage Intacct

One of the most common barriers to bonding support is a WIP schedule that relies on spreadsheets or contains inconsistent data.

Electrical contractors benefit from moving to systems like Sage Intacct Construction, which:

• Automates percentage-of-completion revenue recognition
• Produces WIP, job cost, and financials from one source of truth
• Tracks retainage properly
• Posts and reverses over/under billing accruals automatically
• Provides WIP history that mirrors how sureties trend your jobs

Quick “Bond-Ready WIP” Checklist

A WIP schedule that supports bonding capacity should:

• Be updated monthly internally and quarterly for your surety
• Reconcile cleanly to financial statements
• Explain major margin movements
• Show minimal late-stage underbillings
• Reflect stable or improving job profitability
• Be produced from a construction system—not spreadsheets
• Give your bond agent confidence to advocate for you

When your WIP tells a clear and consistent story, your bonding capacity grows with it.

Strengthen Your Bonding Position With Alliance + Sage Intacct Construction

Accurate, real-time WIP reporting gives electrical contractors a clear advantage by improving financial visibility, strengthening surety confidence, and supporting larger bonded work. Alliance helps contractors build the systems and reporting structure underwriters trust. If improving your WIP process or expanding bonding capacity is a priority, our team is ready to help.

Schedule a consultation to explore how Sage Intacct Construction can support your goals.

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Hear It Directly From the Surety Side

Understanding how sureties interpret your WIP is one thing. Hearing it explained by the people who evaluate contractors every day is another. Our recent webinar brought together construction financial experts and seasoned surety specialists to break down how underwriters assess risk, what they look for inside your WIP, and how contractors can strengthen their position before they request their next bond.

If you want a clearer picture of how your reporting influences real bonding decisions, this conversation is an excellent next step.

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For many electrical contractors, the biggest obstacle to growth is not the work itself, it’s the ability to secure the bonding support required to pursue larger or more profitable jobs. Your WIP tells a story. Make sure it’s the right one. Sureties are willing to extend significant capacity, but only when the contractor demonstrates accuracy, consistency, and financial transparency.

This is where Work-in-Progress (WIP) reporting plays a defining role. A WIP schedule that ties directly to the balance sheet and income statement signals strength and control. A WIP built on spreadsheets, disconnected systems, and manual adjustments does the opposite.

Contractors who want to build stronger surety relationships need more than effort. They need real-time, integrated construction accounting that eliminates the uncertainty sureties see in spreadsheet-driven reporting.

Why WIP Quality Shapes Surety Confidence

Sureties review a contractor’s WIP as a primary indicator of operational discipline. The WIP reveals how projects are performing, how cash is managed, and whether margins are holding or fading as work progresses.

A standard WIP schedule includes core elements that help underwriters evaluate job health:

• Contract value
• Estimated cost and cost to date
• Percent complete
• Earned revenue
• Billings to date
• Over and under billings
• Gross profit to date

When these figures are accurate and tied to the contractor’s financial statements, they give sureties a clear and trustworthy picture of performance. When the information is inconsistent or outdated, the credibility of the entire submission suffers.

Where Spreadsheets and QuickBooks Create Risk

Many electrical contractors rely on a mix of QuickBooks and Excel to prepare their WIP schedule. While this approach may work early in the company’s lifecycle, it introduces structural weaknesses that sureties notice immediately.

QuickBooks cannot generate a true percentage-of-completion WIP

Because QuickBooks does not produce a WIP schedule that uses percentage-of-completion calculations, contractors must build their WIP manually in Excel. The WIP then becomes a standalone document that does not tie directly to the financial statements, which forces underwriters to question whether the numbers are complete and accurate.

Retainage is buried inside the A/R aging

QuickBooks does not separate retainage from normal receivables. Sureties often discount receivables older than 90 days unless they are clearly identified as retainage. When the system cannot distinguish between the two, contractors lose working capital credit that affects bonding capacity.

Manual spreadsheets increase the likelihood of errors

Spreadsheet WIP schedules often contain outdated information, broken formulas, or missing jobs. Even small inaccuracies undermine confidence because sureties rely on WIP to assess backlog, cost-to-complete, and margin trends.

