Ep 308 Contractor Cash Flow Fix — The 4 Numbers Every Subcontractor Must Track with Dustin Young

Contractor Cash Flow Fix — The 4 Numbers Every Subcontractor Must Track with Dustin Young

 

Find Rocky Lalvani @ www.ProfitComesFirst.com or email him at [e-mail]

 

Pay-When-Paid Cash Flow: How Subcontractors Survive Long Payment Terms 

 

Subcontractors and GCs don’t usually go broke because they don’t have work—they go broke because cash timing, contract terms, and decision-making lag quietly squeeze them until payroll becomes a crisis.

In this episode, Rocky Lalvani sits down with Dustin Young, a fractional CFO who works specifically with construction companies doing roughly $3M–$30M in annual revenue. Dustin shares the patterns he sees across contractors: “pay-when-paid” bottlenecks, contracts signed without understanding payment terms, books that are months behind, and owners stuck fighting fires instead of building systems.

 

In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

• Why subcontractors often get stuck with “pay when paid” terms—and how to reduce the damage with cash forecasting and up-front negotiation before you sign. 
• The question Rocky asks that exposes a common blind spot: most contractors don’t know payment terms before signing, and that can mean funding payroll for 90 days without cash coming in. 
• The 4 numbers Dustin wants contractors tracking consistently (weekly/monthly): cash, sales, gross profit, net profit—so you can make decisions based on reality, not vibes. 
• Rocky’s gross profit mindset shift: top-line revenue can fool you, but gross profit tells you what size business you can actually run. 
• Why Dustin’s “field + finance” background matters: construction companies often have a disconnect where field operations and accounting don’t speak the same language, which leads to waste, margin surprises, and chaos. 
• The failure pattern Dustin sees: businesses die when they can’t make decisions fast enough—especially when job margins are unknown and the books are months behind (he mentions a company six months behind that still “thinks” they did ~$40M). 
• Why the hardest bottlenecks aren’t spreadsheets—they’re people problems (trust breaks, safety incidents, long-time employees) and why owners delay decisions even when they know what has to happen. 
• The real cost of “tax advice” spending and shiny purchases (like the $120,000 truck example), plus how to pressure-test big spends (including marketing retainers) using a cash forecast before you commit. 

 

The Big Takeaway:

If you don’t know your contract terms, don’t measure job-level profitability, and don’t keep your books current, you’re not running a construction business—you’re financing projects for other people and hoping you survive the wait.

Forecasting and a few core numbers create the clarity to negotiate better, avoid cash traps, and make faster decisions before problems become payroll emergencies.

 

Bio:

helps construction company owners get their lives back. Most contractors he meets are doing good with sales but are trapped—working 70-hour weeks, constantly putting out fires, missing their kids' games, and wondering why they built a business that owns them instead of the other way around. He knows because he’s been there.

 

He grew up around construction and spent the last decade building and scaling construction companies—some successful, some that taught expensive lessons. He’s been in the field getting projects through the finish line and in the back office building financial systems to make the whole thing work.

 

What he learned is this: revenue growth without the right systems just means you’re working harder for less freedom. And freedom—time with family, the ability to step away, actually enjoying the business you built—that’s what matters most.

 

Now, as a Fractional CFO for $3M+ construction firms, he helps owners build the financial clarity and systems they need to scale profitably and get their time back. Because hitting $5M or $10M in revenue means nothing if you’re still drowning in cash flow problems and can’t take a week off without everything falling apart.

 

Links:

Website: https://www.raveninsights.co/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dustinhyoung/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dustinhyoung/

 

Conclusion:

Dustin’s message is simple: construction businesses don’t need more hustle—they need visibility. Know what you signed, know when cash actually arrives, and track the numbers that tell the truth. Then build systems so the owner isn’t the firefighter, estimator, and bottleneck all at once.

 

Want to stop guessing and start running your business with real numbers? Listen to the full episode and then pick one action to implement this week:

1. review your next contract’s payment terms before signing,
2. build a simple cash forecast for the next 13 weeks, or
3. start tracking Dustin’s 4 numbers consistently.

 

#ProfitAnswerMan #ProfitFirst #ProfitComesFirst #ConstructionBusiness #Subcontractors #GeneralContractor #CashFlow #CashFlowForecast #JobCosting #GrossProfit #NetProfit #ConstructionAccounting #FractionalCFO #ConstructionFinance #BusinessSystems #Operations #Leadership #SmallBusiness #Entrepreneurship

 

Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@profitanswerman

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Music provided by Junan from Junan Podcast

Any financial advice is for educational purposes only and you should consult with an expert for your specific needs.