Man, this hits home. Winning every single bid usually just means you're the cheapest option in town, not the most profitable.
A few quick shifts that make a massive difference:
- Production Rate Templates: Moving away from "eyeballing" jobs and using set square-footage/hour rates takes the emotion out of quoting and stops under-bidding.
- Factoring Windshield Time: Building setup, breakdown, and drive time right into the estimate so non-billable hours don't eat your margin.
- Good / Better / Best Tiering: Giving clients options (like a standard wash vs. adding a sealant package) raises your average ticket without you having to hard-sell.
- Post-Job Costing Audits: Checking actual site hours against what was estimated. If a "2-hour job" takes 3.5 hours, the pricing template gets fixed right away.
