WIP, job costing, and percentage of completion
WIP schedules, project cost integrity, estimates to complete, percentage-of-completion accounting, over/under billings, change-order visibility, and close discipline.
The operating problem
Project economics have to reconcile to cash.
Construction finance is different because the financial result develops across estimates, procurement, labor, prevailing-wage requirements, committed costs, change orders, percentage-of-completion accounting, billing, retainage, collections, and project delivery. The CFO's job is to make those moving parts visible early enough for owners and project leaders to act.
KSIG builds the reporting, forecasting, controls, and management cadence that connect project-level decisions to enterprise liquidity, lender confidence, capital capacity, and long-term value.
Core service areas
Project cash flow and 13-week forecasting
Near-term cash visibility connecting billing, collections, retainage, payroll, procurement, debt service, and project-specific requirements.
Working capital
Cash conversion, billing cadence, AR aging, collections priorities, vendor terms, and the liquidity implications of backlog and growth.
Surety and bonding
Surety relationships, financial reporting, WIP quality, forecasts, and operating evidence supporting bond-program and capacity discussions. Bond issuance and capacity remain subject to provider underwriting.
Bank and lender relationships
Lender-ready reporting, borrowing-base and covenant visibility, financing strategy, communication cadence, and credible variance explanations.
Committed costs and procurement
Visibility into purchase commitments, subcontractor and material exposure, timing, project forecasts, and cash requirements before costs reach the ledger.
Project and customer margin analysis
Bid assumptions, pricing, labor and material economics, project/customer contribution, margin drift, and corrective accountability.
Billing, AR, collections, and retainage
Billing accuracy and timing, unbilled exposure, retainage visibility, dispute and collection priorities, and cash-conversion discipline.
Prevailing-wage administration
Payroll and labor-cost administration, certified-payroll support, rate and classification controls, documentation, reporting, and coordination across finance, operations, HR, and project teams.
Equipment and capital planning
Purchase-versus-finance decisions, utilization economics, debt capacity, working-capital tradeoffs, and capital allocation tied to the operating plan.
Lender-ready and owner reporting
Decision-ready packages for owners, boards, lenders, and other stakeholders, with common definitions and accountable follow-through.
ERP and process improvement
Systems and workflows connecting accounting, project operations, estimating, procurement, inventory, billing, forecasting, and reporting.
Finance-function buildout
Team structure, close, policies, controls, KPI ownership, management cadence, and a practical path from fragile processes to durable capability.
Owner dependency and exit readiness
Reduced key-person risk, cleaner reporting, transferable processes, stronger earnings quality, and evidence that can withstand diligence.
Technology finance and AI workflows
Practical automation and AI for forecasting, reporting, anomaly detection, decision support, and finance workflows—with permissions, auditability, and human review.
Where KSIG starts
The mandate begins with a pressure point.
Common entry points include unreliable WIP or percentage-of-completion reporting, declining project margins, cash pressure despite backlog, retainage or collection delays, prevailing-wage administration gaps, lender or surety reporting needs, a finance leadership gap, systems that no longer fit the business, acquisition or expansion planning, and an owner's need for clearer accountability.
The immediate issue may be narrow. The engagement is designed around the operating outcome: establish financial truth, stabilize risk, build the required finance capability, and leave the business with a stronger decision system.
Operator credibility
Experience from inside the business.
Karl Ohlemann brings more than 15 years of construction and AEC finance exposure as a founder, operator, CEO, and CFO—not only as an outside advisor.
At Macadam Floor & Design, he founded and scaled a multi-location construction-services business from $0 to more than $30M in annual recurring revenue and more than $200M in cumulative revenue, building the finance and operating systems required to support a team of 200+.
At Nils Bernard, he operated a premium custom-home builder across project budgets, procurement, committed costs, WIP, billing, cash, margin, contracts, and delivery. At Broadband Development Group, he led finance-function buildout, forecasting, treasury, reporting, KPI visibility, liquidity, capital planning, and operating discipline in a multi-state broadband engineering and construction environment. Across his construction experience, his finance depth also includes surety and bonding, retainage, percentage-of-completion accounting, and prevailing-wage administration. Confidential company results are intentionally omitted.
Read Karl's construction and infrastructure finance background for the executive context behind KSIG's service approach.
Technology with controls
Use better tools to improve the decision loop.
KSIG applies automation and AI where they materially improve speed, visibility, or capacity: forecast updates, data preparation, exception reporting, anomaly detection, contract and change-order review support, project-margin alerts, and management summaries.
Technology does not substitute for a clear chart of accounts, reliable project data, accountable process ownership, or human judgment. The operating model comes first; automation should make it more visible and dependable.
Owner and CEO conversation
Talk through the financial architecture of your construction business.
Start with the operating reality: where margin is moving, how projects convert to cash, what growth requires, and what owners, lenders, or surety partners need to see. KSIG will help determine whether a fractional CFO engagement is the right fit.
Start an owner/CEO conversation