We’re winning more work. Why aren’t we making more profit?

If your order book is full and profit is standing still, pull out the quote and final invoice for the last job you finished. Next to them, put the hours your team actually worked and the supplier bills for that job. How much did you expect that work to leave towards overheads and profit? How much did it actually leave?

The job that looked like a £3,000 win

Here’s a fictional installation job. All figures exclude VAT. The £25 hourly cost includes employment costs and is used consistently on both sides.

The customer paid the agreed price. The job still left £800 less than expected. Materials accounted for £200. The other £600 was 24 extra hours.

“At what point did you realise it was going to take longer?”

That’s the first question I’d ask the owner. Then I’d ask the person who ran the job the same thing. Their answers can be different.

If you found out when the final timesheets came in, the team might have known since Tuesday. Ask what they spotted and who they told. If nobody flagged it, give the site lead a simple rule for the next job: as soon as they expect to go over the quoted hours, call the person responsible for the quote. If it came as a surprise to everyone, start by making the hours allowed for the job visible to the crew.

If you knew halfway through, put the original quote beside the work the team was doing that day. Had the customer asked for something extra? Agree the price and get their approval before starting a variation. Was the team still doing exactly what you’d quoted for? Check whether the estimate allowed enough time. If it did, look at what held the crew up or had to be done twice.

That distinction matters on the next job. An extra half-day to do the original work belongs in the estimate if that’s how long the task takes. An extra half-day because the customer moved a doorway belongs on a variation. Both look identical on a timesheet.

Try it on your last ten completed jobs

1. Take ten in a row. Include the awkward job and the easy one. For each, record the quoted price, final invoice, estimated and actual labour hours, and estimated and actual direct costs. Include outstanding supplier costs you already know about. Flag missing figures so you can see which comparisons you can trust.
2. Find where the difference started. Pick the three largest shortfalls in pounds. Sit down with whoever quoted and whoever delivered each job. Ask which hours were missing from the estimate, which arose on site, and which belonged to extras. Check approved extras against the invoice.
3. