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Fractional CFO · Construction Advisory

Clearer WIP. Stronger Margins. Better Cash.

Financial clarity and control for growing commercial and specialty construction companies.

The story
  • BacklogLooks healthy
  • RevenueGrowing
  • CrewsBusy
but underneath
  • MarginsMoving
  • BillingBehind
  • WIPNot always reliable
  • CashTighter than expected

“Do the numbers actually support what we think is happening?”

Who We Serve

Built for growing commercial and specialty contractors

You can have a full backlog, strong revenue, and still know something in the numbers does not feel right.

01

Revenue and backlog look strong, but cash does not seem to follow.

You want to understand whether the issue is billing, collections, WIP, job performance, growth, or something else.

02

You are questioning whether your WIP and job-cost information are giving you the full picture.

Margins are moving, forecasts keep changing, or the numbers do not always match what operations says is happening in the field.

03

Your business has outgrown the financial processes that used to work.

You have an accounting team, but ownership needs more forward-looking financial visibility and experienced CFO-level perspective.

WIP-to-Cash Financial Control Scorecard

Find out where your WIP, margins, and cash visibility are breaking down in less than 10 minutes.

Get a quick read on whether your financial systems are keeping pace with the business and where stronger control may be needed.

  • 01WIP VisibilityCan you trust the financial picture of your active jobs?
  • 02Margin ControlCan you see margin movement early enough to protect it?
  • 03Cash VisibilityCan you anticipate cash pressure before it reaches the bank account?
  • 04Financial ControlAre finance, operations, and ownership managing from the same information?
Clare Morin, Founder of Morin Construction Advisory
Meet Clare Morin

Founder, Morin Construction Advisory

I’m Clare Morin, Founder of Morin Construction Advisory and a construction finance executive with more than 25 years of experience. I help growing commercial and specialty contractors improve visibility into WIP, margins, and cash.

$25M $120M

Helped grow a specialty construction company from approximately $25 million to $120 million.

Startup $150M

Helped develop a national commercial services division from startup to approximately $150 million annually.

Breaking Ground: A Woman’s Journey to Lead, Build, and Rise in a Man’s World by Clare Morin
Breaking Ground

Leadership Is Not About Fitting In. It’s About Finding Your Voice.

Breaking Ground: A Woman’s Journey to Lead, Build, and Rise in a Man’s World is the story of my career in construction: the challenges, lessons, difficult conversations, and leadership moments that shaped how I show up today.

Clearer WIP. Stronger Margins. Better Cash.

In 30 minutes, we’ll talk through what you are seeing in the business, identify where the biggest financial visibility gap may be, and determine whether it makes sense to go deeper.

You can have a full backlog, strong revenue, and still know something in the numbers does not feel right.

If the business is growing but you are not fully confident in what the numbers are telling you, let’s have a straightforward conversation about what you are seeing and where the financial picture may be breaking down.

Clare Morin, Founder of Morin Construction Advisory
Clare MorinFounder, Morin Construction Advisory · Fractional CFO
Meet Clare Morin

I’m Clare Morin, Founder of Morin Construction Advisory and a construction finance executive with more than 25 years of experience. I help growing commercial and specialty contractors improve visibility into WIP, margins, and cash.

Credentials Without The Resume

25+ years in finance and operations: enough time to know when a financial problem is really an operational one.

CFO and Controller leadership experience: I have sat on both sides of the conversation: the executive decision and the financial detail underneath it.

Deep construction finance experience: WIP, job costing, cost-to-complete, margins, forecasting, cash, and multi-entity operations are familiar ground.

$25M $120M

Helped grow a specialty construction company from approximately $25 million to $120 million.

Startup $150M

Helped develop a national commercial services division from startup to approximately $150 million annually.

Why I Do This Work

I kept seeing the same pattern. The business was growing, crews were busy, and the backlog looked healthy, but margins were moving, billing was behind, WIP was not always reliable, and cash was tighter than anyone expected. I was often the person in the room asking the question no one really wanted to answer:

“Do the numbers actually support what we think is happening?”

Those moments told me more than any financial statement ever could.

What was missing was rarely effort or capability. The accounting team knew the numbers, operations knew the jobs, and the owner knew the business, but those pieces were not always connected. When WIP, job costing, margin, billing, and cash are telling different stories, leadership loses the ability to see problems early. That is when small issues quietly become expensive ones.

I chose fractional work because many growing contractors need CFO-level thinking before they need another full-time executive. They need someone who can step in, understand the business quickly, work with the team already in place, and bring a clearer financial perspective to the decisions being made. I did not want to build a consulting practice that drops in a report and moves on. I wanted to stay close enough to the business to help owners see what is really happening and make better decisions from there.

