Your crews are busy. Find out what every hour is really costing you.
Plenty of busy shops are short on margin, and it often starts with a labor rate somebody set years ago that nobody has checked since. In one day at your shop we work out what an hour of your techs' time really costs, the lowest rate you can quote without losing money, and where you've been quoting under it.
- $4,750 plus travelNo travel charge in Greater Houston
- $32What he sees on his check
- $71What that hour really costs you
- $101Break-even once the office is paid for
- $123What you have to quote to make 18%
Our work comes with a warranty
If we don't find at least $20,000 a year you're leaving on the table, you get your fee back.
How we count it: the gap between the rate you should be charging and what you actually billed over the last 12 months, times your billable hours, plus extra work your crews did that never got billed. You'll see every number, and you keep the rate card and the findings either way.
What's it costing you?
Quick test: could you write your real cost for one tech-hour on the back of an invoice right now? If not, that's the first place to look.
Here's how a $32-an-hour tech turns into a $123 rate. Add payroll taxes, workers' comp, benefits, his truck and the ten hours a week he gets paid for but can't bill, and his hour costs you about $71. Give him his share of rent, the dispatcher, insurance and your own pay, and you're at about $101 just to break even. To keep 18%, you quote $123. If you're quoting $95, you're paying the customer to let you work.
Put in your own four numbers and see where your shop lands.
- Break-even floor
- $100.94
- Rate you should quote
- $123.10
- Estimated yearly leak
- $210,737
An estimate from industry averages. The Review uses your real numbers.
How this is figured
Paid-hour cost = wage × 1.3697 (taxes and comp 24%, benefits and paid time off 12.97%). Billable-hour cost = paid-hour cost ÷ 0.75, because a good tech bills 30 of 40 hours. Direct floor = that + $12.50 for the truck and tools. Overhead per billable hour = yearly overhead ÷ (techs × 1,500). Break-even = direct floor + overhead per hour. Rate you should quote = break-even ÷ 0.82 for 18% net. Yearly leak = (rate you should quote − what you charge) × techs × 1,500.
What you leave with
Your rate card is in your hand before we leave. Within five business days you get the rest in writing:
- What an hour of each tech really costs you, and the lowest rate you can quote, for a normal year and a slow one. See a sample rate card.
- Where your recent quotes landed under that floor, job by job, plus the extra work your crews did that never got billed.
- The three fixes, in order, and the changes to your books so you can rerun the numbers yourself every January and July.
How it works
- Book online or call us. Either way, the one-page agreement comes to you within one business day.
- Send us your reports. You or your bookkeeper send the list below. We work your numbers before we arrive, so the day starts with a draft instead of a blank page.
- One working day at your shop, with you and whoever writes your quotes and keeps your books. Your crews keep working.
What we need from you, three business days before the visit
- Three years of profit and loss statements and balance sheets. Annual is fine.
- Every P&L as the detail report, the one that shows every transaction.
- The last 12 months of P&L detail, by month.
- The last 12 months of your payroll register.
- Hours by tech, from your dispatch software or timesheets. This one isn't in QuickBooks.
- 10 to 20 recent quotes or invoices.
- Our debt schedule, filled in for all business debt. We send it to you.
Send them as Excel or CSV files we can sort, not PDFs or paper. And don't clean anything up first. Messy books are normal; finding what they hide is the job.
What it costs
$4,750 covers the day at your shop, the prep before it, the rate card and the written findings. Travel is free anywhere in the Houston metro area (Harris, Fort Bend, Montgomery, Brazoria, Galveston, Liberty, Chambers, Waller, Austin and San Jacinto counties) and a flat $1,000 per trip anywhere else in Texas.
You pay in full by ACH or bank transfer before your day. No retainer, no hourly billing, and the whole agreement fits on one page.
Ready? Book your Review, or have us call you and talk it through first. Either way, it's backed by our $20,000 promise.
Questions owners ask
My books are a mess. Can you still do this?
Yes. Most are. If overhead is mixed into job costs or the truck costs are spread across four accounts, we sort them out, and that cleaned-up view is yours to keep.
Will you see my customer list?
We see the quotes and invoices you send and the job tickets we look at on the day, which have customer names on them. We don't need or take your customer list. Everything we see stays confidential under the one-page agreement and is used only for your Review.
Do I have to give you QuickBooks access?
No. Read-only accountant access saves you pulling two of the reports, but if you'd rather not, send the payroll register and the P&L detail reports and we'll work from those. If you do give access, we hand it back when the findings are delivered.
What if my prices are already right?
Then you get your fee back, and you keep the rate card and the findings. Some shops already quote each tech class at the right rate and bill every change order. If a first conversation tells us you're one of them, we'll say so before you pay.
Do you need my techs off the job?
No. We spend the day with you, whoever writes your quotes and whoever keeps your books. Your crews keep working.
Who actually shows up?
One SweetSpot Business Advisors consultant, at your shop for the full working day. The same consultant builds your rate card with you that afternoon, and you get the written findings within five business days.
Book your Review
Tell us who you are and where your shop is. Within one business day we send the one-page agreement and the invoice in a password-protected file, and we text the password to your cell. Once your payment arrives, we set your date, normally within three weeks.
- $4,750 plus travel. No travel charge in the Houston metro area; $1,000 per trip anywhere else in Texas.
- Paid in full by ACH or bank transfer before your day.
- Backed by our $20,000 promise.
Your details
Thanks, we have your details. Within one business day we send the one-page agreement and the invoice in a password-protected file, and we text the password to your cell. Once your payment arrives, we set your date, normally within three weeks.
Rather talk first?
We've owned and run Texas service businesses ourselves, so we've sat on your side of the desk. Leave your number and we'll call you right back. Every Review is done by a SweetSpot Business Advisors consultant, and you can talk to one before you book.
Or call (832) 583-1658, or send us a note and get a reply within one business day.
Call me now
Your name and cell number.