Roofing Cash Flow Template

Start with the Weekly Cash Flow sheet. Download the file and open it in Excel or Google Sheets — no macros or plugins required. Enter your current cash balance in the starting balance cell, then fill in expected inflows for the next 13 weeks: deposit payments you expect to collect, final payments from jobs nearing completion, and any insurance disbursements you've been told to expect. Use your active job list and accounts receivable aging report as your source. Most contractors can complete the initial setup in 20–30 minutes the first time through.

Set up the Job Cash Flow sheet for every active and booked job. Enter the contract price, deposit already collected or expected at signing, total material cost estimate, and your crew's labor cost. The sheet will show you, job by job, how much cash each job requires before the final payment arrives. This matters most during storm season when you might sign 10 jobs in a week — the aggregate cash requirement to buy materials and pay crew before insurance checks arrive can easily reach $50K–$100K on a mid-size company's volume.

Update the Insurance AR Tracker for every job where an insurance company is paying the homeowner's claim. Log the claim number, insurance carrier, adjuster contact, approved replacement cost value, and your best estimate of when the check will arrive. Most direct-pay insurance work settles in 30–45 days from job completion, but some carriers run 60–90 days — and knowing which is which changes how you plan material purchases and whether you need a line of credit draw. Update this sheet weekly as payments arrive and new claims are opened.

Roofing contractors face a cash flow problem that doesn't show up on a P&L: the gap between buying materials and getting paid. A typical residential replacement job requires $3,000–$8,000 in shingles, underlayment, and accessories before the crew sets foot on the roof. The homeowner pays a deposit — often 30–50% if you can collect it — but on insurance work, the full payment doesn't arrive until after the job is complete and the carrier processes the claim. During storm season, a contractor running 20 jobs simultaneously is fronting $60K–$150K in materials while waiting on insurance checks that might be 45–60 days away. Without a cash flow model, the only signal that something is wrong is an overdraft.

The specific cash flow metrics that matter for roofing are different from most construction trades. Average days from job completion to final payment is the most important — for insurance work, this is driven by how quickly adjusters close claims and whether supplements are disputed, not by how fast your crew works. Material cost as a percentage of contract price (typically 35–50% for residential work) determines how much cash each job consumes before it generates a return. And total insurance AR outstanding tells you how much money is legally yours but hasn't hit your account yet — for storm-chasers doing $1.5M+ in annual revenue, this figure can exceed $200K at peak season, which is a meaningful liquidity risk if a few large claims slow down simultaneously.

The right way to use this template is as a weekly planning tool, not an annual review. Every Monday, roll the 13-week view forward, update deposits received and final payments collected last week, and check whether any insurance AR payments are overdue. Then look at the job cash flow sheet: what jobs are starting this week, how much material do you need to order, and do you have enough cash to cover COD deliveries or does this week require a line of credit draw? Contractors who run this process weekly say it removes the anxiety around material ordering decisions and gives them a clear basis for telling a supplier they can pay net 30 instead of COD — because they can show exactly when the insurance check is coming.