13-Week Cash-Flow Forecaster
Profit and cash aren't the same thing — you can have a great quarter on paper and still come up short the week payroll is due, because your draws landed after your costs. This forecast maps the next 13 weeks of money in and out, shows your running bank balance, and flags every week you'd dip below your buffer or run dry — while you still have time to do something about it.
Excel & Google Sheets · one-time purchase · rolls forward weekly
The forecast catches the crunch in weeks 1–3 and 13 — early enough to pull a draw forward or line up credit before it bites.
It's the most common way a healthy-looking remodeling business gets into trouble: the jobs are profitable, but the cash to pay for them shows up later than the bills do. Retainage sits unpaid, a client is slow, a big material order lands the week before a draw. Your P&L looks fine the whole time. A rolling cash forecast is the only view that catches it — so you manage the timing instead of getting surprised by it.
What's inside
A one-page guide and the color legend so you know exactly which cells are yours.
Set your starting balance and buffer, then enter expected receipts — draws, deposits, other income — by week.
Enter payroll, materials, subs, overhead, loan payments, and taxes by week.
Weekly net, running balance, LOW/NEGATIVE flags, and a running-balance chart — your whole quarter at a glance.
Why 13 weeks, profit-vs-cash, and how to size a buffer and time your draws — sourced.
How it fits together
The dashboard tells you if you're profitable. This tells you if you'll make it to profitable.
Pair it with the Payment & Draw Schedule Builder to structure draws that land before your costs, and the Business Dashboard for the profit picture. Cash flow is the near-term view; margin is the long-term one — you need both.
Get the tool
Map the next quarter of cash, see your running balance, and get flagged before any week runs tight. One-time purchase, roll it forward every week.
Questions
No — and that's the point. A P&L shows profit (earned when you do the work). This shows cash (money actually in the bank, when it moves). You can be profitable and still miss payroll if draws land after costs; this catches that.
Thirteen weeks — one full quarter, the standard short-term cash horizon. You roll it forward each week: drop the week that passed, add a new week 13, update with actuals.
No. It's a standalone spreadsheet. Enter the receipts and payments you expect each week — you can pull them from your draw schedules, payroll, and known bills.
Both. No macros — open it in Excel or free in Google Sheets.
Estimate. A forecast built on good estimates still shows you the shape of the next quarter and where the tight weeks are. Update it with real numbers as they land.