Almost every business has a category of work that feels productive and loses money once the unbilled time is counted. Small callouts, tiny orders, one-hour visits across town.
Example conversation with Cash & Profit
You
Small repair callouts. I charge £75, they take about an hour on site, and I do maybe fifteen a month.
Cash & Profit
You are losing money on every one.
Per callout:
On site: 1 hour at £35 equals £35
Travel: 45 minutes average, both ways, equals £26
Fuel and vehicle: about £9
Booking, invoicing, chasing: 15 minutes equals £9
True cost: £79. You charge £75.
Fifteen a month is £60 of direct loss, plus roughly 26 hours you could have spent on refits at 30 percent margin.
Two options: minimum callout of £120, or stop taking them. Want me to model both against your month?
Per callout:
On site: 1 hour at £35 equals £35
Travel: 45 minutes average, both ways, equals £26
Fuel and vehicle: about £9
Booking, invoicing, chasing: 15 minutes equals £9
True cost: £79. You charge £75.
Fifteen a month is £60 of direct loss, plus roughly 26 hours you could have spent on refits at 30 percent margin.
Two options: minimum callout of £120, or stop taking them. Want me to model both against your month?
The job that felt productive was the one bleeding.
- Time spent quoting jobs you did not win
- Travel there and back, not just time on site
- Chasing payment afterwards
- The call you took on a Sunday about it
Paste this to MAYA
Here is a typical [type of job] I do: [describe it, including travel and how long the whole thing takes door to door]. I charge [amount]. Tell me honestly whether this is profitable and what I would need to change.
Try it on your business
Every lesson ends with a question to hand to a Greymill specialist, who answers with what it knows about your business.
More in Pricing and profit
- Working out what to chargeNot what competitors charge. What covers your costs and leaves a margin.Read the lesson
- Raising your pricesYou will lose some customers. That is usually the point.Read the lesson
- Writing a quote that winsThe cheapest quote does not always win. The clearest one usually does.Read the lesson