Cash Flow Myth 1 - Profitability Does Not Equal Cash Flow

Cash flow does not equal profitability.

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While in theory these two critical scoreboard metrics are disconnected in reality cash flow is a pretty reliable predictor of profitability both good and bad.  

Cash Flow: Myth 1 - Cash Flow is not equal to Profitability.
  1. It is impossible to have good cash flow for the whole duration of a project if you are going to ultimately lose money.  With great cash flow management practices it is entirely possible to keep a “loser job” cash flow positive throughout the duration until the last few months but ultimately it will end negative.  Therefore great profitability is a prerequisite for great cash flow.  
  2. The reason banks and especially sureties watch under-billings like hawks is because chronic under-billings unless specifically built into the contractual terms are almost always an indicator of margin-fade.  The same goes for slow receivable collections and change order processing all of which contribute to poor cash flow.  

During a 10 year project analysis looking at jobs over $1M for a well-run MEP contractor there was exactly 1 project that had poor cash flow throughout the project and margin gain.  And that was due to a single $2M change order that was slowly processed due to contractual terms!  

What if you engaged your project teams to pay as much attention to cash flow as they are taught to pay to gross margin and labor hours?

We are revamping our publicly available cash flow workshop that includes 18 techniques that contractors can use to accelerate cash flow. Stay informed of updates on release. 


Cash Flow Myth 1 - Profitability Does Not Equal Cash Flow
Great cash flow is a key driver of valuation and successful successions. Running out of cash is is the #1 reason contractors fail. Improving cash flow improves your Return on Equity. Protect yourself and never let cash flow be the limitation to your profitable growth....

Cash Flow Myth 1 - Profitability Does Not Equal Cash Flow
Great cash flow is a key driver of valuation and successful successions. Running out of cash is is the #1 reason contractors fail. Improving cash flow improves your Return on Equity. Protect yourself and never let cash flow be the limitation to your profitable growth....

Pulling Knowledge
There are few things that will accelerate career and team development faster than improving learning capability. Some thought processes and habits that accelerate learning are:
Doing What You Don't Want to Do
It is natural for all of us to focus on our strengths and the things we love to do. Things we love to do are usually things that we are good at doing; our strengths. None of us were born with great business acumen or technical competency.
Support Your Team Always
Everything truly important to the long-term success of a contractor comes down to building a strong team with a culture that supports each other; no matter what. Great leaders unite a team together and elevate everyone further than they could imagine.