Scoreboard - Cash Flow Metric

The biggest cash flow variable for a contractor is their projects.

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Cash flow is a critical scoreboard metric for contractors.

Scoreboard: Project Cash Metrics for Work-In-Progress (WIP)

While there are other factors that can impact cash flow at the company level, such as debt service or lack of overall company profitability, the metric track is still typically at the project level.  

This simple metric lets you know if you are either:

  • Financing the projects to some degree if the score is less than 1, or
  • In a positive cash flow position if the score is greater than 1

This metric is explained in more detail here.

  • Where is your current cash flow?  
  • Where has it been trending?  

18 tips for improving your cash flow.




The Productivity-Talent Bonus
Contractors will receive a major talent bonus when they put a relentless focus on field productivity. They will become “Talent Magnets” for the best in the industry making them unstoppable even in the face of major talent shortages.
Two Planning Dimensions
Some of the impacts you see on a project are not as clear as a design change, conflict, or obviously changed condition. Some impacts, such as poor project sequencing or congested work areas are hard to notice if you don’t have good tracking systems.
Observe, Hypothesize, and Experiment
Contractors would run much better, including improved field productivity, if they applied the simple lesson we all learned around middle-school science class: Stop debating and start experimenting.