Field Guide · Sample pages

Four pages from a sample Field Guide.

The Field Guide is a written 90-day plan built from your free self-assessment answers: where the business is weakest, what to check first, which fixes usually waste money, and three actions to run one at a time.

Sample only. These pages come from a sample Revenue Plateau guide, built from sample answers for a made-up company. It is not a client’s guide and holds no client data. The rest of the guide is not shown here, and yours is written from your own answers.

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About 50 minutes a week for 90 days: two 25-minute blocks.
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What you’ll see below

One page from each stage of the guide.

We picked these four because together they show how a guide works from start to finish: it reads your result, turns it into a 90-day plan, shows a finished example before you fill in your own, and ends with a decision.

Sample page 1Your result, area by area
Sample page 2The 90-day plan: who does what
Sample page 3A finished example before your worksheet
Sample page 4Day 90: keep, change or move up

Sample page 1 of 4 · From page 3

Your result, area by area.

The guide opens with your own self-assessment scores. It names the weakest areas, points each one to the month that works on it, and says plainly what is not the problem, so you don’t spend money in the wrong place.

DIAGNOSTIC SCORECARD • WHERE YOUR PROFIT IS LEAKING

Your 3 Major Cash Leaks & Where They Are Solved.

Based on your Revenue Plateau Self-Assessment, here is how Lone Star Mechanical scored across the 7 operational disciplines. The three highlighted areas are where operational friction and profit leaks are concentrating right now.

1. Labor Burden & Underpricing 28% • CRITICAL LEAK

You calculate bids based on hourly wages ($34/hr) instead of fully-loaded labor ($78.40/hr). Unbilled travel and parts runs eat the entire profit margin.

→ Solved in Month 1: Action 1 (Pages 5–8)

2. Dispatch Friction & Bumps 36% • WARNING

Emergency calls bump scheduled maintenance mid-day, technicians drive across town for parts, and overtime spikes without warning.

→ Solved in Month 2: Action 2 (Pages 9–12)

3. Free Work on Job Sites 44% • WATCH

Techs perform extra out-of-scope tasks on commercial sites because the client asked nicely. No slip written, no signature, no bill sent.

→ Solved in Month 3: Action 3 (Pages 13–16)

4. Owner Bandwidth 48% • BOTTLENECK

Marcus is trapped in daily dispatch, approving minor parts purchases, and rescuing bids on weekends.

→ Solved by 4-Role Delegation Matrix (Page 4)

5. Financial Visibility 52% • MODERATE

QuickBooks is used for taxes, not daily margins. Job profitability is only discovered 45 days after the month closes.

6. Management Depth 58% • MODERATE

Good people in Sarah, Dave, and Jim, but they lack clear dollar authority thresholds and standardized tools.

7. Sales Discipline & Opportunity Pipeline 66% • HEALTHY (NOT YOUR PROBLEM)

North Texas commercial demand is strong. Do NOT spend money on marketing or new salespeople right now. Pouring more volume into under-burdened pricing will only drain company cash faster. Fix pricing first.

NEXT STEP: REVIEW THE 90-DAY GAME PLAN See the 3-month roadmap and who owns each part on Page 4.

TURN TO PAGE 4 →

Sample page 2 of 4 · From page 4

The 90-day plan: who does what.

One action a month, never three at once. Each action has an owner on your team, a time budget, and a short Friday review for you.

EXECUTIVE ROADMAP • ONE PATH, THREE MONTHS, ZERO CHAOS

The 90-Day Game Plan: Who Does What.

Do not attempt a company-wide overhaul on Monday. That overwhelms your staff and creates chaos. We tackle one leak per month. Here is your roadmap and who owns each part.

MONTH 1 (DAYS 1–30): PLUG THE LABOR PRICING LEAK PAGES 5–8

Goal: Stop bidding jobs at wages. Audit 5 closed jobs against the $78.40 Texas Loaded Labor Rate and give Sarah a non-negotiable $120.60/hr billable floor rate card.

Assigned To: Sarah (Estimator) pulls numbers Time Required: 25 mins twice weekly Marcus's Job: 15-min Friday review

MONTH 2 (DAYS 31–60): PLUG DISPATCH & SCHEDULE LEAKS PAGES 9–12

Goal: Stop wasting billable technician hours. Cross-check 5 jobs for emergency bumps and parts runs, then lock commercial routes with the 48-Hour Schedule Freeze.