WIP does not tie cleanly to the balance sheet and income statement

Underwriters expect over and under billings, earned revenue, and gross profit to match the contractor’s financials. When WIP data lives outside the accounting system, the tie-out becomes a manual and error-prone exercise. Any inconsistency creates doubt about financial reliability.

The result is a fragmented financial story

A contractor may have strong operational performance, but if the WIP, income statement, and balance sheet do not align, the surety sees risk rather than strength. This often limits capacity and slows approvals.

How Real-Time Construction Accounting Replaces Uncertainty with Clarity

Modern construction accounting platforms solve these limitations by creating one unified source of truth for job cost, WIP, and financial reporting. When WIP ties directly to the general ledger, sureties see the consistency and transparency they expect.

WIP, financials, and job cost all align automatically

Integrated systems calculate percent complete, earned revenue, and over and under billings using real job-cost data. These values post directly to the general ledger, which ensures that financial statements always match the WIP schedule without manual reconciliation.

Retainage is handled correctly

Construction-focused platforms record retainage separately from receivables and payables. This gives sureties a clear view of what is collectible and prevents unnecessary discounts from working capital.

Real-time updates reduce margin surprises

Project managers can update cost forecasts at any time. Leadership can view performance dashboards daily. Accounting can generate WIP on demand rather than waiting for period close. This allows contractors to identify issues earlier and strengthens predictability across the backlog.

Consistent WIP cadence builds trust

With automated WIP calculations, contractors can provide monthly internal WIP and quarterly WIP for sureties with minimal effort. A consistent rhythm gives underwriters confidence that the numbers reflect current conditions, not outdated information.

The financial story becomes straightforward and defensible

Sureties prefer a contractor whose financials, WIP, and backlog tell the same story without explanation. Integrated construction accounting makes that possible.

Why Real-Time Accounting Strengthens Bonding Outcomes

Real-time, accurate financial data reshapes how sureties evaluate your business and how confidently they extend support. Contractors who replace spreadsheets with integrated systems experience measurable improvements in the areas underwriters scrutinize most.

The Bonding Advantages of Real-Time Construction Accounting

1. Faster responses on new bonded opportunities
When WIP, financials, and job cost all reconcile automatically, agents have the confidence to move quickly. Contractors can pursue more work without delays caused by outdated or inconsistent reporting.

2. Stronger working-capital presentation
Clear retainage reporting and accurate cost-to-complete data allow underwriters to evaluate working capital with more precision. This clarity often results in a higher effective capacity because fewer assets are discounted.

3. Better visibility into margin stability
Sureties pay close attention to whether job margins hold or fade. Real-time forecasting and automated WIP updates help teams address issues early, which reduces margin surprises at closeout.

4. Improved premium positioning
The most competitive rates are typically reserved for contractors that demonstrate predictable performance and strong internal controls. Real-time accounting supports both, strengthening the overall risk profile presented to underwriters.

How Alliance Helps Electrical Contractors Move Beyond Spreadsheets

Alliance works with electrical contractors that want to modernize their WIP process, strengthen their financial reporting, and improve surety confidence. Our team helps contractors:

• Evaluate their current WIP and financial process
• Identify gaps that create uncertainty or slow underwriting
• Implement Sage Intacct Construction with a workflow built around surety expectations
• Train teams to maintain accurate, timely job and financial data
• Produce WIP schedules that tie directly to the general ledger

By moving to real-time construction accounting, contractors replace spreadsheet risk with financial clarity that supports larger bonding programs and greater growth potential.

The Path Forward: Building a Bond-Ready Financial Foundation

Electrical contractors do not lose bonding opportunities because they lack capability. They lose opportunities when their financial information creates questions that underwriters cannot resolve. QuickBooks and spreadsheets make financial clarity difficult to achieve. Integrated, real-time construction accounting removes that barrier.

When your WIP, balance sheet, and income statement align naturally, sureties gain confidence, bonding capacity expands, and your business can pursue the work it is built for.

Reach out to explore how real-time construction accounting can support your goals.

