Free Template · Excel · No Email Required

Construction Cash Flow Forecast Template.

This is a free 13-week cash flow forecast built for contractors. You enter what you expect to collect on each job, when retainage will come back, and what goes out for payroll, subcontractors, materials, overhead and debt. The spreadsheet does the rest and flags any week your cash drops below the cushion you set.

Excel .xlsx, opens in Google Sheets and Numbers
13 weeks, collections by job, retainage tab
Every total is a formula
No email, no signup

Download the Cash Flow Template

construction-cash-flow-forecast-template.xlsx

Short answer

A construction cash flow forecast projects your bank balance week by week for 13 weeks. Each week starts with the prior week's ending cash, adds collections by job and retainage releases, and subtracts payroll, subcontractor payments, materials, overhead and debt. The point is to see a short week weeks ahead, while you can still fix it. This free Excel template does the math and flags any week below your minimum cushion.

The workbook has four tabs. Setup holds your starting bank balance, the start date and your minimum cash cushion. 13-Week Forecast is the main sheet. Retainage tracks retainage held by job and feeds the releases into the forecast. Read Me explains which cells to edit. The sample numbers are for a contractor doing about $3 million a year, and every sample cell is shaded yellow so you know what to replace.

What lines does a contractor cash flow forecast need?

A construction cash forecast is built from job-level information, not from the income statement. Here's every section of the forecast tab and where the number should come from.

Forecast line	What it is	Where the number comes from
Beginning cash	Week 1 is your bank balance. Every later week is the prior week's ending cash.	Bank balance (formula after week 1)
Collections by job	Progress payments you expect to receive, one row per job, net of retainage	WIP schedule, AR aging and each customer's real pay habits
Retainage releases	Retainage you expect paid in a given week	Retainage tab (formula)
Deposits and other receipts	Mobilization payments, deposits, anything else coming in	Contracts and your own records
Payroll	Net pay, plus payroll taxes, benefits and workers' comp	Payroll register
Subcontractor payments	What you'll pay subcontractors, in the week you'll pay it	AP aging and subcontract terms
Materials and equipment	Suppliers, rentals, fuel and repairs	AP aging and open purchase orders
Overhead and insurance	Rent, utilities, software, insurance and bond premiums	Recurring bills
Debt, owner pay and taxes	Loan payments, line of credit interest, owner draws, tax payments	Loan schedules and your plan
Ending cash	Beginning cash plus cash in, minus cash out, plus any line of credit draw	Formula

Nothing in the totals is typed in. Total cash in, total cash out, net cash flow, ending cash, the 13-week totals and the cushion check are all formulas, so when you move a collection from week 4 to week 6, every week after it updates.

How does retainage release show up in the forecast?

Retainage is cash you've earned and billed but can't use until the owner or general contractor releases it, usually at or after closeout. The Retainage tab calculates what's held on each job (billed to date times the retainage percent), then multiplies it by the share you expect released. You type the week you expect it, from 1 to 13, and the forecast drops it into that week on its own. Here's the sample.

Job	Billed to date	Retainage %	Held	Expected release	Forecast week
101 Office buildout	$980,000	10%	$98,000	100% = $98,000	Week 6
102 Retail shell	$320,000	10%	$32,000	50% = $16,000	Week 11
103 Church addition	$410,000	5%	$20,500	after week 13	Not in window
104 Medical office	$860,000	10%	$86,000	100% = $86,000	Week 3

Of $236,500 held, only $200,000 lands inside the 13 weeks. The church job's $20,500 is real money, but it won't help you make payroll this quarter, and the forecast says so. If you're not sure how retainage should sit on your books, read retainage accounting for contractors.

What does the sample forecast show?

Here are the 13 weeks from the sample file, starting Monday, November 2, 2026, with a $185,000 starting balance and a $75,000 minimum cushion.