What Clients Actually Experience

I am direct, practical, and comfortable asking hard questions. I listen to the story behind the numbers, but I also keep digging until the story and the numbers line up.

  • I work with your team, not around them, and I do not come in assuming everything needs to be rebuilt.
  • You will always know what I am seeing, what concerns me, and what I think deserves attention.
  • No consultant theater, no unnecessary jargon, and no ten-page explanation when two clear sentences will do.
Breaking Ground: A Woman’s Journey to Lead, Build, and Rise in a Man’s World by Clare Morin

The Leadership Story Behind The Work

I am also the author of Breaking Ground: A Woman’s Journey to Lead, Build, and Rise in a Man’s World, a book about leadership, resilience, difficult conversations, and finding your voice through a career in construction.

Those lessons show up in my work every day. Financial leadership requires more than understanding the numbers. It requires being willing to raise the concern, challenge the assumption, create accountability, and say what needs to be said when the business is heading in the wrong direction.

WIP-to-Cash Financial Control Scorecard

Find out where your WIP, margins, and cash visibility are breaking down in less than 10 minutes.

Get Your Financial Control Score

“Do the numbers actually support what we think is happening?”

If the business is growing but you are not fully confident in what the numbers are telling you, let’s have a straightforward conversation about what you are seeing and where the financial picture may be breaking down.

Services

From financial uncertainty to financial control.

You do not need more reports. You need to know where margin is moving, where cash is getting tied up, whether WIP can be trusted, and what deserves your attention now. My services follow the BUILD Financial Control Framework™ (Benchmark, Uncover, Install, Lead, and Drive) to move growing contractors from unclear numbers to stronger financial visibility, accountability, and decision-making.

The BUILD Financial Control Framework™

A practical path from unclear numbers to stronger financial control.

  1. Benchmark

    Establish where the business stands today across WIP, job performance, margins, cash, reporting, and financial processes.

  2. Uncover

    Identify where visibility is breaking down, where margin or cash may be leaking, and which issues need attention first.

  3. Install

    Put the financial tools, controls, reporting, and operating rhythms in place to create better visibility and consistency.

  4. Lead

    Bring finance, operations, and ownership around the same numbers, expectations, and accountability.

  5. Drive

    Use better financial information to manage forward: protecting margins, strengthening cash flow, and making more confident growth decisions.

The framework is delivered in stages. You do not have to commit to the entire journey at once.

BUILD Stages: Benchmark + Uncover

WIP-to-Cash Clarity™

A focused financial diagnostic for construction owners who know something is off but need to understand exactly where the problems are.

Revenue may be growing. Backlog may be strong. But if you are questioning job profitability, surprised by cash flow, or not completely confident in your WIP, it becomes difficult to know where to focus first.

WIP-to-Cash Clarity™ covers the first two stages of the BUILD Financial Control Framework™: Benchmark and Uncover. Over four weeks, we establish where the business stands, identify the financial and operational gaps affecting visibility, and determine what deserves attention first.

This is not an implementation engagement. The goal is to give you a clear executive-level view of what is happening and a practical path forward.

What You Gain

  1. A clear financial baseline across WIP, job performance, margins, billing, AR, and cash.
  2. Visibility into the issues affecting performance, including where profitability may be leaking or cash is getting stuck.
  3. A prioritized 90-day roadmap showing what to address first, what can wait, and where stronger financial control is needed.
BUILD Stages: Install + Lead + Drive

BUILD 90-Day Financial Control Implementation

A 90-day engagement for contractors ready to turn financial clarity into stronger control.

Once you understand what is affecting WIP, margins, and cash, the next step is fixing the right things.

The 90-Day Financial Control Implementation continues through the Install, Lead, and Drive stages of BUILD. We take the priorities identified during the diagnostic and turn them into a working financial management structure that fits your business.

The goal is not to add more reports or processes. It is to give ownership and leadership better visibility, clearer accountability, and a consistent way to manage financial performance before problems become surprises.

What You Gain

  1. Financial visibility you can manage from, with clearer views of WIP, margin, cash, and the performance indicators that matter most.
  2. A disciplined financial operating rhythm that surfaces issues earlier and creates clear accountability for action.
  3. A stronger connection between finance and operations so leadership is working from the same financial picture and making decisions with better information.
BUILD in Practice: Lead + Drive

Fractional CFO Partnership

Ongoing CFO leadership for growing contractors that need senior financial perspective without adding a full-time CFO.

