Service profitability and job costing for service businesses

Two services can bring in the same revenue and very different profit. One takes twice as long as expected, uses expensive supplies or needs a senior person. Another runs smoothly with a junior team member. Without tracking costs per service, both look equally good on the revenue report.

The same applies to customers. Some customers are profitable and easy to serve. Others require so much extra time that the relationship barely pays.

Many businesses set prices once, based on what competitors charged or a rough guess at the time involved, and never revisit them. Costs move, the way the work is delivered changes and a price that made sense years ago may now leave little or nothing after labor and supplies.

We capture costs where the work happens, with as little extra effort as possible.

• Time spent by each person on each appointment or project
• Labor cost by role
• Materials, supplies and products used
• Subcontractor or partner costs
• Travel time and costs where relevant
• Discounts, rework and write-offs
• Profit by service, customer, team member and location

Cost tracking fails when it depends on long timesheets. We use the data you already generate: scheduled time from the calendar, actual time from check-in and check-out, supplies from inventory or standard amounts per service. Team members confirm or adjust rather than enter everything from scratch.

The goal is numbers accurate enough to make decisions, not accounting perfection.

We also agree on how overhead is handled. Rent, software and administrative time can be spread across services in a simple, consistent way, so comparisons between services are fair even if the total is an estimate.

Profit by service shows what to promote, what to reprice and what to stop offering. Profit by customer shows where to focus account management. Profit by team member shows where training or process changes would help.

These numbers feed directly into offer and pricing decisions, which our Consulting solution can help you make.

We review the first results with you and explain what they show and what they do not, so decisions are based on solid patterns rather than one unusual month.