Home services accounting

CFO Services for Growing Businesses

Numbers pulled from ServiceTitan or Housecall Pro and QuickBooks that tell you what a job actually made, whether you can afford another crew, and what happens to cash next quarter, without hiring a full-time CFO.

Built for HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and mechanical contractors running trucks, techs, and service agreements out of QuickBooks Online, ServiceTitan, and Housecall Pro.

Schedule Your Free Strategy Call (559) 203-3450

What sends contractors looking for this

We had a strong summer and now the cash is gone

A busy AC season can put six figures through the bank account and still leave nothing in it by November. The money went to a truck payment, a tax bill on last year's profit, materials bought ahead for the next rush, and payroll that kept running at summer levels into the slow months. None of that shows up as a warning sign until the account is thin and a slow January is staring back at you.

Most shops never separate the cash from a hot July from the cash needed to carry payroll through a quiet February. Without that separation, every strong season feels like proof the business can support the spending it produced, right up until the season ends and the spending is still there.

Shops that spend the summer's cash as it comes in typically end up drawing on a credit card or line of credit at 18 to 24 percent just to cover January and February payroll, interest they would not owe if part of the summer cash had been set aside on purpose.

We don't actually know what to charge per hour

Most shops set the hourly rate off what the competitor down the road charges, or off what it was three years ago plus a little. That number rarely includes the real cost of a bay sitting empty during training, warranty callbacks, drive time between calls, or the office staff running dispatch. When those costs aren't loaded into the rate, every billed hour is quietly subsidizing overhead nobody accounted for.

In ServiceTitan or Housecall Pro the job shows revenue and material cost, but burden like fuel, insurance, uniforms, and the shop truck rarely gets allocated back to the hour of labor that was sold. The rate looks fine on a quote and still loses money once the full cost of running the truck for that hour is counted.

An hourly rate that's off by 15 dollars an hour on a shop billing 6,000 labor hours a year is a 90,000 dollar hole in profit, invisible on the P&L because it's baked into every invoice instead of showing up as one bad decision.

We're weighing whether to buy a competitor's customer list

A retiring owner or a competitor looking to exit will often offer up their customer list, service agreements, and sometimes a truck or two, for a price based on nothing more than a multiple somebody suggested. Without knowing the real call volume, service agreement retention, and average ticket those customers generate, that price is a guess dressed up as a deal.

The list is only worth what it will actually produce in booked revenue once it's dialed into your dispatch board, and a chunk of those customers will never rebook with a new name on the truck no matter what the seller promises.

Overpaying for a customer list by even 20,000 dollars, or financing it against revenue that doesn't materialize, ties up cash and monthly loan payments for years against a customer base that may deliver half the calls the seller claimed.

We're deciding whether to finance equipment or pay cash

A new service van, a lift, or a set of gauges and diagnostic tools can be paid for outright or financed over three to five years, and the choice changes both your cash position this month and your loan payments for years afterward. Owners often default to whichever option the equipment dealer's finance guy pushes hardest, without running the numbers on interest cost against what that cash could do sitting in reserve for the slow season.

The math depends on your actual cost of capital, your seasonal cash cycle, and whether the equipment is generating billable hours fast enough to cover the payment. Guessing at that trade-off means either tying up cash you'll need in February or paying years of interest on a truck that could have been bought outright.

Financing a 60,000 dollar van at the wrong time, right before a slow season, can add a 1,200 dollar monthly payment on top of already tight cash, while paying cash for equipment when reserves are thin can leave a shop unable to cover payroll two months later.

We're thinking about adding a crew or a van without a real plan

Adding a third install crew or a fifth service van means new payroll, another vehicle payment, more insurance, and enough booked work to keep that crew billing from week one. Owners usually make this call off gut feel, how busy the phones have been for a month or two, without testing whether the call volume and average ticket can actually cover the added cost through a slow stretch.

The decision also affects cash before it affects profit. Payroll and the truck payment start immediately, while it can take months for a new crew's book of business and reputation to ramp to full utilization.

A shop that adds a crew that isn't fully booked for four to six months can burn 20,000 to 30,000 dollars in unrecovered payroll and vehicle cost before the crew becomes profitable, cash that has to come from somewhere else in the business.

