$2,500 – $10,000 / month
That’s the fractional CFO cost range for an HVAC company doing $3M to $15M in revenue. What puts you at one end or the other is scope, not size. A $4M company with clean books and a working bookkeeper sits near the bottom; multiple entities and eighteen months of unreconciled statements sit near the top.
Below $3M you usually don’t need a CFO, you need a bookkeeper who closes the month properly. Above $15M you’re approaching the point where a full-time hire pencils out.
The range is wide because “fractional CFO” covers everything from a monthly financial review call to someone helping with your pricebook and sitting in your leadership meetings. Here’s what actually sets the number.
What each level of financial help costs
Most owners overpay by hiring one level up from what they need, or underpay by hiring one level down and wondering why nothing changed. The roles are genuinely different.
| Role | Typical cost | What they actually do | Enough when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bookkeeper | $500 – $1,500/mo | Categorize transactions, reconcile accounts, process payroll | Under $1M, straightforward job mix |
| Staff accountant | $1,000 – $3,000/mo | Close the month, produce real financial statements, clean up prior periods | $1M – $3M, books need genuine closing |
| Controller | $85K – $130K/yr | Own the close, build internal controls, manage the bookkeeper | High transaction volume, multiple locations |
| Fractional CFO | $2,500 – $10,000/mo | Pricing and gross margin, cash forecasting, job costing, exit preparation, and sits in your leadership meetings | $3M – $15M |
| Full-time CFO | $150K – $300K+/yr | All of the above, in-house, plus everything that comes with a senior hire | $20M+ or an active acquisition strategy |
Ranges reflect published rates across firms serving the home services trades, plus benefits and payroll burden on the salaried roles.
What moves fractional CFO cost for an HVAC company
Generic fractional CFO pricing articles stop at “it depends on complexity.” In the trades, complexity means six specific things.
- Install vs. service mix. Service agreements create deferred revenue that has to be recognized over the term. A company that’s 70% maintenance agreements is materially more work than one that’s 90% replacement installs.
- Condition of the books. The biggest single driver. If the last clean close was eighteen months ago, expect a higher fee for the first 60–90 days. Some firms price this as an explicit build phase before the ongoing rate starts.
- Field software tie-out. ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro or FieldEdge reconciling to QuickBooks is real recurring work, and it’s where most contractor books quietly break. Ask specifically whether it’s included.
- Entities and locations. Separate LLCs for the trucks or the building, or three branches with their own P&Ls, multiply the close. Each one is another set of books.
- Whether you already have a bookkeeper. A CFO directing an existing bookkeeper costs less than a firm supplying both. If you have someone decent in-house, say so. It should lower the quote.
- Seasonality. Shoulder-season cash planning and a rolling 13-week forecast are standard in this trade and shouldn’t be an upcharge. If they are, that firm doesn’t do much HVAC work.
What the market actually publishes
Almost nobody in this market posts a price. Of the firms marketing fractional CFO services to home services contractors, these are the only public figures:
| Firm | Published rate | Structure |
|---|---|---|
| UpstreamCFO | $5,000/mo, then $3,000/mo | Two phases: build, then ongoing. Flat fee, no hourly billing. |
| Local Fractional | $5,000 – $10,000+/mo | Monthly retainer. |
| Profitability Partners | $5,000 – $12,000/mo | Quoted as a market range rather than their own rate. |
| Profit & Grit | $2,500 – $10,000/mo | Plus $2,000–$5,000 one-time onboarding, charged upfront. Detailed below. |
Everyone else quotes on a discovery call. That’s not necessarily a red flag. Scope genuinely varies. But it does mean you should get the number early rather than three meetings in.
The math against a full-time hire
A full-time CFO in most markets runs $150,000 to $250,000 in base salary, and the loaded cost with payroll taxes, benefits and bonus lands closer to $200,000–$300,000. At $6,000 a month, a fractional engagement is $72,000 a year.
But the honest comparison isn’t cost, it’s fit. A $6M contractor cannot keep a real CFO busy, and a good one will leave inside two years because the work isn’t interesting enough. Fractional exists because the job at this size is genuinely part-time. Not because it’s a discount version of the same thing.
When a fractional CFO isn’t worth it
Five situations where I’d tell you not to hire one
- You’re under $2M. The constraint at that size is almost always sales or a bookkeeper who doesn’t close the month. Strategy work has nothing to grip.