Assigned To: Dave (Dispatcher) tracks friction Time Required: 25 mins twice weekly Marcus's Job: 15-min Friday review

MONTH 3 (DAYS 61–90): STOP GIVING AWAY FREE WORK IN THE FIELD PAGES 13–16

Goal: Stop doing out-of-scope work for free. Equip vans with the 2-part Change-Order Authorization slip and pay technicians a $15 spiff for every signed slip.

Assigned To: Jim (Service Mgr) equips vans Time Required: 20 mins weekly Marcus's Job: 15-min Friday review

The 4-Role Delegation Guide (How Marcus Frees His Time):

1. Sarah (Estimating): Owns Page 8. Pulls bid vs actual payroll on 5 jobs. Takes 25 mins twice a week.

2. Dave (Dispatch): Owns Page 12. Cross-checks arrival times and parts waits. Takes 25 mins twice a week.

3. Jim (Service Mgr): Owns Page 16. Makes sure vans have change slips and checks signed customer slips.

4. Marcus (Owner): Spends 15 minutes every Friday looking at the weekly sheet and signing off.

READY TO BEGIN? START MONTH 1 (LABOR PRICING) Turn to Page 5 for the exact step-by-step instructions to hand to Sarah on Monday.

TURN TO PAGE 5 →

Sample page 3 of 4 · From page 7

A finished example before your worksheet.

Before each blank worksheet, the guide shows the same worksheet filled in, so the person running it knows exactly what a finished one looks like. These numbers belong to the sample company.

MONTH 1 • ACTION 1: LABOR PRICING • REFERENCE MODEL

📄 REFERENCE MODEL ONLY: DO NOT WRITE ON THIS PAGE SAMPLE COMPANY DATA BELOW

Completed 5-Job Audit: Lone Star Mechanical.

Here is what Sarah's completed worksheet looked like after auditing 5 closed commercial jobs. Notice how jobs that looked profitable at $95/hr were actually bleeding cash once the $78.40 loaded rate was applied.

Job # & Customer Name	Quoted Labor (Bid Scope)	Actual Labor (Payroll @ $78.40)	Margin Variance & Sign-Off
CASE 01 • REPAIR Job #4812 Dallas Medical Chiller Closed: Sep 14, 2026	Quoted Tech Hours: 40.0 hrs Quoted Bill Rate: $95.00/hr Quoted Labor: $3,800.00	Payroll Hours: 48.0 hrs Drive / Parts Time: 4.0 hrs Loaded Cost (@$78.40): $4,076.80	Margin Leak: -$276.80 Leak %: -7.3% margin loss Root Cause: Unbilled drive time ✓ Sarah • ✓ Marcus
CASE 02 • RETROFIT Job #4829 Arlington Distribution WH Closed: Sep 18, 2026	Quoted Tech Hours: 60.0 hrs Quoted Bill Rate: $95.00/hr Quoted Labor: $5,700.00	Payroll Hours: 72.0 hrs Drive / Parts Time: 6.0 hrs Loaded Cost (@$78.40): $6,115.20	Margin Leak: -$415.20 Leak %: -7.3% margin loss Root Cause: Omitted van burden ✓ Sarah • ✓ Marcus
CASE 03 • SERVICE Job #4834 Fort Worth Retail Plaza Closed: Sep 21, 2026	Quoted Tech Hours: 24.0 hrs Quoted Bill Rate: $90.00/hr Quoted Labor: $2,160.00	Payroll Hours: 31.0 hrs Drive / Parts Time: 3.5 hrs Loaded Cost (@$78.40): $2,704.80	Margin Leak: -$544.80 Leak %: -25.2% margin loss Root Cause: Discounted legacy rate ✓ Sarah • ✓ Marcus
CASE 04 • MAINTENANCE Job #4841 Plano Surgical Clinic Closed: Sep 25, 2026	Quoted Tech Hours: 32.0 hrs Quoted Bill Rate: $95.00/hr Quoted Labor: $3,040.00	Payroll Hours: 42.0 hrs Drive / Parts Time: 5.0 hrs Loaded Cost (@$78.40): $3,684.80	Margin Leak: -$644.80 Leak %: -21.2% margin loss Root Cause: Unbilled helper hours ✓ Sarah • ✓ Marcus
CASE 05 • CONTROLS Job #4850 Denton Commercial Office Closed: Sep 28, 2026	Quoted Tech Hours: 50.0 hrs Quoted Bill Rate: $95.00/hr Quoted Labor: $4,750.00	Payroll Hours: 59.0 hrs Drive / Parts Time: 3.0 hrs Loaded Cost (@$78.40): $4,860.80	Margin Leak: -$110.80 Leak %: -2.3% margin loss Root Cause: Parts run drive time ✓ Sarah • ✓ Marcus

Sarah's 5-Job Audit Result: -$1,992.40 Total Net Labor Cash Drain Every single one of the 5 jobs lost money on labor because overhead and travel were omitted from bids.