Hear It Directly From the Surety Side

Understanding why spreadsheets and basic accounting tools create friction with sureties is valuable. Hearing it explained by the people who review contractor financials every day is even more powerful. In our recent webinar, construction finance leaders and surety specialists walked through the exact reporting gaps that slow underwriting, why tie-out between WIP and financials matters so much, and how real-time construction accounting changes the entire bonding conversation.

If you want to see what sureties identify as risk and what gives them confidence when reviewing a contractor’s submission, this discussion is the ideal next step.

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‍Fort Lauderdale, FL — November 2025 — Alliance Solutions Group (ASG), a leader in construction and real estate financial technology, has been named a FY25 Sage Platinum Club Award winner, one of Sage’s highest partner recognitions. This award highlights ASG’s performance in delivering Sage Intacct Construction and helping contractors modernize financial management with cloud technology, automation, and real-time job cost visibility.

The Sage Platinum Club for Partners honors top Sage partners worldwide for exceptional customer success, strong cloud adoption, and consistent innovation. ASG’s selection demonstrates its ongoing commitment to helping construction organizations strengthen financial accuracy, improve operational efficiency, and scale confidently with Sage Intacct.

Why Sage Recognized Alliance Solutions Group

As construction companies face increasing pressure to operate with real-time data, integrated workflows, and accurate job cost reporting, ASG continues to play a crucial role in guiding firms through financial transformation.

ASG was recognized for:

• Proven expertise in Sage Intacct Construction
• Strong customer outcomes with measurable financial improvements
• Leadership in cloud accounting and automation technology
• Deep construction-industry knowledge and long-term client support
  
  

ASG’s implementation framework, industry alignment, and focus on real-time financial visibility set it apart as a trusted partner for contractors and real estate organizations across North America.

Supporting Contractors in a Cloud-Driven and AI-Ready Future

Sage is investing heavily in cloud, automation, and AI capabilities within Sage Intacct. As a top partner, ASG helps customers adopt these advancements to replace manual processes, eliminate data silos, and strengthen decision-making across the business.

Construction companies working with ASG benefit from:

• Real-time visibility into financial and job cost data
• Faster, more accurate reporting
• Improved WIP management and cash flow oversight
• Scalable financial systems designed for long-term growth

This recognition reinforces ASG’s role as one of the most experienced and specialized partners for Sage Intacct Construction.

Read the Official Sage FY25 Platinum Club Announcement

To see Sage’s full announcement of the FY25 Platinum Club Awards, visit:
👉 View the official press release on Sage.com

Work With a Sage Platinum Club Award–Winning Partner

As a FY25 Sage Platinum Club Award winner, Alliance Solutions Group continues to deliver best-in-class implementations, training, support, and construction-specific expertise for Sage Intacct Construction.

Ready to modernize your financial operations with a top Sage partner?

Book a Demo with Alliance Solutions Group

Take a Sage Intacct Product Tour

Strengthen visibility. Improve accuracy. Build a scalable financial foundation.

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Bond renewals are getting tougher as surety companies tighten their standards and look deeper into how contractors manage risk, forecast costs, and protect profit. For CFOs in the electrical contracting world, one tool carries more weight than almost any other during bond reviews: the Work in Progress (WIP) report.

A strong WIP does more than record project progress. It tells your story. It shows whether your team is in control, if profits are holding, and if your processes can be trusted. When built right and kept current, it becomes one of your best assets for bonding confidence.

If you’re newer to Work in Progress reporting or want a quick refresher on the fundamentals, read our article on What Is WIP Reporting and Why It Matters.

Why Accurate WIP Reporting Strengthens Bonding Capacity

Surety agents and underwriters rely on your WIP to assess financial health and operational discipline. They look for profitability trends, consistent job performance, and early indicators of risk. Profit fade, unapproved change orders, and large underbillings can all raise red flags.

For electrical subcontractors, where margins are thin and materials like copper fluctuate weekly, real-time, automated WIP visibility reveals your true exposure. It enables your team to adjust labor, manage cash flow, and forecast material impacts before they threaten margin — and the surety sees that stability as strength.

