We serve project-based firms across construction, architecture, and engineering — uncovering financial risk, margin erosion, and hidden leaks before they become expensive. White-glove forensic oversight — you don’t do the work, we do.
Your gloves stay white. We guard the gates.
Forensic Financial Oversight for the Built Environment.
Who This Is For
We work with project-based firms across the built environment — including general contractors, specialty trades, architects, engineers, and development teams.
The work is different. The financial failures are not.
This is for firms who:
Don’t fully trust their numbers
Feel busy, but not as profitable as expected
Are surprised by cash flow despite “good” revenue
Suspect projects or phases are underperforming
Want financial control before growth, lending, or bonding forces the issue
If your financials are confusing, if past bookkeepers let things slide, or if you’re embarrassed by the state of your books — good. That means you’re in the right place. My role starts where most bookkeepers stop.
Your Profit Is Being Eaten — Quietly
In project-based businesses, financial failure rarely looks dramatic.
It looks like:
Profitable jobs with no cash
Projects that “went fine” but underperformed
Phase billing that doesn’t reflect reality
Labor and materials that quietly erode margin
We routinely see projects reporting healthy margins that are materially overstated once labor burden, timing, and scope drift are correctly accounted for.
The Forensic Standard
I don't just "do books"—I perform internal affairs for your job sites, identifying ghost vendors and material slippage before they hit your bank account.
Bond-Ready Precision
My financials are built to satisfy the most critical surety agents and banks, ensuring you have the bonding power to bid on bigger contracts.
Operational Integrity
I implement industry-standard CSI coding and job-costing workflows that make your field operations and back office speak the same language.
Boots on the Ground. Intelligence in the Field.
We aren't a remote-only firm hidden behind a screen. I am personally driven by a deep curiosity for how your business works behind the scenes. I’m the partner who shows up in boots to walk your job sites, visit your lots, and ask the "random" questions that keep vendors honest and crews sharp.
If you have a gut feeling that a project is "off," I’m on-site with you. I combine a passion for the building process with a Master of Science in Financial Crimes to spot the red flags that others miss from a desk.
The Forensic Diagnostic and Remediation: Because you can’t build — or design — on a shaky financial foundation.
Before we take responsibility for ongoing oversight, we perform a forensic diagnostic of your financials.
This protects you from false confidence — and protects us from inheriting hidden problems.
This applies whether you:
Build the work
Design the work
Engineer the systems
Manage multiple overlapping projects
Scope & Investment
Every Forensic Diagnostic & Remediation engagement is scoped individually.
Investment typically ranges from $750 to $7,000, depending on:
Volume and condition of records
Number of active projects or phases
Degree of misclassification or reconstruction required
Systems currently in use
Some engagements require review only. Others require full remediation to bring the books up to Sum & Sage standards.
We scope this before work begins. No surprises.
What’s included:
Leak Detection: We identify exactly where capital is escaping your firm—whether through fraud, error, or systemic waste.
The Internal Armor Audit: We stress-test your current controls and plug the holes that allow "invisible" theft.
The Clean Slate: We deliver a fully reconciled, audit-ready QuickBooks/Sage file and a roadmap for permanent profitability.
What Happens After
Once the diagnostic and remediation work is complete, clients have two options:
Retain us for ongoing financial oversight
Take the corrected financials and move forward independently
Ongoing services are offered only after we’ve verified that the financial foundation is sound.
If you’re looking for basic bookkeeping or low-cost data entry, I’m not the right fit. My work prevents revenue loss, prepares firms for bonding, and restores financial control before growth.
OUR SERVICE SUITES
Full-Cycle Management. Zero-Touch Execution. Tiered financial oversight for project-based firms at every stage. Designed for owners and principals who want financial control without personal involvement.
Once we fix the mess, we keep it fixed. All suites include full AP, AR, and Payroll management.
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Foundational financial control for early-stage and smaller project firms.
Ideal for trades, small contractors, and A/E firms who want financial clarity before complexity takes over.
The White-Glove Engine: We take over your A/P, A/R, and Payroll. You snap a photo of a receipt; we do the rest. Your vendors get paid on time, your customers get invoiced professionally, and your crew is paid accurately.
Forensic Job-Costing: Every penny is tracked to a specific project. No more guessing if a job was profitable.
Red-Flag Memo: A monthly forensic summary of anomalies, price creep, or vendor issues we caught before they cost you.
Physical Presence: Quarterly Site/Warehouse visits to verify inventory and high-value asset health.
So you know which jobs make money and which are bleeding you.
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Project-level oversight for growing, multi-project firms.
Designed for firms managing overlapping jobs or phases where billing, progress, and reality must stay aligned.
Work-In-Progress (WIP) Management: We manage the industry’s most vital report. We calculate your revenue recognition and over/under billing monthly so your Balance Sheet is always accurate for your Bonding Agent.