Week	Starts	Beginning	Cash in	Cash out	Ending
Week 1	Nov 2	$185,000	$0	$46,100	$138,900
Week 2	Nov 9	$138,900	$0	$104,700	$34,200
Week 3	Nov 16	$34,200	$186,000	$60,600	$159,600
Week 4	Nov 23	$159,600	$96,000	$52,400	$203,200
Week 5	Nov 30	$203,200	$38,000	$120,800	$120,400
Week 6	Dec 7	$120,400	$159,000	$42,900	$236,500
Week 7	Dec 14	$236,500	$0	$46,900	$189,600
Week 8	Dec 21	$189,600	$102,000	$63,100	$228,500
Week 9	Dec 28	$228,500	$0	$111,800	$116,700
Week 10	Jan 4	$116,700	$138,000	$54,100	$200,600
Week 11	Jan 11	$200,600	$16,000	$46,000	$170,600
Week 12	Jan 18	$170,600	$108,000	$54,500	$224,100
Week 13	Jan 25	$224,100	$0	$108,200	$115,900
13 weeks		$185,000	$843,000	$912,100	$115,900

Week 2 is the problem. The retail shell's $58,000 progress payment is expected in week 3 instead of week 2, because that general contractor pays late, while $58,000 of subcontractor payments and $15,000 of materials go out in week 2. Ending cash drops to $34,200, about $40,800 below the cushion, and the sheet marks the week in red. It recovers in week 3 when $186,000 comes in ($58,000 from the retail shell, $42,000 from the office buildout and $86,000 of retainage on the medical office).

Seeing week 2 now, instead of on the Friday it happens, gives you options: chase the retail shell payment early, move a supplier payment a week with their agreement, or plan a short line of credit draw. The line of credit row is there so you can model the draw and the repayment.

The other thing the sample shows: over 13 weeks, $843,000 comes in and $912,100 goes out, so cash falls by $69,100 even though nothing goes wrong. That's the backlog running down. New billings need to show up before week 13, or the next forecast will be tighter.

How do you keep a 13-week cash flow forecast rolling?

Set the starting point. On the Setup tab, enter today's bank balance, the Monday that starts week 1 and the minimum cash cushion you never want to drop below.
List retainage by job. On the Retainage tab, enter each job's contract, retainage percent and billed to date, then the week you realistically expect the retainage released.
Enter collections by job. On the forecast tab, enter each expected progress payment in the week you expect the money to clear, based on how that owner or general contractor really pays.
Enter cash going out. Enter payroll in the week it's paid, subcontractor and supplier payments from your accounts payable aging, plus overhead, insurance, debt payments and owner pay.
Check the cushion row. Look for any week marked BELOW CUSHION and for the lowest projected balance, then decide what you'll do about it now, while there's time.
Roll it forward every week. Each week, replace the week that just ended with actual numbers, drop it and add a new week 13.

The weekly update usually takes 20 to 30 minutes once the first version is built. The first build is the slow part, because you're writing down payment habits that only live in someone's head.

Why forecast weekly instead of monthly?

Because payroll is weekly and owner payments aren't. A month can end with plenty of cash and still have a week in the middle where you can't cover payroll, which is exactly what the sample shows. Our post on why profitable contractors still run out of cash covers the structural gaps (mobilization, retainage, change orders, bonds) and the operating fixes. This template is the tool that puts those gaps on a calendar.

The best input to the collections rows is a current WIP schedule, since it shows what's billed, what's still to bill and what's under billed. If you want help building the first version or keeping it current, it's part of what we do as a fractional CFO for construction companies.

This template is a planning tool. It isn't accounting, tax or legal advice.

Frequently Asked

Cash flow forecast questions, answered.

What is a 13-week cash flow forecast?

It's a week-by-week projection of the cash coming into and going out of your bank account over the next 13 weeks, about one quarter. Each week starts with the prior week's ending cash, adds expected collections and subtracts expected payments. It's short enough to be accurate and long enough to see a shortfall coming.

How is a construction cash flow forecast different from a regular one?

Construction cash depends on job billing and owner payment timing, so collections are forecast job by job instead of as one sales line. Retainage is a separate inflow that arrives months after the work, and subcontractor payments often depend on when you get paid. This template has a row for each of those.

Where do the numbers for the forecast come from?

Collections come from your WIP schedule and accounts receivable aging, adjusted for how each customer actually pays. Retainage comes from your billing records. Payroll comes from your payroll register, and subcontractor and supplier payments come from your accounts payable aging and open commitments. The profit and loss statement isn't a good source, because earned revenue isn't cash yet.

Is this cash flow forecast template free to download?

Yes. The link on this page downloads the Excel file directly, with no email or signup. It opens in Excel, Google Sheets and Numbers, and every total is a formula, so it recalculates when you change an input.

How often should a contractor update the cash flow forecast?

Weekly. Pick one day, replace the week that just ended with actual figures, and add a new week at the end. A forecast that's updated weekly catches a bad week while you still have options.

Want a cash forecast you can actually run the company on?

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