You've built a successful business.
Let's make it more profitable.
More revenue doesn't always mean more money in your pocket. We help owners find where profit is slipping away, understand what to change, and see cash problems before they become emergencies.
You're busy. The business is growing. So where's the money?
Your customers are calling. Your team is working. You've got a bookkeeper, maybe a controller, and someone who can pull a job-cost report.
But the question that really matters is rarely answered by a report alone:
What should we do differently next month so more of that revenue actually turns into profit and cash?
Questions worth asking about your business
- We did more work this year. Why didn't we make more money?
- We know the job came in over budget. How do we stop that from happening again?
- We're profitable on paper. Why am I watching the bank balance every Friday?
- Could we raise prices, or would we lose the work?
- Can we afford to hire another crew? And what happens if a big customer pays late?
These are management questions, not bookkeeping questions. They are the reason Kells exists.
Don't pay us to tell you what happened. Pay us to help change what happens next.
Accounting records the numbers. Job-costing software organizes them. We look across that information for the decisions that could improve your economics.
Find the issue. Size the opportunity. Agree on an action. Measure whether it worked.
Some opportunities are pricing. Others are labor planning, scope changes, customer mix, overhead, collections or timing. We follow the economics rather than sell the same answer to every company.
A job can show a profit and still be leaving money behind.
Take a specialty contractor. The accounting system shows what each project earned. The missing piece is understanding why similar jobs perform differently, and what the team should change before the next estimate goes out.
| Estimated labor per job | 420 hours |
| Actual average labor per job | 495 hours |
| Unplanned labor per job | 75 hours |
| Burdened labor cost | $48 / hour |
| Extra labor cost across 12 jobs | $43,200 |
The extra cost isn't the answer. It's the start of the investigation.
- Where did the hours go? Poor scoping, second site visits, waiting on other trades, rework, or something else?
- Which jobs share the pattern? Same estimator? Same customer? Same type of site?
- What could change? Different scheduling, clearer scope language, a revised labor standard, or a pricing adjustment?
- Did it work? Compare the next set of similar jobs against the original baseline.
If the company could eliminate half those unplanned hours, that would model to $21,600 less labor cost across 12 comparable jobs.
Whether that improvement is achievable, and whether it translates fully into additional profit, depends on the operational cause, capacity, and actual cost behavior. We would validate those factors with the people doing the work.
Six places we look for better economics.
Not six products to buy. Six ways a business can earn more, protect cash, or avoid an expensive decision. We start where the evidence points.
Make more on each job.
Look across estimates, actual hours, materials, subcontractors, change orders and callbacks. Find repeat patterns rather than simply naming the worst-performing job.
Price the work you already do more intelligently.
Compare realized margin by customer, service and job type. Understand which discounts create volume and which merely give away profit. Explore what customers actually value and which price changes are testable.
Find labor and capacity losses.
Separate billable time from travel, waiting, rework, idle capacity and avoidable overtime. Assess whether the issue is workload, planning, utilization or pricing.
Challenge costs without cutting what matters.
Examine recurring software, vehicles, insurance, vendors, materials, purchasing practices and overhead allocation. Find costs that no longer match how the business operates.
Stop being surprised by cash.
Build a 13-week view of expected collections, payroll, vendor payments, taxes, debt service and commitments. See the effect of delayed receipts and growth decisions.
Know which growth is worth funding.
Model another crew, a new truck, an equipment purchase, a larger customer contract or a new location against incremental margin, upfront cash and downside risk.
Payroll is due Friday. Your customers have their own schedule.
You can have a profitable month and still run short of cash. A forward-looking forecast shouldn't just predict a balance. It should tell you when you may need to act.
| Week | Expected cash | If a receipt is late |
|---|---|---|
| Week 3 | $145,000 | $145,000 |
| Week 4 | $190,000 | $100,000 |
| Week 5 | $150,000 | $60,000 |
| Week 6 | $135,000 | $45,000 |
| Week 7 | $175,000 | $85,000 |
| Week 8 | $200,000 | $200,000 |
That $45,000 is a decision trigger.
Against a $75,000 reserve, the week-six scenario identifies a $30,000 potential gap before it happens.
- Which customer collections could be accelerated?
- Which spending is discretionary, and which payments can be rescheduled by agreement?
- Is a credit line available, and what would interest and fees cost under the likely draw period?
- Would hiring or buying equipment now create a deeper shortfall?
This is the goal: fewer Friday surprises, more choices while you still have time to make them.
No 60-page report destined for a drawer.
You should be able to point to an issue, a quantified hypothesis, an owner for the next step, and a way to find out whether it worked. Here's an example of what that could look like.
