Fractional CFO Services in Houston
Fractional CFO and controller services for Houston construction, contractors, distribution, manufacturing, and service businesses.
Greater Houston Coverage
Fractional CFO and Controller services for Houston-area businesses.
Vessel Advisors supports businesses across Greater Houston — energy services firms, distributors, construction contractors, healthcare services groups, and the multi-generational families that anchor one of the largest mid-market economies in the country.
Houston is one of the deepest business markets in the US. Energy and petrochemicals shape much of it, but the broader story is a diversified industrial economy anchored by multi-generational family businesses, the Texas Medical Center, and the Port of Houston.
How can we help?
What’s going on in your business and where would you like help?
An Inc. 5000 Fastest-Growing Private Company for two consecutive years.
The Market
Houston is one of the largest mid-markets in the country and one of the densest concentrations of privately-held companies at our size.
Houston's economy combines a depth and diversity of companies that's unusual at this scale: energy and petrochemicals at the core, with adjacent industrial services, distribution, construction, healthcare (Texas Medical Center anchor), and the port-driven trade economy supporting much of the Gulf Coast and inland Texas. Multi-generational family businesses run throughout, and the Hispanic-owned business community continues to scale rapidly across services, construction, and distribution.
What we see most:
- Multi-generational oil and gas services firms across upstream, midstream, and downstream.
- Petrochemical-adjacent manufacturers, distributors, and industrial services operators.
- Construction contractors and trades businesses riding sustained Greater Houston growth.
- Healthcare services platforms scaling across the Houston region and Texas.
- Distribution and logistics operators serving the Port of Houston, the broader Gulf Coast, and inland Texas markets.
Industries
Where we work most in Houston.
Energy services and industrial
Oil and gas services firms, petrochemical-adjacent manufacturers, and industrial services operators. Commodity cycle exposure, customer concentration, asset-intensive capital structure, and operational discipline through demand swings are the recurring work.
Distribution and logistics
Distributors, 3PL operators, and trucking businesses serving the Port of Houston, the Gulf Coast, and inland Texas. Inventory accuracy, customer-level profitability, and working-capital efficiency are baseline.
Construction and trades
Commercial contractors, residential builders, industrial construction, and the trades businesses behind Greater Houston's sustained growth. WIP accounting, job-level profitability, retention tracking, and bonding capacity are recurring conversations.
Healthcare services
Multi-site healthcare operators, specialty practices, and services platforms backing the Texas Medical Center and broader Texas growth. Reimbursement complexity, multi-entity consolidation, and PE-readiness work all come up.
Texas Taxes and Compliance
Texas taxes margin, not income. Federal bonus depreciation now counts toward the cost of goods sold.
Houston companies pay no state or city income tax; the franchise tax on margin is the state's entity-level tax. Energy services firms, distributors and contractors also face the 2026 depreciation and property changes, the employer rules and the construction payment deadlines below.
Taxes
Franchise tax
0.75% of the lowest available margin
Margin is the smallest of 70% of revenue, revenue minus cost of goods sold, revenue minus compensation, or revenue minus $1M. The tax reaches LLCs, LPs, LLPs and S corporations whatever their federal pass-through status, and nothing is due at $2.65M or less in revenue on 2026 and 2027 reports.
Depreciation
Bonus depreciation now reaches cost of goods sold
From the 2026 report, the Comptroller applies the statute's 2007 tax code only where the franchise tax chapter cites it, so cost of goods sold follows current federal law. Depreciation on production assets in cost of goods sold is now the federal-return depreciation, including bonus on assets placed in service on or after January 19, 2025. A one-time net depreciation catch-up covers qualifying assets placed in service before the 2025 accounting period, and any unused amount carries forward.
Sales tax
8.25%, with METRO's 1.00% inside Harris County
In the Harris County part of Houston, the rate is 6.25% state, 1.00% city and 1.00% METRO. Some Fort Bend and Montgomery County slivers of the city carry an emergency services or assistance district tax in place of METRO and still total 8.25%.
Heavy equipment
1.5% TERP surcharge on off-road diesel equipment
Off-road, heavy-duty diesel equipment of 50 horsepower or more carries a 1.5% Texas Emissions Reduction Plan surcharge on top of sales tax, whether it is sold, leased, rented or used. The rate has been 1.5% since September 1, 2015.
Property tax
$125,000 exempt per location, inventory included
Cities, counties, school districts and special districts tax business personal property, inventory included, at its January 1 value as appraised by the county appraisal district. From tax year 2026, the first $125,000 at each location is exempt, up from $2,500, and bills are delinquent if unpaid before February 1 of the following year.
Employers
Unemployment insurance
2.70% for every new employer, construction included
The Texas Workforce Commission set the 2026 entry rate at 2.70% for every industry group with no exceptions, so construction starts at the same rate as every other industry. It applies to the first $9,000 of each employee's wages until the account has four chargeable quarters.
Health care non-competes
Five miles, one year, a capped buyout
For covenants entered or renewed on or after September 1, 2025, a non-compete with a physician, dentist, nurse or physician assistant must allow a buyout at no more than annual salary and wages, end within one year after termination and stay within a 5-mile radius. The terms must be clear and conspicuous, in writing.
Minimum wage
$7.25 statewide, with no Houston minimum
Texas adopts the federal rate, in effect since July 24, 2009, and no 2027 change has been posted. State law supersedes city wage ordinances for private employers.
Paid leave
No sick leave law, state or city
Texas requires no paid sick or parental leave unless it is needed as a disability or pregnancy accommodation, and Labor Code 1.005 bars city leave rules for private employers. A written policy that promises leave pay is enforceable under the Payday Law.
