Fractional CFO Services for Construction, Architecture & Interior Design Firms in San Francisco, CA
At Basta & Company, we provide fractional CFO services for San Francisco and California construction, architecture, and interior design businesses who want stronger cash flow, better tax planning, clearer financial visibility, and a more profitable business.
We help you understand your numbers, improve cash flow, plan for taxes, and make better business decisions.
Get CFO-level guidance from an experienced CPA who understands business, taxes, and growth.
At Basta & Company, our fractional CFO services are led by Samy Basta, CPA, who brings years of experience helping California business owners understand their numbers, solve financial problems, and make smarter decisions.
Samy has worked with contractors, architects, and interior designers at every stage of growth, from firms just past the $500K mark to established $20M operations. He has seen the issues that hold project-based businesses back: cash tied up in jobs that look profitable on paper, surprise tax bills from entity structures that no longer fit, WIP reports nobody trusts, underbilled change orders, and decisions made without knowing which jobs are actually making money.
His role is simple: help you see the full picture and make better decisions with confidence.
Why California Contractors, Architects & Designers Prefer Basta & Company for Fractional CFO Services
Our CFO advice is grounded in accounting, tax strategy, and real business experience. That combination helps business owners make decisions that are not only smart on paper, but realistic in practice.
CPA-level California tax knowledge
Samy Basta is a San Francisco CPA who brings deep tax knowledge directly into the CFO conversation. Your pricing, job costing, and entity decisions are reviewed with their tax impact in mind, not analyzed in isolation by separate advisors who never talk to each other. The result is a more complete view of your finances, where CFO strategy and CPA-level tax planning work together.
CFO-level financial strategy
Our San Francisco-based CFO helps business owners look forward, not just backward. That includes reviewing cash flow, building forecasts, analyzing job profitability, and building WIP and percentage-of-completion reporting that most outsourced bookkeepers don’t offer. The goal is not to overwhelm you with financial jargon, but to give you clear answers you can use.
California business advisory experience
Every contractor, architect, and designer comes to the table with a different challenge. As a San Francisco CPA and fractional CFO, Samy has helped owners in the trades work through these problems by looking at the whole business, job by job, to identify what’s working, what isn’t, and what needs to change.
Financial Guidance Backed by Real Experience, Without Needing to Hire a Full-Time CFO
At Basta & Company, our San Francisco fractional CFO services are built on something most outsourced finance firms can’t offer: a CPA’s command of tax sitting at the same table as the strategy. Samy Basta has spent years helping California business owners make sharper financial decisions, and he brings that combination of tax fluency and operational judgment to every engagement.
We work primarily with construction contractors, architecture firms, and interior design studios in the $500K to $20M range, so we understand the realities of project-based revenue, job costing, labor burden, and the cash flow swings that come with them. That focus means you’re not getting generic advice retrofitted from another industry. You’re getting guidance shaped around how your business actually earns and spends.
Optimizing the numbers may be why you bring us in, but our real work is helping you see the whole picture. We dig into pricing, margins, cash flow, and entity structure to find what’s working, fix what isn’t, and plan for what’s next, always with the tax impact in view. Because Samy is a San Francisco CPA, the strategy and the tax consequences are considered together, not handed off between advisors who never compare notes.
Whether you need to tighten reporting, plan ahead for taxes, or build the financial structure to support growth, our San Francisco fractional CFO and CPA expertise gives you a clearer, more connected view of your business. If you’re looking for a finance partner who works as a genuine extension of your team, let’s talk.
If you’re looking for a finance partner who works as a genuine extension of your team, let’s talk.
How Our Fractional CFO Supports Construction, Architecture & Design Firms
Every engagement is scoped to your business, so the work below is a menu, not a checklist. As a San Francisco CPA and fractional CFO, Samy brings tax strategy and financial leadership together in one relationship, which means these services are coordinated rather than handed off between separate advisors.
Accounting & Reporting
- Monthly accounting and reconciliation, with a clean close by the 15th
- Financial statement packages built to reflect how your business actually earns
- WIP schedules and percentage-of-completion reporting that show true job profitability while the job is still open, not after it closes
- Payroll processing and compliance support, including contractor-vs-employee classification and 1099 preparation
- Management-level reporting that answers the questions you’re actually asking
- Design of financial systems and internal controls as you scale
Profitability & Cash Flow
- Cash flow forecasting by week, month, and scenario, so you’re never caught off guard
- Profitability and cost tracking at the project or service level that fits your model
- Over-billing and under-billing review on active jobs, so margin erosion gets caught mid-project instead of at close-out
- Pricing and margin analysis to find what’s working and what’s quietly eroding profit
- KPI dashboards and budget-to-actual review for moderate to high-complexity businesses
- Cash flow modeling for hiring, expansion, and major-investment decisions
Tax Strategy & Growth Planning
- Proactive California tax planning, not just year-end filing
- Entity structure review and planning to keep more of what you earn
- Cost segregation studies to accelerate depreciation on owned property and equipment
- California sales and use tax guidance, including treatment of installed materials and equipment for contractors
- State-specific deductions, credits, and CA city / gross receipts tax handling
- Semiannual projections and safe-harbor estimates to eliminate surprises
- IRS and FTB notice support, plus audit support within a defined scope
- Financial modeling before you commit to a hire, expansion, or investment
Is a Fractional CFO the Right Move for Your Business?
