An AI CFO for
contractors.
Contractors work job by job, bill in stages and wait to get paid, so cash and profit rarely move together. Wauvel reads your QuickBooks books every day — estimates included — and leads with backlog, margin and cash.
By Blake Ekelund, founderCFO-level work through two acquisitions
- Backlog from your estimates
- Who owes you, and how late
- $99/mo, everything included
Your Command Center, first cards
Projects & jobs- 01
Cash. Cash on hand, where the next 13 weeks take it, how long it lasts, and what you're burning.
- 02
Backlog. Signed work you haven't billed yet, how many months it keeps you busy, and the bids to follow up on.
- 03
Revenue. Revenue against the same period last year, the last twelve months, and the one thing to watch.
- 04
Gross margin. What's left of every sales dollar after the direct cost of delivering it, by month, and the cost that moved it.
- 05
Labor cost. What you spend on people — payroll, benefits, contractors and direct labor — as a share of every sales dollar.
- 06
Profit & loss. Net income against last year, the last twelve months, the single biggest reason it moved, and the one thing to watch.
- 07
Getting paid, paying bills. How many days your cash is tied up between paying and getting paid, what you're owed and what you owe, and the one thing to watch.
- 08
Operating expenses. Total spend against last year, the last twelve months, where the biggest increase came from, and the one thing to watch.
Then the balance sheet, cash flow and watch-outs. Reorder or swap any card.
The numbers a contractor runs on.
The cards a contractor checks first, built from the books and estimates you already keep in QuickBooks. Where the books can't support one, it steps aside instead of showing an empty card.
Backlog
Signed estimates you haven't billed yet, how many months of work that is, and the bids still out to follow up on.
Gross margin
What's left of each sales dollar after materials, subs and direct labor, by month — the books-level read on how jobs are pricing.
Labor
Crew wages, subs and benefits as a share of sales, including labor booked in cost of sales.
Getting paid
Who owes you, how late, and how long cash takes to come back — with the customers to chase first.
Cash, 13 weeks out
Invoices due, bills, payroll and recurring spend week by week, so the gap between buying materials and getting paid shows up early.
Watch-outs
An invoice going past 60 days, a duplicate supplier bill, a cost line that jumped — flagged as they appear.
What it can't do yet.
WIP and over/under billing
Those need job-costing data it doesn't carry yet; your accountant's WIP schedule still rules.
Margin by job
It reads margin across the books; job-by-job costing needs job data it doesn't have.
Retainage aging
Money held back shows inside receivables, not as its own schedule.
Your bookkeeping
If invoices or bills are posted late, it will tell you so, but someone still has to fix them.
Wauvel: $99 a month, everything included — not $150–400 an hour.Free for 14 days. No card to start.
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Questions, answered.
Does an AI CFO read my QuickBooks estimates?
Wauvel does. Accepted and closed estimates count as signed work, pending ones as bids still out, and invoices linked to an estimate as what's been billed against the job. The difference is your backlog.
Does it do WIP or over/under billing?
Not yet. Those need job-costing data beyond what the backlog and books carry today. Gross margin is the books-level read in the meantime, and your accountant's WIP schedule still rules.
Can it show which customers to chase?
Yes. It reads your receivables aging, shows who owes you and how late, and puts the oldest and largest balances first.
Can it help with the cash gap on big jobs?
That's what the 13-week cash forecast is for: materials and payroll go out before the progress bill comes in, and the forecast shows the low point week by week so you can plan a deposit or a draw.
How much does an AI CFO for a contractor cost?
Wauvel CFO ($99/mo, or $990/yr) is your whole finance function: unlimited reports, the live dashboard, a 13-week cash forecast, books watch-outs, alerts to email, Slack, or Teams, and an AI CFO that remembers your business month to month and that you can ask anything. You start with a 14-day free trial. No card to begin, nothing charged, and if you do nothing when it ends the trial simply stops.
See an AI CFO on your own numbers.
You start with a 14-day free trial. No card to begin, nothing charged, and if you do nothing when it ends the trial simply stops.
Wauvel makes an AI CFO for small businesses on QuickBooks. Costs are typical published ranges, updated October 15, 2026.