There comes a point when the financial questions become bigger than reporting.

Can we afford the next hire? Is this job or customer really as profitable as it looks? What happens to cash if we grow another 20%? Are we carrying the right overhead? What should we be telling the bank, surety, or leadership team?

The Fractional CFO Partnership keeps the Lead and Drive stages of BUILD active inside the business. I work alongside ownership and your existing finance team to maintain visibility, challenge assumptions, strengthen accountability, and bring a forward-looking financial perspective to leadership decisions.

What You Gain

  1. An experienced financial voice at the leadership table for growth, investment, cash, margin, and risk decisions.
  2. Forward-looking financial visibility so leadership can anticipate issues rather than discover them after the month closes.
  3. A stronger finance function with better accountability, clearer expectations, and senior-level guidance for the team already in place.

Ongoing engagement | Structured around the needs of the business, not a bank of hours

How An Engagement Works

1. Benchmark + Uncover

See What Is Really Happening

We start by establishing the financial baseline and getting underneath the numbers. We look at WIP, job performance, margins, billing, cash, reporting, and the connection between finance and operations.

By the end of this phase, you know where visibility is weak, where risk is developing, and what deserves attention first.

2. Install

Put the Right Financial Structure in Place

Once the priorities are clear, we build the financial controls, reporting, and management tools the business actually needs. Everything is designed around how your company operates, not a generic CFO playbook.

By the end of this phase, leadership has a clearer and more consistent financial picture to manage from.

3. Lead + Drive

Turn Better Information Into Better Decisions

The final stages create the rhythm and accountability that keep financial control from becoming a one-time project. Finance, operations, and ownership use the same information to address issues earlier, manage performance, and make decisions about what comes next.

By the end, you have clearer WIP, stronger visibility into margins and cash, defined accountability, and a financial operating structure that helps you manage the business forward.

Who This Is Not For

  1. You are looking for someone to simply close the books.

    My work starts where traditional accounting ends.

  2. You want better numbers without changing how the business manages them.

    Financial control requires participation from ownership, finance, and operations.

  3. You want someone who will agree with every assumption.

    Part of my role is asking the question that needs to be asked when the numbers and the story do not line up.

WIP-to-Cash Financial Control Scorecard

Find out where your WIP, margins, and cash visibility are breaking down in less than 10 minutes.

Get Your Financial Control Score

From financial uncertainty to financial control.

If you are questioning your WIP, margins, cash flow, or whether your numbers are giving you the full picture, let’s figure out where you are in the BUILD journey.

Results

What stronger financial control can help you achieve

The work is designed to connect WIP, job performance, margin, billing, and cash so leadership can make decisions with a clearer financial picture.

The outcomes below are engagement goals, not claims of verified client results. Priorities and progress depend on the business and the issues identified.
01

A clearer financial baseline

WIP-to-Cash Clarity™ uses Benchmark and Uncover to review WIP, job-cost information, billing, AR, and cash. The goal is to identify discrepancies, understand where visibility is weak, and establish a prioritized 90-day roadmap.

02

A consistent way to manage performance

The BUILD 90-Day Financial Control Implementation uses Install, Lead, and Drive to put the agreed controls and operating rhythm into practice. The goal is clearer responsibility for job updates, billing, collections, forecasting, and follow-up.

03

Financial perspective for leadership decisions

The Fractional CFO Partnership keeps Lead and Drive active through ongoing financial leadership. The goal is to give ownership a forward-looking view of profitability, cash requirements, and the financial implications of hiring, pricing, overhead, and growth.

WIP-to-Cash Financial Control Scorecard

Find out where your WIP, margins, and cash visibility are breaking down in less than 10 minutes.

Get Your Financial Control Score

Get Clear on What’s Really Happening in the Numbers

If any of this sounds like where you are right now (growing revenue, a strong backlog, but too many questions around WIP, margin, or cash), the first step is simply understanding what is really happening. Let’s have a straightforward conversation about what you are seeing in the business and whether I can help bring more clarity to it.

WIP-to-Cash Financial Control Scorecard

Find out where your WIP, margins, and cash visibility are breaking down in less than 10 minutes.

Get a quick read on whether your financial systems are keeping pace with the business and where stronger control may be needed.

Your backlog looks healthy, revenue is growing, and the business is busy, but you are still questioning job profitability, cash feels tighter than expected, or you are not completely confident in the WIP report. The WIP-to-Cash Financial Control Scorecard is built for construction owners who want to know whether those are isolated issues or signs that the business has outgrown its current financial processes.

