For surveying and civil engineering firms that want to keep more of every dollar. The fee covers the systems, the analysis and the monthly review, set by your firm's size and complexity and never billed by the hour. Books, payroll and tax returns are optional. Most firms keep the people they already have, and if you'd rather have it all in one place, the add-on prices are below.
1–2%
of revenue, as a general guide, before add-ons
Every level runs the full loop. The size and complexity of your firm set the level, not which parts of the service you get.
About $1.5M to $3M revenue, one or two service lines
From $3,500
/moKnow what every project earned, and price the next one on it.
Your existing accounting, payroll and time systems harmonized and put to full use, often without a costly software upgrade
About $3M to $6M revenue, or several service lines
From $5,000
/moKnow which projects make money, where your pricing is off, and how much cash is tied up in unbilled work and receivables.
Margin by project across every service line
About $6M+ revenue, multi-entity, or preparing to exit
From $8,500
/moBuild a firm a buyer will pay more for, on a deliberate three-to-five-year path.
Not sure which tier? We'll tell you after the numbers check.
As a general guide, most firms invest about 1% to 2% of revenue. A $3M firm typically pays $3,500 to $5,000 a month. Your number comes after we look at your firm, not before.
Six-month diagnostic and system build included in the monthly fee.
12-month initial term.
Monthly review at your office, with the owner and project managers. If your firm is farther out, we agree the on-site schedule before you sign.
Pricing current as of October 2026.
Most firms keep their current bookkeeper and tax preparer. I set them up to the system and review their work each month. If you don't have anyone in place, or you'd rather have it all in one place, I can take it on. Your team codes day-to-day costs to projects as they happen. I run payroll, keep the books and close the month, so every hour and dollar lands on the right project. We'll decide together which of these, if any, make sense for your firm, based on what keeps the numbers cleanest for the least cost.
Monthly books and close, reconciliations, payroll runs and payroll filings. Payroll and time software stays in the firm's name and at the firm's cost. Catch-up or cleanup is quoted separately.
Federal and one state return (NC, SC or VA) for your S corporation or partnership, including the pass-through entity tax election analysis. Each additional state: $400/yr.
Each owner's individual return, built around the firm's tax plan.
Payroll and time-tracking software stays in your firm's name and is billed by the provider. If the books are behind, catch-up work is quoted before I start. Final pricing depends on headcount, number of owners, states and entities.
Illustrative example (hypothetical numbers, not a client result)
Example: a $3M surveying firm
Keeps its bookkeeper and tax preparer: Dyoptra from $5,000/mo (Optimize). The bookkeeper and preparer stay as they are.
Wants everything in one place: about $6,400/mo all-in (Dyoptra plus books and payroll plus the firm tax return). An estimate; your quote depends on headcount and owners.
On a $3M firm, one point of margin is $30,000 a year. The work is aimed at your pricing and the projects that quietly give margin back. In the first conversation we look at whether a realistic gap exists at your firm before you spend anything.
Results depend on the pricing and staffing decisions you make with the numbers; I don't promise a number.
Most owners compare Dyoptra with what they pay today for compliance work, and with remote CFO packages. Here is where each lands for a $3M firm.
In the range of a remote CFO package, with the job-costing build, project-level analysis and a monthly review in your office included.
Estimates. Bookkeeper and tax preparer range from published fee ranges for monthly books and business tax prep, October 2026. Remote fractional CFO range from published package pricing for $1M to $5M firms, reviewed October 2026. For scale, a full-time controller at an engineering firm costs about $220,000 a year once taxes and benefits are added (May 2025 median pay for financial managers at engineering firms, $169,310, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, plus about 30%). Dyoptra figures are illustrative; your fee is set to your firm.
When a firm outgrows its reports, the usual fix is new project accounting software. In the first year that often means tens of thousands of dollars in licenses, setup and training, plus months of your team's time. And the new system still doesn't run itself. Someone has to set it up around how your firm works, keep the data clean, and tie it to payroll, time tracking and everything else before it produces a single useful number.
The upgrade route
New licenses and an implementation project
Months of setup, data migration and training
Still needs someone to run it and connect it to everything else
With Dyoptra
The accounting, payroll and time tools you already pay for
Harmonized during the six-month build, using the database and systems work most firms this size don't have in-house
Run and reviewed by me every month, so the numbers turn into decisions
In most firms the information is already in your systems. It just needs someone to connect it, clean it up and turn it into something you can act on.
Every engagement begins with a six-month build: a full diagnostic of your books and systems, your accounts mapped, job costing and your dashboard set up, your bookkeeper set up to the system, and your monthly close documented. The build is covered by your monthly fee, with no separate charge.
Month 1
Baseline
Access to your systems, baseline numbers (effective billing rate, margin by service line, days of cash in WIP and AR), and the first review at your office.
Months 2 to 3
Job costing
Job costing set up in the tools you already use, the first estimate vs. actual, and the first pricing review.
Months 4 to 6
System in place
Dashboard live, pricing targets set, and your monthly close documented.
A typical first six months. References available on request.
No. Most firms keep both. I set your bookkeeper up to the system, review and approve the monthly close, and coordinate tax strategy with your preparer all year. Books, payroll and tax returns are available as add-ons if you'd rather have it all in one place.
Everything I build lives in your firm's tools and in your firm's name: your accounting software, your time and payroll systems, and a documented monthly close. Your bookkeeper keeps working the way the system is set up, so the numbers don't stop if I'm out for a week. We'll cover how that works for your firm in the first conversation.
Every month, for the review with you and your project managers. That meeting is the core of the service. If your firm is farther from Clayton, we agree the on-site schedule before you sign.
The first month sets your baseline: your effective billing rate, margin by service line, and how many days of cash sit in WIP and AR. Job costing and estimate vs. actual follow in months two and three, and the full dashboard is typically live by month six.
Tiers start at $3,500 a month, and as a general guide most firms invest about 1% to 2% of revenue. A bookkeeper records what happened. Dyoptra ties every hour and dollar to a project, reviews the results with you every month, and turns them into your next price. On a $3M firm, one point of margin is $30,000 a year.
Yes, that's usually the first thing we look at. For survey crews it means your true burdened crew rate and net revenue per field hour. For civil firms it's your net labor multiplier by project and client type. Then we compare it with what your overhead and a fair margin require.
That's the core of what I do. I set up job costing in the tools you already use so hours, labor cost and expenses land on each project. Then we review estimate vs. actual every month and close out each project with what to change on the next one like it.
Usually because cash is sitting in projects you've delivered but haven't billed, or billed but haven't collected. Profit on the P&L doesn't show that. We track days of cash in WIP and AR every month and work on billing timing and terms to bring it down.
Access to your accounting, payroll and time systems, your recent estimates or bids, and an hour with you to walk through how projects are priced and run. From there, the first month is about setting your baseline.
No. Dyoptra works only with surveying and civil engineering firms in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.
A short call to see whether a real pricing or cash gap exists at your firm. No cost, no pitch deck.
Ranges are illustrative, not a binding quote; final scope and fees are set to your firm. Engagements carry a 12-month initial term. Your accounting software and data stay in your firm's name; the Dyoptra reporting system is provided for the length of the engagement. Estimates of what a firm is worth are for planning purposes only.