For CFOs, that means using data to tell a consistent story — one that proves stability and financial discipline. Simply put, an accurate, well-managed WIP gives you credibility. It shows that you’re proactive, not reactive, and that your numbers reflect what’s truly happening on the job.

What a Strong WIP Report Looks Like (and Why It Matters)

A well-built WIP includes more than totals and percent complete. It should show the full financial picture of every active job, including:

• Original and revised contract values with approved change orders reflected immediately
• Verified estimated costs to complete (by project managers)
• Costs to date and percent complete based on earned progress
• Overbillings and underbillings with clear explanations
• Retainage tracking aligned with AIA billing
• Committed costs for POs and subcontracts

These elements work together to give both management and sureties a true view of profitability and cash position. When you can explain every line confidently, your bonding partner knows you’re in control.

Here are a few key metrics sureties look for in every WIP report:

• Gross profit consistency from job start to finish
• Percentage complete accuracy based on real costs
• Over/Under-billing trends and late-stage underbilling
• Working capital quality, including cash, A/R aging, and retainage exposure
• Backlog gross profit and capacity remaining

To explore these metrics in more depth, check out this article on Five Key WIP Metrics Every Contractor Should Know. It explains how each measure impacts cash flow, forecasting, and margin protection in real time.

Why Automated WIP Updates Give Contractors a Competitive Edge

Many contractors still rely on monthly WIP reports, but today’s leaders are moving to automated, real-time updates that deliver a constant pulse on project performance. Automated WIP visibility helps you identify margin fade early, tighten cost controls, and eliminate end-of-month surprises.

For electrical contractors facing constant cost swings—from copper price spikes to unplanned overtime—automated updates create the time and insight needed to adjust course before profits slip. This consistency builds confidence with sureties and strengthens your financial position.

When project managers and finance teams collaborate through automated, real-time forecasting, WIP becomes more than a report—it’s a dynamic tool that safeguards cash flow and drives profitability.

Common WIP Reporting Mistakes That Hurt Bonding Capacity

Even strong contractors can fall into traps that erode surety confidence:

Treating overbilling as profit - It’s short-term cash flow, not margin. Keep it separate and plan for future costs.

Not tracking committed costs - Purchase orders and subcontracts must be included so exposure is real-time.‍

Using stale cost-to-complete data - Get project managers to review and re-forecast often. Their field knowledge is key.‍

Relying on spreadsheets - Version confusion and manual entry errors cause delays and mistrust. Modern systems eliminate that risk.

Sureties don’t expect perfection, but they value consistency and transparency. Contractors that update frequently and communicate clearly are seen as lower risk, and that directly strengthens their bonding position.

Fortunately, modern systems can automate these processes and eliminate the risks of manual entry.

How Sage Intacct Improves WIP Reporting for Contractors

For CFOs managing multiple active projects, accuracy depends on real-time data and integration between field and finance. That’s where Sage Intacct stands apart.

With Sage Intacct, your WIP report builds itself from live job costs, approved change orders, and up-to-date forecasts. Over and underbillings post automatically. Dashboards track margin trends and cash positions in real time. Retainage, AIA billing, and committed costs are captured without extra spreadsheets or manual re-entry.

The result is a clean, audit-ready WIP that gives you instant visibility and the confidence to walk into any bond renewal conversation prepared.

Frequently Asked Questions 

Q1: What is a WIP report, and why does it matter for bonding?

A Work in Progress (WIP) report tracks the financial health of active jobs by comparing actual costs, earned revenue, and billings. Surety companies use it to evaluate profitability, accuracy, and how well a contractor manages project risk.

Q2: How can contractors keep WIP reports accurate without adding more manual work?

Automatic updates deliver better insight, but manual entry can slow teams down. By automating data flow between accounting and the field through systems like Sage Intacct, contractors can maintain real-time WIP accuracy without extra effort.‍

Q3: What does “profit fade” mean, and why do sureties care?

Profit fade occurs when a job’s expected gross profit decreases as it progresses. Consistent profit fade can signal weak estimating, poor project control, or inaccurate forecasting — all of which make a surety less confident in extending capacity.