How we fix each of those

01
We build a 13 week cash forecast that carries you through the shoulder season
We build a rolling 13 week cash forecast tied to your ServiceTitan or Housecall Pro job schedule, payroll calendar, and loan payments, and we set aside a specific reserve target from peak-season cash so payroll and the truck payment are covered through the slowest months. We update it weekly so you see a shortfall six to eight weeks out instead of the week payroll is due.
02
We load real overhead into your hourly rate
We pull labor hours, fuel, insurance, warranty callbacks, and shop overhead out of QuickBooks and ServiceTitan or Housecall Pro and calculate a fully burdened cost per billable hour by trade. We hand you a rate floor for quoting and revisit it twice a year as insurance, fuel, and wages move.
03
We underwrite the customer list before you sign
We pull the seller's service agreement counts, average ticket, and call history where available, model realistic retention after the ownership change, and put a defensible price on the deal instead of the seller's asking number. We also model the monthly payment against your existing cash forecast so you know before closing whether it fits.
04
We run the finance-versus-cash math before you order the equipment
We compare the total interest cost of financing against the cash impact of paying outright, factoring in your seasonal cash position and how quickly the equipment will generate billable hours. You get a one-page recommendation before you sign anything with the dealer or the bank.
05
We model the new crew or van before you hire
We build a ramp-up model showing the payroll, vehicle, and insurance cost of a new crew against the booked call volume needed to break even, month by month, using your current close rate and average ticket from ServiceTitan or Housecall Pro. You see the exact cash drain during ramp-up and the month it turns profitable before you post the job opening.

Everything included

Rolling 13 week cash flow forecast built around your seasonal cycle
Monthly reporting package pulled from QuickBooks and ServiceTitan or Housecall Pro, with plain-English commentary
Fully burdened hourly rate by trade, recalculated twice a year
Customer list and acquisition underwriting when you're evaluating a buyout
Equipment finance-versus-cash analysis before major purchases
Crew and van expansion modeling with break-even timing
Seasonal cash reserve target and tracking
Exit and sale readiness review when you're ready to step back
Marketing spend and cost-per-booked-call tracking
Direct access to a fractional CFO between reporting cycles

Inside CFO Services

Fractional CFO

A part-time CFO for HVAC, plumbing, and electrical shops who tells you what a third crew, another van, or a competitor's customer list will actually do to your cash, without a six-figure salary.

View Fractional CFO

Cash Flow Forecasting

See the slow season coming three months before the bank account gets thin, so payroll and the truck payment are never a surprise.

View Cash Flow Forecasting

Budgeting and Forecasting

A marketing and labor budget built around your booking season, checked against real numbers every month instead of forgotten after January.

View Budgeting and Forecasting

KPI Reporting

Close rate, average ticket, and cost per booked call by crew, pulled from ServiceTitan or Housecall Pro every month so you know how the business is really running.

View KPI Reporting

Lender and Investor Support

Financials that hold up when a bank underwrites your next van loan or a buyer starts digging into the business before you sell it.

View Lender and Investor Support

Contractors who have already done this

Real Google reviews from owners we work with, next to the engagements behind the numbers.

Google review
As a home services company, I feel that High Velocity Accounting has elevated our business to the next level. We are able to dig deeper into our numbers, report accurately and make adjustments where needed. They are very responsive, detail oriented and an extension of our team.
Cathleen Helin
Owner, Home Services
Clovis, CA
Case study
How a Construction Company Cleaned Up Two Years of Books and Financed New Equipment
Construction · $2.8M - $4.1M annual revenue
Books brought current
22 months
Equipment loan approved
$680,000
Read the full breakdown
Google review
I have been so genuinely pleased with High Velocity Accounting's services. I feel I have an extension of our team in Brett and his team. They always make time for my questions and look for strategic ways to build our businesses mutually. I rest easy knowing our books are kept in good order and our taxes are prepared professionally. I never hesitate to recommend this firm to any service business owners looking for professional book keeping and tax services.
Texas Medley
Owner, Service Contracting
Clovis, CA
Google review
We have been using High Velocity Accounting for a couple years now and are so thankful for their service! They are meticulous, thorough, dependable and always ready to deal with a curveball. Kind, patient, gracious. Thank you for your service and the relationship we've developed together.
Grant Schoenberger
Client, Trades
Clovis, CA
Google review
Brett Neal has been our family's accountant for over six years now, because he is the most dependable professional in this business. We started with Brett as two separate single-filers with simple W-2's and quickly graduated to a married couple having multiple types of complicated business/tax filings. Brett took every shift in stride; every transition has been carried out smoothly and without any hiccups. Trust that this is the guy for all your filing, bookkeeping, and financial consulting needs.
Alyssa Cotrina
Business Owner, Trades
Clovis, CA

Where we do this work

Our office is in Clovis and we work with home services contractors across the Central Valley and nationwide. Pick your city to see how cfo services works for shops in that market.

Not on the list? We run every engagement over QuickBooks Online, ServiceTitan, and Housecall Pro, so distance does not change the work. Call (559) 203-3450.

Talk to a CPA who will actually pick up the phone

Start with a 30-minute consultation at no cost. You will leave it knowing what the work involves, what it costs, and what happens next.