Are You Leaving 15-30% Profit on the Table?

What It Looks Like:

• Calendar is completely full
• Crew working 50+ hours/week
• Revenue growing month over month
• Bank account not reflecting the growth

Why It Happens: You're pricing to stay competitive without calculating whether those prices actually cover your costs plus profit.

What It Looks Like:

• Job seemed profitable when you bid it
• Customer paid the invoice in full
• After accounting for actual hours and materials, you lost money

Why It Happens: You're estimating based on best-case scenarios instead of real historical data.

What It Looks Like:

You know what you pay employees per hour, add a markup, and call that your "labor rate." But you're not accounting for payroll taxes (7.65%), workers comp, insurance, benefits, PTO, training time, drive time, or non-billable hours.

Example: You pay Joe $25/hour and charge $50/hour, thinking you make $25 profit. But after hidden costs, Joe actually costs you $38-42/hour, and you're only making $8-12/hour.

What It Looks Like:

"Everyone charges $X for this service, so we do too" - but you have no idea if $X covers YOUR specific costs.

Why It Happens: Fear of being "too expensive" drives pricing instead of math.

What It Looks Like:

• Techs earning $50-70K/year
• You're taking home $40K after working 60+ hours/week
• "I'll pay myself more when the business is more established" (but it's been 5+ years)

Why It Happens: Your pricing doesn't include proper owner compensation. You're treating your time as free.