Final paychecks
Due within six days of a discharge
An employer that discharges a worker owes final pay within six days, and weekends count toward the six. A worker who quits is paid on the next regularly scheduled payday.
Construction
Prompt pay
35 days owner to contractor, 7 days to each sub
On private jobs, the owner pays within 35 days of a written payment request, and each contractor pays its subcontractors within 7 days of being paid. Late payments accrue 1.5% interest a month, and a contractor can suspend work 10 days after written notice of nonpayment.
Reserved funds
10% held until 30 days after completion
The owner must reserve 10% of the contract price, or of the value of work done, until 30 days after the work is completed. That reserve protects lien claimants; contractual retainage on private work has no statutory cap.
Lien notices
The 15th of the third month, the second on homes
Subcontractors and suppliers notify the owner and original contractor by the 15th day of the third month after the month they furnished work or materials, or the second month on residential jobs. The original contractor files its lien affidavit by the 15th of the fourth month after the month the work was completed, or the third on residential work.
Questions Houston owners ask
Does the prompt pay law cover our oilfield service contracts?
No. Chapter 28 of the Property Code doesn't apply to oil, gas and mineral or well-services agreements, so its payment deadlines and 1.5% monthly interest don't reach that work. Other private construction runs on the 35-day and 7-day deadlines. More on how we work with contractors.
Do we pay sales tax on materials, or collect it from the customer?
It depends on the contract. On a lump-sum contract the contractor is the consumer of the materials and pays tax when it buys them. On a separated contract it is the seller of the materials and collects tax on them.
Can we owe franchise tax in a year we lose money?
Yes. Margin starts from total revenue and subtracts one item, whichever leaves the lowest margin: cost of goods sold, compensation, 30% of revenue or $1M. Costs outside that deduction don't lower it, so a loss year can still produce tax. Nothing is due when revenue is $2.65M or less or the tax comes to under $1,000.
What is the depreciation catch-up on the 2026 franchise report?
The 2026 report allows a one-time net depreciation catch-up for qualifying assets placed in service before the 2025 accounting period, and any amount the company can't use carries forward. The Comptroller declined to extend it to assets placed in service in 2025. The change came from the Comptroller's reading of the statute, not from a new law.
How does community property affect a family company?
Texas is a community property state. An ownership interest either spouse acquires during marriage is presumed to be community property, and rebutting that takes clear and convincing evidence. Each spouse alone manages his or her own earnings and the revenue from separate property, while mixed community property is managed jointly. See how we work with family businesses.
Is there a Houston payroll or income tax?
No. Houston levies no city income, earnings or payroll-expense tax, and the Texas Constitution bars a state tax on individuals' net income, including an owner's share of partnership income. The franchise tax is the entity-level tax, and it reaches LLCs and limited partnerships regardless of federal pass-through status.
Does Texas require a bulk-sale notice when we buy a company's assets?
No. Texas's commercial code has no bulk-transfer chapter. The exposure runs through two agencies instead: the Comptroller can collect the seller's state taxes, up to the purchase price, from a buyer who doesn't hold back enough of the price pending a Certificate of No Tax Due, and the Texas Workforce Commission can collect unpaid unemployment tax from a buyer of substantially all the assets, with no price cap.
Figures verified October 2026 against the Texas Constitution; the Texas Tax, Labor, Property, Family and Business and Commerce Codes; the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, including its October 2026 sales tax rate table and 2026 franchise tax guidance; and the Texas Workforce Commission. This is general information, not tax or legal advice.
Houston Finance Talent
Houston added 126,720 residents in 2025, more than any other U.S. metro.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts 18,570 financial managers in the Houston metro, the category that covers controllers and finance directors. Median pay is $166,910, 0.2% above the national median of $166,570, and the top tenth earns $310,750 or more. Accountants and auditors earn a median of $85,090, above the national $83,680.
The metro has 9,643 business locations with 50 to 499 employees. A company that needs CFO judgment can get it without first winning a full-time search in that market.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands MSA. U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023 and Vintage 2025 population estimates.
How we engage.
When It's Broken
Put out the fire.
Interim CFO & Controller. At the loss of a key employee. When things crash or break. We deploy interim professionals — repairing what's broken and keeping the system running while you decide what's next.
When You're Building & Exiting
Advise and serve.
CFO, Controller & Accounting Team. Right-sized financial leadership — and the team to execute. Embedded for the long run. The CFO Power Team: right roles, right cost.
When You Don't Know What You Don't Know
Assessment services.
Financial Discovery Assessment. A structured deep-dive that reveals where your finance function stands today — and what it needs to support where you're going.
Transaction Readiness Assessment. Will the books and reporting tell the right story to a buyer or investor — and do the systems and processes support merger or acquisition activities?
Coverage
We cover Greater Houston.
We support Houston companies through our team and bench — on-site time when it matters, virtual delivery when it doesn't.
Coverage area: Houston, The Woodlands, Sugar Land, Pearland, Katy, Spring, and the broader Greater Houston and Gulf Coast region.
Call the team
866-324-4473Our Proprietary Diagnostic
The Financial Discovery Assessment shows you what’s working, what’s missing, and the plan to get where the business needs to go.
Every Assessment applies the same structured examination — accounting systems and technology, processes and procedures, team members and team structure, and team-member will-skill — refined across hundreds of engagements in businesses that look like yours.
The output is the Financial Heat Map System: dollarized findings, hidden inefficiencies, and a sequenced plan. It’s presented at the Executive Action Meeting, where your stakeholders review findings and recommendations in non-clinical, non-technical language they can act on.
We’ve walked into hundreds of businesses at the stage yours is in now. We know where to look. We know how to fix what we find.
Prefer to call? 866-324-4473