Episode 308 | The Profit Answer Man I Featuring Dustin Young
Pay-When-Paid Cash Flow: How Subcontractors Survive Long Payment Terms
If you’re a subcontractor, you already know the real game isn’t just doing great work.
It’s getting paid—on time—without starving your business in the process.
In this episode of The Profit Answer Man, Rocky Lalvani sits down with Dustin Young, a fractional CFO who works specifically with construction subcontractors and general contractors doing roughly $3M–$30M in revenue. Dustin shares what he sees behind the scenes: why contractors “fly by the seat of their pants,” how cash flow gets crushed by contract terms, and the few numbers owners must watch to stay in control.
The Subcontractor Trap: “We’ll Pay You When We Get Paid”
Rocky jumps straight into a problem that’s almost universal for subs: you don’t have pricing power, and payment timing often isn’t yours to control.
Dustin explains that many GC contracts effectively say: we pay you when we get paid… by whoever pays us… who gets paid by someone else… turning collections into a long chain of waiting. His solution starts with two practical moves:
- Plan for it with forecasting (finish work in 30 days, but don’t expect cash for 60+ days after that)
- Negotiate before signing—because there’s often more flexibility than subs assume, if they ask early
Do You Even Know Your Payment Terms Before You Sign?
Rocky asks the question a lot of owners don’t want to answer:
Do they know the payment terms before signing?
Dustin’s answer: usually not.
He often finds out after the fact—or has to chase clients repeatedly for the contract so he can review terms up front. And the reason it matters is simple: many subs don’t have enough cash to fund payroll for 90 days while they wait to get paid.
Rocky points out the deeper consequence: a “barely profitable” contract becomes a terrible deal when it ties up your cash and prevents you from taking a better contract later.
The “4 Numbers” Construction Owners Must Track
Dustin keeps it simple for smaller operators who are still doing everything themselves.
He wants owners to consistently know:
- Cash
- Sales
- Gross profit
- Net profit
Weekly if possible, monthly at minimum.
His point is blunt: owners already look at the bank account—but they don’t always understand what that cash balance means relative to profitability and collections.
Rocky’s Mindset Shift: “You Don’t Have a $10M Business”
One of Rocky’s most important points in the episode is how top-line revenue messes with decision-making.
He uses gross profit to create a reality check:
“You don’t have a $10 million business. Your gross profit says you have a $5 million business—and that’s what you’ve got to run your business on.”
That reframing forces better choices: fewer shiny purchases, fewer “we can afford it” assumptions, and more disciplined planning.
Why Dustin’s Perspective Is Different: He Speaks “Field” and “Accounting”
Dustin’s background started in accounting, but he also oversaw operations and worked alongside field crews (grading/excavation, concrete, and more). That gave him a key advantage:
Field teams don’t speak accounting. Accounting doesn’t speak field.
He bridges the gap by connecting job realities (waste, productivity, schedule) to financial outcomes (margin, cash conversion, risk).
Rocky adds a strong example: 10% waste in the field is catastrophic when the company only earns ~10% profit—you can erase the entire bottom line without realizing it.
What Causes Construction Businesses to Fail: Slow Decisions + Late Books
Dustin shares a pattern he’s seen repeatedly:
Businesses fail when they can’t make decisions fast enough.
Not because owners are lazy—because they don’t have the information to decide.
The worst version of this is delayed accounting. Dustin mentions talking to a company that thinks they did $40M last year and thinks they were profitable—but they still don’t know job-by-job, and their books were six months behind.
Rocky’s follow-up lands hard:
How do you make decisions when you’re that far behind?
Dustin: “Pretty much impossible.”
The Hardest Problems Aren’t Financial—They’re People
Rocky asks whether the biggest stalls come from ops problems or people problems.
Dustin says people + technology are both big, but people issues are hardest—especially when there’s loyalty, history, and emotion involved (e.g., a long-time employee breaks trust or causes a major incident).
“Buy This Truck For Taxes” (And Other Expensive Mistakes)
The episode closes with a familiar contractor theme: big purchases made quickly, often justified by tax talk.
Dustin describes the scenario: someone gets told they can buy a $120,000 truck “for taxes,” so they do it.
Rocky breaks down the math: at a 10% margin, you need $1.2M of revenue just to “earn back” that truck purchase—and then later the owner wonders why they can’t qualify for a mortgage because profitability looks weak.
They also discuss marketing retainers (example: $7,500/month) and the smarter approach: run it through the cash forecast first—because marketing rarely pays back immediately.
Key Takeaways (for Subcontractors & GCs)
- Review contract payment terms before signing—especially “pay-when-paid” language.
- Forecast cash around job completion vs. payment lag—cash timing is the real constraint.
- Track four basics consistently: cash, sales, gross profit, net profit.
- Don’t let top-line revenue fool you—gross profit determines what you can actually run the business on.
- Speed of decisions matters, but you can’t decide quickly with books that are months behind.
Meet the Guest: Dustin Young
Dustin helps construction company owners get their lives back. Most contractors he meets are doing good with sales but are trapped—working 70-hour weeks, constantly putting out fires, missing their kids’ games, and wondering why they built a business that owns them instead of the other way around. He knows because he’s been there.
He grew up around construction and spent the last decade building and scaling construction companies—some successful, some that taught expensive lessons. He’s been in the field getting projects through the finish line and in the back office building financial systems to make the whole thing work.
What he learned is this: revenue growth without the right systems just means you’re working harder for less freedom. And freedom—time with family, the ability to step away, actually enjoying the business you built—that’s what matters most.
Now, as a Fractional CFO for $3M+ construction firms, he helps owners build the financial clarity and systems they need to scale profitably and get their time back. Because hitting $5M or $10M in revenue means nothing if you’re still drowning in cash flow problems and can’t take a week off without everything falling apart.
Your audience will walk away understanding: the financial mistakes that keep construction owners trapped in their business, how to build systems that create profit and freedom, and what it actually takes to shift from owner-operator to business owner who has a life outside of work. If your listeners are contractors who are tired of working harder while seeing less of their families, wondering why growth feels like punishment instead of progress—he’s lived it, fixed it, and he’ll show them a better way.
Links
Website: https://www.raveninsights.co/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dustinhyoung/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dustinhyoung/
Listen to the full Episode 308 with Dustin Young: https://profitcomesfirst.com/ep-308-contractor-cash-flow-fix-the-4-numbers-every-subcontractor-must-track-with-dustin-young/
Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@profitanswerman
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Music provided by Junan from Junan Podcast
Any financial advice is for educational purposes only and you should consult with an expert for your specific needs.