Financial improvement worklist
| Finding | What we would test | Decision / owner | How we'd measure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Finding: Repeat labor overruns | What we would test: 75 excess hours per comparable job; investigate root causes and recoverable time | Decision / owner: Operations + estimating: review scope and scheduling on next 4 jobs | How we measure: Hours vs estimate, callbacks and gross margin |
| Finding: Weak margin in one service line | What we would test: Compare similar projects, discounts, scope changes and win rates | Decision / owner: Owner + sales: test revised quote rules on selected opportunities | How we measure: Win rate and realized margin, not just list price |
| Finding: Potential cash shortfall | What we would test: Late customer payment pushes cash below reserve in week 6 | Decision / owner: Owner + AR: prioritize collections and evaluate contingency funding | How we measure: Weekly forecast variance, reserve and borrowing cost |
If an analysis doesn't change a decision or help someone act, we should ask whether it was worth doing.
Start with a real question. Earn the next engagement.
Talk through the business.
We have a short introductory conversation about what isn't working: margins, job costs, prices, cash or an upcoming decision. No preparation or financial statements needed. We determine whether there's likely a good fit.
Agree on a focused assessment.
If it makes sense to proceed, we define the question, data needed, deliverables, timeline and fixed fee before any paid work starts. We don't automatically prescribe a fractional CFO engagement.
Investigate with your people.
We use the financial and operational information you already have: estimates, job-cost reports, P&L, receivables, payroll and cash commitments as relevant. We check unusual findings with the team rather than guessing why they occurred.
Put decisions in writing.
You receive prioritized findings, modeled impact with assumptions, and practical actions with measures of success. Where in scope, that may include a cash forecast or a hiring/pricing scenario.
Work together if it's worthwhile.
Some clients may want help implementing, reviewing performance or maintaining forecasts on an ongoing basis. That's a separate decision, not an automatic retainer. If the assessment stands on its own, it stands on its own.
Big-company financial discipline. Applied to the realities of running your business.
Kells is a new firm. The experience behind it isn't.
My background spans strategic finance, financial forecasting, manufacturing operations, procurement and cost management. I've spent my career working with financial information to support decisions about profitability, investment, growth and tradeoffs.
I started Kells because many established owner-led businesses don't need another finance presentation. They need someone to dig into the economics, challenge the assumptions, work alongside the people running the operation and help turn findings into better decisions.
I won't pretend to know your trade better than you do. You know the customers, the work and the operational constraints. I bring financial analysis, structured questions, modeling and follow-through.
That combination is the work.
We are not presenting hypothetical examples as client results. As the firm builds a verified track record, we'll share relevant outcomes with clients' permission.
For companies with real operations and real decisions to make.
Our starting focus is owner-led businesses typically generating $3 million to $30 million in annual revenue:
- Construction and specialty trades
- Industrial, installation and field services
- Project-based and recurring service businesses
- Selected operationally complex local businesses
If your business lives or dies on job economics, people, pricing, and cash timing, we may be useful.
We're not here to replace everybody you already trust.
We are not a tax preparation firm, outsourced bookkeeper or a replacement for technical estimating expertise.
We work with your accountant, controller, estimator and operating managers. Often they already have most of the information. What may be missing is the time or independent financial focus to turn it into action.
If you already have that discipline working well, we'll say so.
Before you spend time talking to us.
We already have a bookkeeper or CPA. Why would we need this?
They may be doing exactly what you hired them to do. We focus on a different question: what could the business change to improve future profitability and cash? We start with their information and work alongside them rather than duplicating their work.
How can you help with pricing if you don't know our industry?
We don't set prices from a generic template. We analyze historical costs, quoted and realized margins, customer and job patterns, and competitive constraints as you understand them. We test possible changes with you and measure results. Industry expertise remains essential, and it often comes from your team.
Does this require new software?
No. We start with your accounting, estimating, payroll and other existing data where available. We may build working forecasts or analysis tools to support ongoing decisions, but we're not selling an expensive new system as a prerequisite.
How much does an assessment cost?
We quote a fixed fee once we understand the question and scope. A narrow review of one service line isn't the same job as reconstructing years of inconsistent records. You'll know what you're buying before you commit.
Can you guarantee higher profit?
No responsible advisor can guarantee a particular improvement before examining the business. We can commit to a disciplined process, transparent assumptions and practical recommendations. The size and feasibility of opportunities depend on the facts and your team's ability to implement changes.
What if our data isn't great?
We'll tell you what can be concluded reliably and what can't. Some issues can be investigated with limited information; others may first require better job coding or a cleanup by your accounting team. We won't dress uncertain numbers up as facts.
What do I need for the first call?
Just a brief description of the business and where you'd most like more clarity. Please don't put confidential statements, account numbers or customer data into the contact form. We can agree on a secure exchange method if we work together.
Tell me where you think the money is getting away.
Maybe a certain type of job never seems to make the margin it should. Maybe there's revenue in the books but not enough cash in the bank. Or maybe you're deciding whether to hire, expand or raise prices.
We can start with that. If we're not the right fit, I'll tell you.
Introductory conversation at no charge. No sales presentation or confidential financial statements required.