Q4: How does Sage Intacct improve WIP visibility for CFOs?

It centralizes project costs, change orders, and billing data in one place so your WIP updates automatically. The result is faster insight, fewer errors, and reports that are always bond-ready.

Build WIP Strength That Inspires Confidence

Every bond renewal tells a story, and your WIP determines how it’s read. The stronger, cleaner, and more consistent your WIP reporting is, the more confidence your surety will have in your financial stability.

With Sage Intacct Construction, Alliance Solutions Group helps electrical contractors build reliable WIP systems that improve visibility, forecast accuracy, and cash flow. When your projects are tracked in real time and your numbers align across teams, you gain more than clarity — you gain leverage with every bond renewal.

Contact our team today to get started.

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The numbers behind smarter project decisions in construction

• Part I: What is WIP Reporting and Why it Matters
• Part II: What’s the Difference Between Job Cost and WIP?
• Part III: How to Get Started with WIP
• Part IV: Understanding Key WIP Metrics (Earned Revenue, Over/Under Billings, FCAC)
• Part V: The Role of Project Managers in Accurate WIP Reporting
• Part VI: What to Look for in a WIP Reporting Solution
• Part VII: How Sage Intacct Automates WIP Reporting and Saves You Time
• Part VIII: How to Transition from Excel to Sage Intacct WIP Reporting?

A Work in Progress (WIP) report isn’t just a stack of numbers; it’s a story about your projects. Each calculation sheds light on where a job stands, whether profits are holding steady, and how billing compares to earned revenue. When you knowhow to read these numbers, you can make better, faster decisions to keep projects on track.

Here are the key WIP metrics every contractor should understand and what they tell you about your jobs.

1. Percent Complete

Formula: Job-to-date cost ÷ Forecasted cost at completion (FCAC)

What it tells you: How far along a project is based on costs incurred compared to the total expected cost.

This is the foundation for WIP reporting. If a project is 60% complete, you should be about 60% into your costs and about 60% into your earned revenue. If those percentages don’t align, it’s a red flag.

2. Earned Revenue

Formula: Percent complete × Total contract value

What it tells you: How much revenue your company has earned — not just billed — based on work performed to date.

Earned revenue matters because billing alone doesn’t always tell the truth. You might have billed ahead of progress (overbilling) or fallen behind on invoicing(underbilling). Earned revenue gives you the true financial picture, regardless of invoices sent.

3. Over/Under Billings

Formula: Billed amount – Earned revenue

What it tells you: Whether you’ve billed more (overbilling) or less (underbilling) than there venue you’ve earned.

Overbilling creates short-term cash flow but can mask underlying performance issues.

Underbillingmight mean slow invoicing, disputed change orders, or missed milestones . . .and that can strain cash flow if left unchecked.

Consistently tracking this metric helps you stay ahead of billing disputes and spot practices that could eat into profitability.

4. WIP Gross Profit

Formula: Earned revenue – Job-to-date cost

What it tells you: The profitability of a project at its current stage.

This is where the rubber meets the road. WIP gross profit shows whether the project is on pace to meet its margin goals. If gross profit is shrinking compared to your original estimate, you may be seeing profit fade. This is a telltale sign that it’s time to review labor productivity, material costs, or scope changes.

5.Forecasted Cost at Completion (FCAC)

Formula: Job-to-date cost + Estimated cost to complete

What it tells you: The best estimate of the total cost of the project once finished.

FCAC is one of our favorite WIP numbers because it’s so powerful. It gives contractors the ability to look forward instead of just backward. If the forecasted cost creeps above the original budget, it’s a clear signal that corrective action is needed— whether that means tightening labor costs, renegotiating with subs, or addressing delays.

Why These Metrics Matter

On their own, each metric offers a snapshot of project health. Together, they create a complete picture:

• Percent complete shows where you are.
• Earned revenue tells you what you’ve earned so far.
• Over/under billings highlight billing practices that could hurt cash flow.
• WIP gross profit reveals if margins are holding steady.
• FCAC projects where you’re likely to end up.

