Trade
Flooring
Articles for flooring shops running 1-10 people. Pricing, hiring, customer disputes, and the parts of the business they never teach you.
Your Job Costing Is Built on Guesses — Not Last Year's Jobs
If you're estimating from memory instead of recorded actuals, every bid you write is compounding the same error. Here's how to fix it.
Your Retainage Is a Loan You Never Agreed To Give
GCs call retainage 'standard practice.' It's not — it's your cash sitting in their account. Here's how to stop financing jobs you already finished.
Your Gross Margin Is Wrong — You're Miscategorizing Costs
If your COGS line mixes overhead with job costs, your gross margin is meaningless. Here's what belongs where — and why it changes everything.
Your Price Increase Didn't Fix Your Margins — Here's Why
Raising prices feels like the answer, but if your cost structure is broken, you're just losing money on bigger jobs. Here's what actually fixes margins.
Your Time Estimates Are Optimistic — And Everything Else Is Wrong
If your job cost numbers are off, bad time estimates are probably the root cause. Here's how to audit and fix them before they cost you more jobs.
Your Material Markup Isn't a Strategy — It's a Guess
A flat markup on materials feels like discipline. It isn't. Here's the number you should actually be protecting on every job.
Your Unsold Estimates Aren't Dead — You Just Stopped Asking
Most contractors send an estimate and wait. Sam Reeves explains why one follow-up sequence recovers 30-40% of jobs you thought were gone.
Your Overhead Allocation Is Wrong — And It Costs You Every Job
Spreading overhead evenly across jobs feels logical. It's not. Here's how the math is silently miscosting your most profitable work.
Your Job Costing Is Off Because Your Estimates Were Wrong
If your actual job costs never match your estimates, the problem isn't your techs — it's your pricing model. Here's how to fix the loop.
You're Pricing From Break-Even — That's Why You're Broke
Pricing to cover costs isn't a strategy — it's a trap. Here's how to build your price from target income down, not break-even up.
Your Gross Margin % Looks Fine — Your Dollars Are Falling
A steady gross margin percentage can hide a collapsing business. Here's why your job mix is the number you should actually be watching.
Your Accountant Isn't Catching Your Margin Bleed
Your books look fine. Your accountant says you're profitable. But if COGS is miscategorized, your real margins are invisible — here's what to fix.
Your Overhead Rate Is Calculated Backwards
If you built your overhead rate from revenue, you built it wrong. Here's how to calculate it correctly — and why it matters every time you price a job.
Your Labor Burden Is Wrong and It's Wrecking Your Margins
You're charging for labor but missing half its true cost. Here's the burden rate math your bookkeeper isn't doing — and why it's draining your profit.
Your Install Jobs Pay Less Per Hour Than You Think
Divide your last 5 install totals by real hours including drive, permits, and callbacks. The number is probably ugly. Here's how to fix it.
Your Replacement Jobs Have Worse Margins Than You Think
Big ticket doesn't mean big margin. Here's why replacement work is quietly your lowest-margin job type — and how to fix the math.
How to Collect When a Customer Won't Pay Final Invoice
Stop chasing calls that go nowhere. Here's the exact sequence small contractors use to collect on unpaid final invoices — including when to file a mechanics lien.
You're Not Bad at Estimating. You're Bad at Closing the Loop.
Most trade shops lose money on jobs they thought were profitable. The fix isn't better quoting — it's a 10-minute post-job review you're skipping.
Your Gross Margin Is Lying to You Without Job Costing
Your P&L shows profit but your account is empty. Job costing reveals which service lines are bleeding you dry — and most owners are afraid to look.
Why Your Overhead Allocation Is Lying to Your P&L
If you split overhead evenly across jobs, you're flying blind. Here's how to allocate correctly — and which jobs are quietly losing money.
Markup vs. Margin: Why Your Pricing Math Is Wrong
You priced at '40% margin' but you're broke. The markup vs. margin confusion is costing small shops thousands. Here's the one formula that fixes it.