Which metric(s) do you check first to see how business is going? 🤓
There are plenty of numbers to track, but I’m guessing most business owners have one or two they keep a close eye on. 👍 Which do you check first? Vote in the polls below. Don’t see yours, or want to share why it matters? Drop it in the comments! In this Masters of Home Service episode, kasyallen​ (Wheatley Creek Services) shares which business metrics matter for home service businesses, why checking them regularly can help catch problems early, and how she built an automated end-of-day report to make the numbers easier to keep up with. 👉 Want to put their tips into action? Download our free home service reporting playbook for this episode. Never miss an episode of Masters of Home Service. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
How do you calculate your baseline price before sending a quote out?
​When you look at a job site, how are you actually building your estimates? Are you pricing based on true operational costs and target profit margins, or are you matching local competitors and hoping there is money left over at the end of the month? ​Knowing your numbers comes down to a few key questions: ​What is your true hourly overhead rate? (Total monthly fixed overhead divided by total monthly billable hours) ​Are you calculating margin or markup? (Markup on cost is not the same as gross profit margin. If you want a 30% margin, multiplying your costs by 1.30 leaves you short at 23%.) ​What is your minimum shop rate before pulling a rig out of the driveway? ​How are you handling this in your business?
How do you actually track job profitability (not just revenue)?
Quick question for other Jobber users — when you want to actually know how profitable a job was (after labor and expenses, not just the invoice total), or how your crew's utilization looks over a month, how do you currently figure that out? Pulling into Excel? A separate spreadsheet? Just gut feel? I'm curious whether this is a real pain point or if I'm overthinking it — trying to understand how people actually track profitability day to day.Those who charge for inspections, do you have a flat rate or does it depend on the property?
I recently got a request for a rodent assessment for a house that is about 10,000 sqft, an absolute monster of a house with 6 levels, a 4 car garage (buddy has a McLaren 750S, Porsche 917, Ford GT and a Range Rover!!!), vehicle lifts, elevator, separate chef kitchen, indoor pool...the works! I told the homeowner my standard fee for a more modest sized house, and that I would have to triple that to be able to spend the time at their home and not feel rushed. They did agree and made no issue out of it but it did make me wonder how other people approach this. Then I found the issue areas and they were about 3-4 times as many as a regular house and the cost reflected that. More doors, vents, cracks, holes, utility lines...it was insane. Should I have kept the inspection charge the same knowing I would find many many more holes or was it smart to up the inspection charge?Are You Building a Business or Just Creating Yourself Another Job?
It’s easy as a small business owner to get caught up doing everything yourself. At what point do you start delegating, hiring, or putting systems in place so the business can operate without you being involved in every job? I’d love to hear how other owners are making that transition while still keeping quality and customer service high.What’s Your Target Gross Margin vs. Actual Net Margin? Let’s Benchmark.
In home services and contracting, top-line revenue gets all the attention, but net profit pays the bills. Many trade operators aim for a 40–50% gross profit margin to retain a healthy 15–20% net margin, but actual figures vary significantly based on team size and trade complexity. A standard healthy benchmark breakdown often looks like: Cost of Goods Sold (Direct Labor + Materials): 50–60% of revenue Overhead & Operating Expenses: 25–30% of revenue Net Profit Target: 15–20% of revenue I’d love to benchmark with the community: Are you hitting your target net margins consistently as you scale, or is overhead creeping up faster than revenue? Where are you seeing the biggest pressure on your margins today?Has anyone here been a Jobber Grant recipient? I’d love to learn from your experience.
Good morning, everyone! I recently completed my Jobber Grant application, and regardless of the outcome, I’m grateful for the opportunity and everything I’ve already learned through this community. I was curious if anyone here has been selected as a Jobber Grant recipient in previous years. If so, I’d love to hear about your experience. How did receiving the grant impact your business? What investments made the biggest difference? Were there any lessons you learned after receiving the funding that you wish you had known beforehand? I believe hearing real success stories can help all of us prepare for future growth, whether we’re selected this year or not. Thank you in advance for sharing your journey!How Understanding Gross Profit Changed My Business
For a long time, I thought I was doing everything right. Work was coming in, the crew stayed busy, and the revenue numbers looked solid. But every month I was stressed about money and I couldn't figure out why. It wasn't until I really sat down and looked at my numbers that things started to click. I came across Tom Reber's work, and it completely changed the way I thought about pricing. The biggest thing I took from it was understanding gross profit — not just revenue, not just what a job "feels like" it's worth, but what's actually left after you pay for labor and materials. Once I understood that number, I realized I had been leaving a lot of money on the table for years. What I Learned Gross profit is the money left from a job after you cover your direct costs — labor and materials. That number has to be healthy enough to cover everything else it takes to run your business: your truck, insurance, tools, software, your time. If your margin is too thin, all of that comes out of your pocket and you never get ahead. For me, setting a clear gross profit goal on every job was the turning point. It gave me something to price toward instead of just guessing and hoping it worked out. What Changed I stopped pricing jobs to win them and started pricing them to actually make money on them. Some bids I lost. But the ones I won started feeling worth it. Cash flow got easier. I could actually see where the money was going — and more importantly, where it was staying. It wasn't an overnight fix, but getting honest about my numbers was the first step to building a business that felt sustainable instead of just busy. If you've been in that same spot — working hard, staying booked, but still wondering where the money went — start by looking at your gross profit on every job. It might surprise you.How do you stay profitable when your schedule is fully booked?
Early on, I thought the goal was simple: fill the schedule. More customers = more money. But I hit a point where my days were completely packed—15+ stops, driving all over my service area—and I still felt like I wasn’t getting ahead. Long days, constant movement, but nothing to show for it at the end of the month. So I finally broke it down. I looked at: Time per yard (from the moment I parked to when I left for the next house, not just scooping) Average yards per hour $ per minute - (if I was in someone's yard for 10 minutes and I charged them $20, I made $2 a minute) Labor cost per hour (real cost, not just hourly wage. I had to treat myself as an employee if I was ever going to hire someone) What I realized was brutal: Some of my “full” days were actually my least profitable days. Too much windshield time. Underpriced customers locked into old rates. Routes that made no sense geographically. Fixing that didn’t come from adding more leads. It came from: Raising prices on the right customers Letting go of the wrong ones Tightening routes so stops actually made sense together That shift did more for profit than any marketing I had done up to that point. Question: If you had to guess right now... what’s hurting your profitability more: Pricing Route inefficiency Labor cost Something else And what makes you say that?