Here are 6 signs it may be time to bring on a fractional CFO:
- Sales are up, but cash still feels tight. Revenue growth and cash flow aren’t the same thing, and the gap between them is where healthy-looking businesses get into trouble. Our California CFO builds weekly and scenario-based cash flow forecasting so you can see the squeeze before it happens.
- You’re making decisions without clean numbers. Hiring, pricing, taking on a large project, or buying equipment shouldn’t come down to instinct. We deliver accurate, current reporting and a monthly close you can actually trust, so every decision is backed by data.
- You can’t tell which work is actually profitable. Plenty of busy businesses are busy with the wrong jobs. We track profitability and cost at the project, client, or service level, so you can steer toward the work that pays. For project-based businesses, that includes a live WIP schedule, not just a job-cost report after the fact, so you know a job is underwater while there’s still time to fix it.
- Tax planning feels reactive instead of strategic. If tax is something that happens to you in April rather than something you plan for all year, you’re likely overpaying. As a CPA-led firm, our San Francisco CFO builds proactive California tax strategy, including entity structure and state-specific planning, directly into your financial decisions.
- You’re scaling and your systems can’t keep up. A new hire, a second location, or an investor conversation exposes weak financial infrastructure fast. We design the systems, controls, and reporting your business needs before the growth gets ahead of you.
- You want CFO-level insight without a full-time CFO salary. A seasoned finance leader costs well into six figures all-in. A fractional CFO gives you the same strategic judgment, scaled to your stage and your budget.
With our Fractional CFO services, California businesses get a clearer view of their current situation and a stronger plan for what comes next.
Our clients want more than compliance. They want visibility. Strategy. Better decisions. Stronger systems.
- Which jobs are actually profitable, not just which ones feel busy
- Where WIP and over/under-billing are quietly costing them cash
- How to price the next job without guessing at margin
- What their entity structure is costing them in tax
- How to scale past $2–5M without the books falling apart
Industry Expertise
"I cannot recommend Basta & Co enough! Samy leads a great team, and they are the best when it comes to CPAs. His expertise with all things accounting really shines through every interaction. And he is a pleasure to work with. Samy makes dealing with taxes and the IRS a breeze, I would give him 10 stars if I could!"
Connor Daly
Connor Daly Construction
Basta & Company help us and guide us back in 2017 to incorporate my company is been a great experience working with Samy until today day, hoping for best year to come with his advised, knowledge and professionally. Thank you Samy!! Responsive, professional, and value-driven.
Luis Zavala
Innovator Electric, Inc.
Basta & Co. was recommended to us after we had a series of bad experiences with other accounting firms. Basta’s payment schedules are convenient and unique. We look forward to Tax Season with Samy in charge of our complex tax situations.
Sharon Ching
SLM Architecture and Design
Samy and team are very professional, knowledgeable and easy to work with. Helped with trusts & estates accounting, IRS audit representation, business tax return preparation, new business tax consulting, payroll accounting, financial advising, business tax planning, incorporation & restructuring consulting.
William Newton
Enterprise Access Control & Security
Insights From Your San Francisco CPA
Do I need a fractional CFO if I already have a bookkeeper?
Yes, if you need more than transaction recording or job-cost entry. A bookkeeper helps keep the books current. A fractional CFO interprets the numbers, builds WIP and percentage-of-completion reporting, catches margin erosion on active jobs, plans for taxes, and guides decisions on pricing, hiring, and entity structure.
What size business needs a fractional CFO?
Most of our construction, architecture, and interior design clients come to us in the $500K to $20M range, once job complexity, payroll, and cash flow swings outgrow what basic bookkeeping and annual tax planning can handle. If you can’t tell which jobs are actually profitable, or WIP reporting feels like a guess, it’s usually time.
Do you build WIP schedules or percentage-of-completion reports?
Yes. For contractors and other project-based clients, WIP and percentage-of-completion reporting is typically built into the Accounting & Reporting and Profitability & Cash Flow work above. Ask us about our dedicated service for WIP and percentage-of-completion accounting if that’s the main reason you’re reaching out.
How do you help with entity structuring?
Yes. We review your entity structure — LLC, S-corp, C-corp, or multiple entities — as part of our tax and CFO work, and revisit it as your revenue, ownership, or risk profile changes. Getting the structure right affects how much you pay in tax and how exposed you are to liability, so it’s not a one-time decision.
Can you help with tax planning too?
Yes. Because Basta & Company CPAs is a CPA firm, our CFO advisory can be coordinated with tax strategy, including entity structure for contractors (S-corp vs. multiple entities for bonding or liability reasons), owner compensation, and California-specific credits and deductions. Growth, cash flow, and tax planning are considered together instead of handled by separate advisors.
How much do fractional CFO services cost?
The cost depends on your business size, complexity, service needs, and meeting cadence. Fractional CFO services are typically more affordable than hiring a full-time CFO because you receive strategic support at a level that fits your business. Get an estimate here.
What should I prepare before scheduling a consultation?
It is helpful to have recent financial statements, tax returns, payroll information, a current job-cost or WIP report if you have one, and a general idea of the financial questions you want answered. If your books or job costing are not perfect, that is okay. We can help identify what needs to be cleaned up or improved.
How do we get started with Basta & Company?
Fill out our contact form to share your business details and biggest financial challenges. We’ll review everything, and if it looks like a good fit, we’ll invite you for a call to dive deeper. No obligation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Still Have A Question ?
We’re here to help. Reach out to our team and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
