Why Every Service Contractor Needs to Understand Material Markup (Not Just Job Markup)
Some home service contractors love to mark up the entire job, and that’s fine until you realize you’re not really making money on your materials. For me, personally I love to know ow everything is divided in my margins... Because It covers all the costs that get overlooked: Warranty replacements that eat into profits Time to grab, stock, or return parts Fuel and vehicle wear from sourcing Credit card fees and supply chain risk When you don’t separate material markup, you lose visibility. If you’re inefficient in your labor or your jobs start dragging, you won’t know where the leak is. Understanding markup on material is one of the most vital fundamentals for any service provider. It’s what separates a day to day contractor from a profitable one. That’s why we built this quick resource for you: It breaks down: ✅ How to calculate markup by cost range ✅ What markup really covers (overhead, risk, and time) ✅ Why materials should always be treated as a profit center, not just a pass-through expense Download the worksheet, walk through it with your team, and start identifying where your leaks are. Let me know what you think.Real Reason Most Contractors Don’t Know Where the Leak Is (How to Price)
Just returned from the Masters of Home Service Podcast with Adam and we broke down something every contractors pain point... Most of us think our pricing problem is about charging more. But in reality, it’s about not knowing where the leak is. That’s why I built the Pricing Blueprint Worksheet, it forces you to look at every category inside your business: Is your hourly cost set right? Is your team milking jobs or burning hours? Is your overhead eating too much of your margin? Are your profit targets too low? Or are you just lost trying to figure out where it all goes? When you separate these categories, you finally see where your money ends up. You’ll know if it’s a labor problem, an overhead problem, or a leadership problem. This is exactly what we talked about on the podcast, that transition from employee mindset to owner mindset. Thank you Jobber Team for the opportunity. Here is the sheet we went over and let me know your thoughts.Crypto as a form of payment?
I am not huge into crypto currency; however, I like the idea of diversifying my approach to my business and preparing myself for what could come. Are any of you accepting crypto as a form of payment? If so, then how do you go about that? Also what are your overall thoughts on it?How Much Should You Really Be Charging?
The number one question I receive is tied directly to the fact, most contractors are still guessing when it comes to pricing. Overhead. Profit. Labor rate. Trip fees. They think just because they throw a number they hear their competitors use, thats all that they need. It may work, but how and what do you divide these funds is just as important for your business health. If you don’t know how to do the math, you’re not building a business. You’re surviving check to check and think you need more work, when you do not. So here’s the plan: This Tuesday & Thursday on IG, I’m walking you through our Contractor Price Builder Worksheet FREE on instagram live. We will cover: - How to calculate your real hourly rate - The difference between markup and margin - Why profit is a non-negotiable - And how to price with confidence Join the session. Bring your numbers.How to SELL as an Electrician - Or are you just taking orders?
Most of us in the trades hate “sales.” The reality is, we are in a reactive market, we just take "orders". We wait for something to break and then we wait on a customer to choose us, out of multiple leads. What i found out, is we are no different from a Mcdonalds cashier. We are not selling, we are taking orders. So how can we change our position? Truth is, it’s not really sales focussed, what we need to do is filter out leads. Here’s the problem: We don’t get calls because people “want” us. We get calls when something is broken. That makes us reactive, not proactive. By the time they call, they’re already stressed, shopping around, or treating it like ordering a Big Mac. Even if we push maintenance packages, most customers see it as a luxury or “insurance,” not a need. So where does that leave us? Frustrated, stuck, and thinking we’re bad at sales. But that’s why I built out these Contractor’s Blueprint to sales, and we been testing it on instagram LIVE and youtube. Whats needed as Contractors: A way to filter out problem customers before they waste your time. A process that shows respect, builds trust, and educates. Actual sales scripts that help you respond when they hit you with “I need to talk to my spouse” or “that’s out of budget.” It’s about filtering who’s a real customer and who’s not. I want to hear from you, what’s your biggest challenge when it comes to sales as a blue-collar service provider?I don’t really share this much —
I just passed the 100 contractors mark that I’ve been able to help through @buildnational. Now, a few of you have seen how I built a $1 million revenue electrical business in my first 4 years. And it had nothing to do with working harder. It’s actually the opposite. It came from securing long-term relationships/contracts, repeat/bulk work with service agreements attached. And the key to it all was understanding MY NUMBERS so I could stay competitive and still close the year at 42% NET profit. We’ve been featured in Forbes and, together, broken down stigmas around construction that keep contractors stuck. All of this—while traveling the U.S. sharing our story. At the end of the day, I just want to make sure you have everything you need to take full advantage of contracting. If you want to have a conversation or just connect, I’m here to serve.We’re In Q3 — How Are Your 2025 Goals Holding Up?
Now that we’ve officially entered Q3… I’m checking in: • Are you where you thought you’d be by this point in the year? • What worked well in the first half? • And what needs to be tweaked so you don’t coast through summer? For us, we’re doubling down on and been using this visual from our Blueprint Series to stay focused each quarter: Would love to hear from others: What’s one change you’re making to finish Q3 strong?