When contractors use these numbers consistently, they gain visibility, predictability, and confidence — not just in a single job, but across the entire business.

Turning Metrics Into Action

The challenge isn’t just calculating these metrics. It’s making them part of a regular reporting process. That’s where software like Sage Intacct Construction makes the difference. Intacct automates calculations, pulls data directly from job costing, and presents real-time WIP metrics in one place. No more chasing spreadsheets or worrying about outdated numbers.

See WIP Metrics in Action

At Alliance Solutions Group, we help contractors turn raw numbers into reliable insights. With Sage Intacct Construction, we’ll show you how to track the right WIP metrics, generate accurate reports, and make decisions that protect your margins. Ready to see how it works? Contact us for a personalized demo.

Stop drowning in data. Start tracking the numbers that actually matter.

If you run a construction company, you’ve probably been told you should “track your KPIs.” The problem? There are hundreds of potential Key Performance Indicators you could measure. From labor productivity, safety incidents, backlog, equipment utilization, margins by job phase . . . the list goes on.

But here’s the truth: top-performing contractors don’t track everything. They track the right things. Here are the KPIs that separate the leaders from the laggards, and why you should be paying attention to them.

1. Work in Progress (WIP) Metrics

Yes, we’re talking about WIP again. That’s because it’s the heartbeat of financial visibility in construction.

Top contractors don’t just track costs and billings — they track earned revenue, percent complete, and over/under billings every single month. Why? Because that’s how you stop profit fade before it eats your margins.

Pro tip: If you’re still relying on spreadsheets, WIP metrics can feel messy. With a system like Sage Intacct Construction, the math happens automatically—so you’re not chasing formulas, you’re tracking profitability in real time.

2. Cash Flow Forecast

Cash is king in construction. You might have profitable projects on paper, but if billing lags behind or receivables pile up, you’ll feel the squeeze.

Top contractors forecast cash flow at least 90 days out. They want to know if overbillings today will cover payroll next month — or if a big receivable delay could create a crunch.

3. Backlog Gross Profit

It’s not enough to know how many jobs you have lined up. You need to know what those jobs are actually worth.

High-performing contractors track backlog gross profit—the projected profit locked into the jobs in your pipeline. It tells you whether you’re building future profitability or just stacking up low-margin work.

4. Labor Productivity

With labor shortages hitting everyone, you can’t afford to fly blind on productivity. Top firms measure labor hours earned versus labor hours spent.

That way, they know exactly which crews are outperforming (and why) and where projects are slipping. It’s not about micromanaging—it’s about making sure the right resources are in the right place at the right time.

5. Change Order Impact

Change orders can make or break profitability. Top contractors don’t just track how many change orders they’ve issued—they track how those changes affect margin, billing, and cash flow.

Unapproved change orders sitting in limbo? That’s risk you can’t afford to ignore.

6. Customer & Subcontractor Scorecards

This one’s often overlooked. Top contractors track the reliability of their subs (on-time, on-budget) and the payment history of their customers.

Why? Because you want to know which partners help your margins—and which ones drain them.

Why These KPIs Work

Notice what’s missing? You don’t see vanity metrics here. These aren’t “nice to know” numbers—they’re make-or-break indicators that give contractors the insight to:

• Protect margins
• Improve cash flow
• Strengthen forecasting
• Build healthier project pipelines

The best part: once you have the right KPIs in place, they actually make reporting easier. You’re not buried in noise. You’re focused on the signals that drive results.

Smarter KPIs, Smarter ERP

The challenge isn’t knowing what to track. It’s tracking it consistently. That’s why so many top contractors are turning to Sage Intacct Construction, implemented by Alliance Solutions Group.

With Intacct, your WIP reports, cash flow forecasts, backlog gross profit, and more can be automated and updated in real time. No more manual number-crunching—just clear, actionable insights that keep your jobs (and your business) on track.

Ready to Track What Actually Matters?

Alliance Solutions Group helps contractors cut through the clutter and focus on KPIs that move the needle. Want to see how Sage Intacct Construction can put the right numbers at your fingertips? Contact us for a personalized demo.