What You’ll Identify

01

Whether your WIP is giving you an accurate picture of job performance.

You will see where outdated cost-to-complete estimates, inconsistent job updates, or disconnected systems may be creating a false sense of profitability.

02

Where margin may be slipping before it shows up in the financial statements.

The assessment helps you identify warning signs around job costing, change orders, labor performance, billing, and project accountability.

03

Whether cash problems are really cash problems.

You will see where billing delays, collections, underbilling, job timing, or weak forecasting may be creating pressure even when revenue looks strong.

04

Whether your financial reporting is helping you manage forward.

You will get a clearer sense of whether leadership is using current financial information to make decisions or mostly explaining what already happened.

What Happens Next

The scorecard takes about 8 minutes to complete.

  1. 1
    Answer all 12 questions first.
  2. 2
    Then enter your name and work email and select Get My Financial Control Score to receive your total score and category breakdown.

You can use the results on your own, share them with your leadership team, or use them as the starting point for a conversation about what may be happening underneath the numbers.

How To Score

For each statement, choose the answer that best reflects your business today:

  • 3Yes, consistently
  • 2Sometimes / partially
  • 1Rarely / not reliably
  • 0No / we do not have this in place
Maximum score: 36 points
0% complete
  1. WIP Visibility
  2. Margin Control
  3. Cash Visibility
  4. Financial Control
Scorecard results

Your Total Score

0/ 36

Total Financial Control Score: ____ / 36

What to ask next

Read the full interpretation

Score By Category

Your total score is useful, but the category scores matter even more.

Your lowest category is often the best place to start.

What Your Score May Be Telling You

Where your total score sits on the 0 to 36 scale, and what each range usually means.

Next Step

If one of these areas scored noticeably lower than the others, or if several of the questions were difficult to answer confidently, it may be worth looking underneath the numbers before adding another report or process.

WIP-to-Cash Clarity™ goes deeper into the first two stages of the BUILD Financial Control Framework™ (Benchmark + Uncover) to identify what is affecting WIP, margins, and cash and establish a prioritized path forward.

Financial Clarity Conversation

Get Clear on What’s Really Happening in the Numbers

Leave with a clearer view of what may be getting in the way of stronger margins and cash flow.

In 30 minutes, we’ll talk through what you are seeing in the business, identify where the biggest financial visibility gap may be, and determine whether it makes sense to go deeper.

Lead Engine Calendar Embed Select a date & time

Placeholder only. The live Lead Engine booking widget replaces this block and handles availability, confirmations, and the Zoom link.

30-Minute Financial Clarity ConversationFormat: Zoom

This Conversation Is for You If

Revenue and backlog look strong, but cash does not seem to follow.

You want to understand whether the issue is billing, collections, WIP, job performance, growth, or something else.

You are questioning whether your WIP and job-cost information are giving you the full picture.

Margins are moving, forecasts keep changing, or the numbers do not always match what operations says is happening in the field.

Your business has outgrown the financial processes that used to work.

You have an accounting team, but ownership needs more forward-looking financial visibility and experienced CFO-level perspective.

What We’ll Cover in 30 Minutes

1.

We Start With What You’re Seeing

You tell me what is happening in the business right now: where you are getting surprised, what you do not fully trust, and which financial questions keep coming back. We will not spend the first half of the call going through your company history.

2.

We Get Underneath the Problem

I will ask questions around WIP, margins, billing, cash, job performance, and the connection between finance and operations. Together, we will narrow down whether the issue appears to be a reporting problem, a process problem, an accountability problem, or a combination of all three.

3.

We Decide What Makes Sense Next

I will tell you what I am seeing and where I would start. If WIP-to-Cash Clarity™ or another level of support makes sense, I will explain why. If I do not think you need my help, I will tell you that too.

Ready to Get Clearer on the Financial Picture

If your margins, WIP, or cash flow are creating more questions than answers, do not wait for another month-end close to tell you the same thing. Choose a time below, and we’ll spend 30 minutes identifying where the biggest visibility gap may be and what makes sense to do next.

Before You Book, You May Be Wondering

“I’m not sure if I’m ready for this.”

You do not need to have everything figured out before we talk. In fact, if you knew exactly what was causing the problem, you probably would not need the conversation. Bring the questions, the concerns, and the things that do not quite add up. That is enough to start.

Breaking Ground

Leadership Is Not About Fitting In. It’s About Finding Your Voice.

Breaking Ground: A Woman’s Journey to Lead, Build, and Rise in a Man’s World is the story of my career in construction: the challenges, lessons, difficult conversations, and leadership moments that shaped how I show up today.

