How do I know if I actually made money on a job before the month closes?
Short answer
Track job cost against loaded labor, materials, and truck time at the invoice stage, not at month-end. Waiting for the P&L to tell you means you find out too late to fix anything.
Monthly P&L tells you too late to matter
If the first time you learn a job type is unprofitable is when your bookkeeper hands you last month's numbers, you've already run 15 to 20 more of that same job at a loss. Job-level costing, even a simple version, catches the problem while you can still fix pricing or scheduling on the next one.
You don't need full job-costing software to start. A simple spreadsheet or a field with four numbers on every invoice, labor hours, loaded labor cost, materials cost, and price charged, gets you 90 percent of the value.
Watch the pattern, not just one bad job
One unprofitable job is normal, sometimes a repair takes longer than expected. A pattern, like every job of a certain type running thin margin, or one tech's jobs consistently costing more hours than the flat rate book assumes, is what you're actually looking for. Review job margins weekly, not monthly, while the details are still fresh enough to diagnose.
Simple job cost check
| Invoice price to customer | $680 |
|---|---|
| Actual labor hours on the job | 3.5 hrs |
| Loaded labor cost | $85/hr x 3.5 = $298 |
| Materials cost | $140 |
| Total job cost | $438 |
| Gross margin$680 - $438 | $242 |
| Margin percent$242 / $680 | 35.6% |
The math: Invoice price minus loaded labor cost minus materials cost equals gross margin on the job. Divide margin by price to get margin percent, then compare that job's percent against your target margin, commonly 40 to 50 percent labor margin in residential service.
Weekly job costing routine
- 1.Record actual hours and materials on every invoice, not just the flat rate charged.
- 2.Calculate margin percent on each job the same day it's invoiced, or in a weekly batch.
- 3.Flag anything under your target margin threshold for a quick look, was it the tech, the pricing, or the job type.
- 4.Review margin by job type monthly to catch systemic underpricing, not just one-off bad days.
- 5.Adjust the flat rate book or the tech's process based on what the pattern shows, not on gut feel.
Where owners get this wrong
- Waiting for the monthly P&L to discover a job type is losing money.
- Tracking revenue by job but never tracking actual hours against it.
- Reacting to one bad job instead of watching for a repeated pattern.
Ask your version of this question
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