Fractional commercial management.

Four things, every month

It's the job nobody in a small business has time for, and the one that decides whether you make money. It comes down to four things, and they run in order — what you price, what you keep, what you can see coming, and how long it takes to turn into cash.

Pricing

Getting the number right before it goes out, so the job makes what it should rather than what you guessed.

• Rates checked and built up from actual cost, not carried forward from the last job
• Preliminaries and on-costs built properly — supervision, plant standing time, travel, accommodation, compliance
• The contract read before you sign it, and the parts that will cost you pointed out while you can still do something about them
• Qualifications and departures written down, so what you priced is what you are held to

Margin

The gap between what the job was priced to make and what it is actually making — measured while the job is still running, not discovered at the end.

• Cost to date and cost to complete tracked against the priced allowance, job by job
• Variations priced and submitted rather than absorbed — unpriced extra work is the most common way margin disappears
• Subcontractor and supplier costs reconciled to what was ordered, and back-charges actually raised
• Retention tracked from the first claim and recovered at the end

Forecasting

Knowing what is coming before it arrives. Most businesses this size run on the bank balance, which tells you where you have been, not where you are going.

• Cash in and cash out mapped forward across the jobs you are running — when claims get certified, when they get paid, and when wages, fuel and hire fall due against that
• The gap between the two identified early enough to do something about it, whether that is a claim brought forward, a payment negotiated, or finance arranged before it is urgent
• Work in hand against capacity — what you have committed to, what you have the crew and plant for, and where the next gap in the programme is
• Forecast margin at completion updated each month, so a job heading the wrong way is visible while there is still job left to fix it

Quote-to-cash

The whole chain from the number you quoted to the money in your account. Every step in it is a place the money can stop.

• Written down at the time. Extra work, delays, changes on site. If it isn't recorded when it happens, you don't get paid for it later.
• Claims in on time. Every month, in the right form, with the backup attached and within the window the contract and the legislation set.
• Variations submitted and argued. Priced, substantiated, and pushed back on when they get knocked back.
• Money followed up. What's owed, how old it is, and the payment legislation used when it needs to be.
• Job closed out. Final claim, defects, and your retention back.

The payment legislation referred to above is WA's security of payment regime. The full position, including what happens if a payment schedule is not served in time, is set out once on the contract administration page.

Why not just hire someone?

Because the numbers don't work. A decent commercial manager in WA is a full-time salary once you add super, a vehicle, and the rest. A business the size of most Kimberley subcontractors can't carry that against one or two jobs at a time.

And it doesn't get easier as you grow. The work grows, but so does everything else. Most Kimberley businesses reach a point where they need the function well before they can afford the person.

Fractional means you share. You get someone experienced for the days you need them, and you don't pay for the days you don't.

How the retainer works day to day

It's not a report you get at the end of the month. It's someone in your business, on your jobs, for an agreed number of days on a standing monthly retainer.

• An agreed number of days a month, set at the start
• On site and in your office, not just on the phone
• Your claims go in on your letterhead, prepared and checked
• You get told what's coming — what's due, what's at risk, what needs a decision
• Available between visits when something lands and you need an answer

What it costs you

This is the part most people don't expect. Once you win a job, the cost of a commercial manager belongs in the price of that job — the same way your supervisor, your insurance and your plant do. The head contractor pays for it through your rates. It is a normal thing to include and buyers expect to see it.

We don't publish fees, because the right number depends on how big the job is and how long it runs. Ask and you'll get a figure before you commit to anything.

More on how engagements are structured →

What Stage 1 covers

Tender support is a service in its own right, and what it includes — pricing and rate checks, preliminaries and on-costs, the commercial response, schedules, departures and a final review before submission — is set out in full under tendering and estimating. Engaged as Stage 1 of a retainer it is the same scope, priced as the entry point rather than as a standalone job.

Where the money runs out

The fixed fee has an hours cap, and we tell you in writing when 80% of it is used up. After that, nothing more happens unless you agree in writing — either to a higher fee or to an hourly rate. You will never get an invoice for hours you didn't approve.