AVERAGE: -$398.48 / JOB

NEXT STEP: ENTER YOUR NUMBERS ON PAGE 8 Hand Page 8 to Sarah on Monday to audit your company's last 5 jobs.

TURN TO PAGE 8 →

Sample page 4 of 4 · From page 21

Day 90: keep, change or move up.

The plan ends with a decision, not a grade: keep the fix, adjust it, or move up to a bigger one, with the signs that say to get outside help before spending.

DAY 90 GATE • EXECUTIVE DECISION & RATIFICATION

Keep, Change, or Move Up: Day 90 Executive Decision Gate.

The final gate is an executive business decision, not a theoretical grade. Review your completed worksheets from Month 1 (Page 8), Month 2 (Page 12), and Month 3 (Page 16) to ratify the lightest operating habit that holds under pressure.

1. KEEP (Proven Habit)

The target holds in regular work. Loaded labor rates ($78.40 cost / $120.60 billable) are permanently adopted, managers write change orders before extra work begins, and Marcus reviews weekly margins without rescuing bids. Adopt as standard policy.

2. CHANGE (Adjust Rules)

The concept works, but needs tuning. The $150 change-order threshold was too high, or technicians resisted the carbonless slip. Adjust the dollar floor or technician incentive ($15 → $25), and run one additional 30-day operating sprint before deciding.

3. MOVE UP (Scale System)

Paper rules cannot hold job volume. Commercial bid volume or multi-crew job sites have outgrown manual clipboards. Escalate to dedicated field service ERP software or commission a SweetSpot Business System Inspection before committing capital.

Escalate Before Spending Capital When:

Evidence shows negative gross margin across entire commercial service accounts.
Office and field cannot agree on job labor hours after reviewing the same 5 closed jobs.
A proposed fix requires bank financing, equipment debt, or software above $25,000.

What to Bring to the Executive Review:

All 3 completed worksheets: Page 8 (Pricing), Page 12 (Dispatch), Page 16 (Change Orders).
Closed invoices and payroll reports for the 5 audited commercial jobs.
Your signed Day 90 Decision Gate ratification box below.

Executive Day 90 Ratification & Margin Sign-Off: Lone Star Mechanical Services • Day 90 Gate

Owner Decision Chosen: [ ] KEEP [ ] CHANGE [ ] MOVE UP

Annual Margin Protected / Recovered: $_______________ / yr

Executive Sign-Off:

Sign-off confirms that 90-day action modules have been reviewed with management and either adopted into standard operating procedures or escalated for deeper structural intervention.

NEXT STEP: 12-MONTH OPERATING TRAJECTORY Translate your 90-day operational wins into compounding enterprise value on Page 22.

TURN TO PAGE 22 →

The rest of the guide isn’t shown.

Between these pages, a guide also gives you:

Step-by-step instructions for each of the three actions, written for the person on your team who will run it.
The blank worksheets for days 30, 60 and 90, with a baseline that doesn’t move.
Fix options at three levels, smallest first, and the false fixes to skip.
A weekly review page for the owner.

Page references inside the samples point to pages that are not published here.

Questions about the Field Guide

Is this a real client’s guide?

No. It was built from sample answers for a made-up company and holds no client data. Only four of its pages are shown here.

How is my guide different from this sample?

Yours is built from your own self-assessment: the two areas you scored weakest and your five weakest answers. The areas, actions and examples change to match your business.

What does it cost, and how soon does it arrive?

$250, paid once through Stripe, with no subscription. A person reviews every guide before it ships, and most arrive in about a week. If it doesn’t give you at least one change worth making this quarter, email within 30 days for a full refund.

How much time does it take to run?

About 50 minutes a week for 90 days: two 25-minute blocks. One person on your team keeps the worksheet, and you review the result.

Get a guide written from your own answers.

$250, reviewed by a person before it ships, and most arrive in about a week. It starts with the free self-assessment.

Get your Field Guide — $250