Breaking Ground: A Woman’s Journey to Lead, Build, and Rise in a Man’s World by Clare Morin

Why I wrote Breaking Ground

Throughout my construction career, I faced moments when I had to decide whether to stay quiet or say what needed to be said. I wrote Breaking Ground to share what those experiences taught me about resilience, accountability, communication, confidence, and finding my voice.

Four leadership lessons

01

Ask the question that needs to be asked

Addressing a difficult issue early gives leadership more options.

02

Say what the numbers are telling you

Speak clearly when the financial picture raises questions about a decision.

03

Accountability creates clarity

People need to understand what they own, communicate early, and follow through.

04

Resilience matters and so does visibility

Working harder cannot replace better information or the courage to address an issue.

Who the book is for

It is especially relevant for women building careers in construction, emerging leaders learning how to navigate difficult decisions, and experienced executives who understand that leadership is often tested in the moments no one prepares you for.

Clare Morin

About the author

Clare Morin is a construction finance executive, Fractional CFO, founder of Morin Construction Advisory, and author of Breaking Ground. With more than 25 years in finance and operations, she helps growing commercial and specialty contractors improve visibility into WIP, margins, and cash.

Leadership Is Not About Fitting In. It’s About Finding Your Voice.

Breaking Ground: A Woman’s Journey to Lead, Build, and Rise in a Man’s World

Breaking Ground Leadership & Advisory

Lead with Confidence.
Navigate Challenges.
Build Your Legacy.

Practical leadership coaching and strategic advisory for executives, emerging leaders, and organizations ready to lead with greater clarity, purpose, and impact, across every industry.

Leadership Is More Than a Title

Real experience. Practical perspective. Meaningful growth.

Effective leadership is built through the decisions we make, the challenges we navigate, and the people we empower. Breaking Ground Leadership & Advisory brings a seasoned executive perspective to the moments that shape your career, your team, and your organization.

Our approach meets you where you are, with thoughtful guidance, honest conversations, and actionable strategies tailored to your goals.

How We Help

Leadership development for the moments that matter.

Individual support, team advisory, and engaging experiences designed for people at every stage of leadership.

01 / Executive

Executive Leadership Coaching

Strengthen executive presence, navigate complex decisions, communicate with clarity, and lead through change.

02 / Growth

Emerging Leader Development

Grow from capable professional to confident leader with guidance on influence, difficult conversations, and career advancement.

03 / Organization

Organizational Leadership Advisory

Align leaders, improve collaboration and accountability, support management development, and navigate organizational change.

04 / Women in Leadership

Women’s Leadership & Advancement

Support women across industries in building visibility, confidence, influence, and a leadership style grounded in authenticity.

05 / Events

Speaking & Workshops

Bring practical leadership lessons to company events, professional associations, leadership programs, and conferences.

06 / Signature Series

Breaking Ground Leadership Series

A book-inspired series exploring resilience, navigating barriers, purposeful leadership, and building a lasting professional legacy.

Our Philosophy

You don’t need a perfect path to become a powerful leader.

Leadership rarely follows a straight line. It is shaped by change, setbacks, opportunities, and the courage to keep growing.

Drawing on extensive executive finance and operational leadership experience, our work bridges business strategy with the human side of leadership, helping clients turn insight into deliberate action.

“The strongest leaders don’t have all the answers. They have the courage to ask better questions, make thoughtful decisions, and keep moving forward.”

Breaking Ground leadership philosophy
Breaking Ground: A Woman’s Journey to Lead, Build, and Rise in a Man’s World by Clare Morin
The Story Behind the Practice

Inspired by Breaking Ground.

Born from the experiences and lessons shared in Breaking Ground, this practice carries the book’s leadership themes beyond one industry or career path.

Stories of perseverance, finding your voice, and navigating challenges provide a meaningful starting point for practical coaching, group discussion, and leadership development, whether you work in construction, healthcare, manufacturing, technology, professional services, or elsewhere.

Getting Started

A thoughtful, practical path forward.

Step 01

Start a Conversation

Tell us about your leadership challenges, goals, and what meaningful progress would look like.

Step 02

Define Your Focus

We’ll identify whether individual coaching, executive advisory, or a team engagement best fits your needs.

Step 03

Put Insight Into Action

Work through real challenges with practical guidance, reflection, and intentional next steps.

Your Next Chapter

Ready to lead what’s next?

Whether you’re navigating a leadership transition, developing your team, or planning your next stage of growth, let’s explore how Breaking Ground Leadership & Advisory can help.