Budgeting and Overhead Recovery Workshop

Proactively budget your finances by setting clear profit and loss goals at the start of the year, rather than merely reacting to end-of-year results.

Accurately calculate your total working hours, including unbillable time for activities like shop cleanup or rain days, to ensure all labor costs are accounted for in your pricing.

Pay yourself a fair market salary for both your field work and administrative tasks, treating yourself as an employee of your business to ensure accurate financial health.

Carefully categorize equipment as either 'cost of goods' (assigned per project) or 'overhead' (billed to every project), considering utilization rates and project diversity to optimize cost recovery.

Regularly audit your general expenses and overhead equipment to identify areas for strategic reduction or elimination, selling underutilized assets, or renting instead of owning.

Improve your sales process and closing rate to reduce reliance on extensive advertising, but be wary if your closing rate is too high, as it might indicate underpricing.

Aim for a net profit margin of at least 10% to justify the risks and efforts of owning a business, as anything lower may not offer a sufficient return on investment compared to passive alternatives.