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Best Cash Flow Forecasting Software For Your Construction Businesses

Construction companies get paid in 60 to 90 days while payroll and suppliers come due every week. Retainage holds back another 5 to 10% until closeout. Cash Flow Frog builds a rolling forecast from your QuickBooks or Sage Intacct data so you can see the cash gap on each project before it lands.
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Construction cash flow forecast showing a payment gap
Drilling down to project transactions in Cash Flow Frog

Why do profitable construction companies run out of cash?

The timing mismatch. You buy materials and pay crews now; the GC or owner pays on net-60 or net-90 terms after approval. Retainage of 5 to 10% per invoice sits unpaid until project closeout, sometimes a year out. Take on two new projects at once and the mismatch doubles. Profit on paper says nothing about whether you can cover Friday's payroll in week 6. A forecast that maps each project's billing schedule against your fixed weekly outflows is the only way to see the gap early.
How does Cash Flow Frog handle construction cash flow?

How does Cash Flow Frog handle construction cash flow?

  • Per-project visibility. Drill down from the forecast to the transaction level and see which project is draining cash.
  • Scenario planning. Build a scenario for winning the next bid, then switch to it and see whether you can carry the mobilization costs
  • Daily automatic updates from QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, or Sage Intacct, so the forecast reflects yesterday's draws and payments without manual entry.
  • Up to a 3-year rolling horizon for multi-year projects. Sage Intacct users can break the forecast down by location, department, or class.

Worked example: a 13-week contractor forecast

A residential GC runs $22,000 in weekly payroll and about $15,000 a week in materials. In week 1 they invoice $180,000 on a progress bill, due net-60, minus 10% retainage, so $162,000 lands in week 9. Older receivables taper off through week 5 while other jobs keep billing.

13-week contractor forecast (opening balance $40,000)

13-week contractor forecast (opening balance $40,000)
Line itemWeek 1Week 2Week 3Week 4Week 5Week 6Week 7Week 8Week 9Week 10Week 11Week 12Week 13
Beginning balance$40,000$28,000$11,000-$11,000-$38,000-$67,000-$69,000-$71,000-$73,000$87,000$85,000$83,000$81,000
Money in$25,000$20,000$15,000$10,000$8,000$35,000$35,000$35,000$197,000$35,000$35,000$35,000$35,000
Money out$37,000$37,000$37,000$37,000$37,000$37,000$37,000$37,000$37,000$37,000$37,000$37,000$37,000
Ending balance$28,000$11,000-$11,000-$38,000-$67,000-$69,000-$71,000-$73,000$87,000$85,000$83,000$81,000$79,000

The forecast shows the account going $67,000 negative by week 5 and staying under water until the progress payment clears in week 9. Seeing that in week 1 leaves time to draw on the credit line or push a supplier payment, instead of finding out at payroll.

"Quick & simple to use"

It makes cash flow forecasting dead simple, all QuickBooks updates are automatically updated in the app, new invoices or bills are integrated into the forecast.

Maria Davis

Review

How do you set up a construction cash flow forecast?

1

Connect your software

Connect QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, or Sage Intacct. Bank-only setups can import transactions through Excel.

2

Build the forecast

Cash Flow Frog builds the baseline forecast from your existing invoices, bills, and payment history.

3

Payment expectations setup

Adjust payment expectations per customer to match real net-60 or net-90 behavior.

4

Add scenarios

Add planned projects as scenarios and switch between them to compare cash positions.

5

Check it daily

Check the forecast daily; it updates automatically as draws and payments post.

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FAQ

Retainage holds 5 to 10% of every invoice until project closeout. On a $2M project that is up to $200,000 earned but unavailable, so treat it as a separate long-dated inflow, not part of the invoice payment

Map the billing schedule (progress payments, terms, retainage release) against weekly costs for labor, materials, subs, and overhead. The running balance shows the gap weeks

Costs are paid weekly, revenue arrives on net-60 or net-90. Growth widens the gap because new projects add costs months before their first payment clears.

What people are saying about us

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Tieshena Davis

CEO, Publish Your Gift®

A true life saver!

I've been trying to find an efficient and simplified way to forecast our cash flow and expenses, this is the complete solution.

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Robert Hughes

Owner, Hughes Engineering, PLLC

Extremely useful

Extremely useful, helping me maintain my cash flow through an aggressive growth period, evaluate the financial planning for the future, and sleep better at night.

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Cara Curphey

Founder Albion Bookkeeping & Consulting

Peace of mind

Finally found one that works for us! We tried several and finally found one that actually gave us what we needed - great UX, intuitive software, accurate forecasting.

Try It Free

See your construction cash flow before it happens. Connect QuickBooks or Sage Intacct and get your first rolling forecast in minutes, free trial, no card required. Related reading: scenario planning and actuals vs budget analysis.

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