Plenty of work, not enough profit?
This 5-minute Self-Assessment shows where the profit leaks: pricing, job margins, change orders, overtime, or cash. 30 quick questions, built by Texas owner-operators who've run shops like yours.
Free. No email to see your result. No right answers. “I can't tell” is a fine answer.
See a sample result made-up answers
How does your shop price, track, and collect today?
Each statement runs from Not in place to Reliable. Pick what's true today, not what you plan to fix.
Where to look first
Take the complete analysis with you.
The first result stays on this page without an email. The complete PDF gives you the working detail to use after you leave.
- Every score, with the two lowest-scoring areas explained in plain language.
- A three-step action sequence with a clear finish line.
- A printable scoresheet and notes page for the next conversation.
Find the leak before you chase more work to cover it.
When the shop's busy and the bank account isn't, the money's usually leaking in one or two places. Find them before you raise prices, hire, or chase more volume.
Free first read: about 5 minutes. No sales call, and no email needed to see your result.
- Answer the questions.About 5 minutes. Your result shows on this page.
- See where the money leaks first.The weakest spot, and one practical first move.
- Pull the first records.Your weakest spot tells you where to start: recent jobs, quotes, change orders, or timecards.
Built by owners who've sat in your seat.
We're Texas owner-operators, with the gray hair to prove it, who've run trade and industrial businesses. These are the questions we'd ask walking through your shop. It won't tell you everything. It will show you where to start: Where the profit leaks between the job and the bank, and what's feeding it.
Skip this if it can't wait.
This self-assessment points you in a direction. If you're bleeding cash, losing key supervisors or skilled techs, or up against a deal deadline, skip it and talk to us instead.
Self-assessment FAQ
Who is this self-assessment for?
Owners whose schedule is full, crews are running, and revenue is up, but there is no more money at the end of the month. It scores the five areas where that profit usually leaks.
Read more about busy but not profitable
What does this self-assessment score?
Five areas: pricing and quoting; job and customer profitability; scope, change orders, and discounts; labor, capacity, and overtime; and financial visibility and cash. The weakest area is the first place to gather evidence, and the second-weakest is often the reason the first one shows up.
Start the self-assessment
Do I need job costing software to answer these questions?
No. Answer from what you can see today. If a statement asks for a number you cannot get without rebuilding it by hand, that is a useful answer in itself: it usually means the records exist but are not yet set up to guide pricing and job decisions.
See four checks you can run with what you have
How can pricing keep a busy business from making money?
If pricing does not include full labor burden, overhead, risk, and required profit, the business may stay busy while profit and cash remain tight. Weak pricing can also make the company accept too much low-quality work, which consumes capacity that could be used for better customers or higher-margin services.
See the eight places profit leaks
Why is financial visibility included in a profit self-assessment?
Because many small businesses are trying to fix profit problems with financial data that is not accurate enough to guide decisions. If QuickBooks, job costing, gross margin, customer profitability, or cash visibility is unreliable, the owner may not be able to see which work, customers, or habits are actually hurting the business.
See the fixes that backfire
What score is good on the Busy but Not Profitable Self-Assessment?
The visible score is a capability score, so higher is better. Lower capability scores are not a failure; they are signals showing where the business may need closer inspection before raising prices, hiring, buying software, or chasing more volume.
Start the self-assessment
Will someone call me after I take the self-assessment?
No. Your result appears on this page, and you do not need to enter an email or phone number to see it. If you want to talk it through, you can send us a message.
Send a message
What happens after I complete the self-assessment?
You see the weakest area, the area most likely connected to it, and a first move, all on the page. Use them to decide which records to pull first: recent jobs, quotes, change orders, timecards, or financial reports.
See what to check first