Which jobs actually make money?

Revenue was up. Trucks were busy. Yet profit was flat, and the owner couldn’t say why. The books showed one number for the whole company, not by type of job or by branch.

• The P&L was company-wide only.
• Techs were paid the same whether a job took 30 minutes or three hours.
• Drive time was never counted as a cost of the job.

Next: What we looked at ↓

We built a P&L for every service line in every branch, then broke one job down to the dollar.

• Drain cleaning, water heaters and repipes made money everywhere.
• Small service calls in the South branch lost money. That branch covers the most ground, so trucks spend more time driving than working.
• About 4,900 of those calls a year were losing money.

Next: What we built ↓

1. Cost per job

   Labor, drive time, parts, callbacks and a fair share of overhead, for every job.

2. A P&L by service line and branch

   The same numbers the books show, split twelve ways and reconciled every month.

3. A price test

   A trip charge in outlying areas and a minimum ticket, tested in one branch first.

4. Smarter scheduling

   Small calls in the far zones grouped onto two days a week.

Next: The answer and the money ↓

A trip charge, a minimum ticket and grouped scheduling turned a $15 loss into a $22 profit per call. Across about 4,900 calls a year, that is about $180K. No new customers needed.

The busiest jobs were not the best jobs. Now the owner can see the difference every month.

A Novare engagement. The client's name is withheld. Results vary by business. One company's results are not a forecast for another.