- Your books are genuinely broken. Fix the bookkeeping first, or you’ll pay CFO rates for cleanup. Some firms price that phase honestly. Make sure yours does.
- You need the work done, not directed. A fractional CFO decides and reviews. They don’t enter bills. If there’s nobody to execute, you’re hiring the wrong seat.
- You’re selling in 90 days. Most of the value is in the twelve to twenty-four months of clean financials a buyer will diligence. Too late is too late.
- You won’t change your pricing. The bulk of the return in this engagement comes from margin and pricebook work. If prices aren’t moving, there isn’t much left to pay for.
What to settle before you sign
Four questions that surface most of the mismatch:
Is there a separate onboarding or cleanup fee, and when does the ongoing rate start? A build phase is reasonable. Finding out about it in month two isn’t.
Does the fee include reconciling my field software to QuickBooks? In this trade that’s the work. If it’s excluded, the quote isn’t comparable to one that includes it.
Who actually shows up on the calls? Whether it’s the person who sold you or someone three levels down changes what you’re buying.
What happens if I want out in month four? Month-to-month is common in this market. A twelve-month lock-in should buy you something.
What Profit & Grit charges
$2,500 – $10,000 / month
Plus a one-time onboarding fee of $2,000 – $5,000, charged upfront and quoted before you sign. Never a surprise in month two.
The low end is a $3–5M company with a bookkeeper who’s doing their job and books that close on time. The work is pricing and gross margin, the rolling 13-week forecast, and the monthly conversation where you decide something with the numbers in front of you.
The high end is multiple entities, a heavy install mix carrying real deferred revenue, or books that need rebuilding before any of the strategy work means anything. If ServiceTitan hasn’t tied out to QuickBooks in a year, that’s the first ninety days and it’s reflected in the number.
Onboarding runs $2,000 to $5,000, charged upfront. Getting the books to a state where the monthly work is worth doing is its own project, and pretending otherwise just means the cost reappears later disguised as something else. What puts you at the top of that range is the same thing that moves the monthly fee: how far the books have drifted, how many entities there are, and whether the field software has ever tied out to the ledger.
You get both numbers together, before you commit to either.
Everything that moves you between those two figures is on the list above. If you want the actual number for your business, the fastest route is to schedule a meeting where we look at your last three months and I tell you which end you’re on.
Questions Owners Ask
How much does a fractional CFO cost for an HVAC company?
Most HVAC companies between $3M and $15M in revenue pay $2,500 to $10,000 a month as a flat retainer, plus a one-time onboarding fee of $2,000 to $5,000. What moves you inside that range is scope, not revenue. The condition of your books is the single biggest driver.
Do fractional CFOs charge hourly or a flat monthly fee?
A flat monthly retainer is standard in this market and it is what you want. Hourly billing makes owners ration the calls, which defeats the point. If a firm quotes you an hourly rate, ask what a typical month adds up to before you compare it to anything.
Is there a setup or onboarding fee?
Usually, and you should ask about it on the first call rather than finding out in month two. Onboarding typically runs $2,000 to $5,000 and covers getting the books to a state where the monthly work is worth doing. A firm that skips this phase is either inheriting clean books or planning to do the cleanup badly.
Is a fractional CFO cheaper than hiring a full-time CFO?
On cost, yes. A full-time CFO runs $150,000 to $300,000 once you load in benefits and payroll taxes, against roughly $72,000 a year at $6,000 a month. But the honest comparison is fit, not price. A $6M contractor cannot keep a real CFO busy, and a good one leaves inside two years because the work is not interesting enough.
At what revenue does a fractional CFO make sense?
Usually around $3M. Below that, the constraint is almost always sales or a bookkeeper who does not close the month properly, and strategy work has nothing to grip. Above $15M you start approaching the point where a full-time hire pencils out.
What should be included in the monthly fee?
At minimum: month-end close on a fixed date, accrual reporting, a rolling 13-week cash forecast, and a monthly meeting where you make a decision with the numbers in front of you. Ask specifically whether reconciling ServiceTitan or Housecall Pro to QuickBooks is included, because in this trade that reconciliation is the work.
Can I cancel a fractional CFO engagement?
Month-to-month is common in this market. A twelve-month commitment is not automatically a red flag, but it should buy you something concrete like a lower rate or onboarding rolled into the monthly fee. Ask what happens if you want out in month four before you sign anything.