Contract Compliance: We handle the "paperwork headache." This includes AIA Billing (G702/G703), tracking Lien Waivers, and ensuring every subcontractor has an active COI before we release payment.
Project Progression Checks: Monthly on-site walks where we verify the "percent complete" against your billings. We ensure you are never financing the client’s project with your own cash.
So your books can survive an audit, a lender, or a partner review.
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The Fractional Controller for Large-Scale Construction & Architecture Firms.
Our highest level of oversight. This is for the firm that needs a Forensic CFO to guard the gates and provide "Internal Affairs" style investigation.
Subcontractor Compliance Audits: We pick apart subcontractor invoices to ensure "price creep" and "labor padding" aren't draining your margins.
Forensic Cash Forecasting: We build a rolling 13-week cash flow model tied directly to your project schedules. We tell you exactly how much cash you’ll need for roofing or structural steel three months before the bill arrives.
Material Integrity Investigations: We cross-reference material delivery logs with job-site invoices. We hunt for "Slippage"—the materials that get paid for but never make it into the building.
In-Person Command & Mobility: Your business doesn't just happen behind a desk, and neither does our oversight. The Command Suite includes at-will in-person meetings and site visits. Whether you need a forensic eyes-on-the-dirt walk-through, a face-to-face strategy session at your office, or representation at a high-stakes lender meeting—I am at your disposal. I travel to where the work is happening to ensure I understand the heartbeat of your firm.
So nothing financial in your business surprises you.
Collectively known as the Goddess Suites — disciplined, protective, and uncompromising.
A Master’s Degree in Protection. A Lifetime of Integrity.
Hi, I'm Chandler, the founder of Sum & Sage Co. My career started in the high-stakes world of nonprofit audit, where I learned that if you aren't looking for the "leak," you won't find it.
In an industry built on handshakes, heavy machinery, and hard work, the paperwork is often where the legacy dies. I’ve seen brilliant builders—from Architects designing the skyline to Master Trades powering it—lose their profit to the "invisible" leaks of messy data.
I founded Sum & Sage Co. to be the sanctuary for your business in an industry that never stops moving.
The Forensic Brain With a Master of Science in Financial Crimes, I approach your firm through a lens that a standard bookkeeper simply doesn't possess. I don’t just "check the math"; I conduct a forensic symphony. I am the gatekeeper of your cash flow and the guardian of your margins, trained to hunt for the fraud, slippage, and systemic waste that stand between you and your true equity.
Boots on the Ground I don’t believe in remote-only oversight. I am personally driven by a deep curiosity for the "how" behind the "how much." You’ll find me on-site in my boots, walking the lots and asking the random questions that keep vendors honest and crews sharp. I love getting behind the scenes of your craft, because that curiosity is what catches the $20,000 errors that others miss from a desk.
The White-Glove Promise My philosophy is simple: Your gloves stay white. You are the visionary; I am the commander of your capital. From managing your A/P and A/R to handling your payroll and job-costing, I ensure that when you take your work gloves off at the end of the day, your profit is secure and your mind is at peace.
The Impact Commitment While my daily work involves the forensic oversight of complex firms, I believe financial integrity belongs to everyone. We maintain a permanent commitment to our local community, offering streamlined oversight for local small businesses with simple books. Whether we are scaling the skyline or grounding the local neighborhood shop, we ensure every entrepreneur has a foundation built to last.
Scaling the Skyline, Grounding the Community.
While my daily work involves the forensic oversight of multi-million dollar construction projects and complex architectural firms, I believe that financial integrity belongs to everyone—not just the giants.
At Sum & Sage Co., we are dedicated to the heartbeat of our local community. We maintain a permanent commitment to local small businesses with 'simple' books—the shops, the creators, and the service providers who keep our neighborhoods vibrant. For these partners, we offer a streamlined version of our forensic oversight, ensuring their foundations are just as solid as the skyscrapers we protect.
We aren't just here to manage the industry; we’re here to help our neighbors build a legacy that lasts
The Impact Commitment makes our services accessible without compromising the precision, rigor, or standards Sum & Sage is known for.
This arm is intentionally limited and application-based to ensure we maintain our focus on core construction partners.
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Sliding-Scale Partners: Two spots for early-stage founders or very small businesses deeply embedded in their communities. Re-evaluated annually.
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Pro Bono Legacy Partner: Once annually, we select one nonprofit or small business to receive a full year of service at no cost. Chosen by application.
Local Business Partners: Six spots for established community-based businesses seeking high-quality accounting at an accessible rate.
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Assess Your Financial Risk Before It Becomes Expensive
Request a Forensic Diagnostic to understand where your project finances are vulnerable — and what to do next.
We audit the books first — not your worth.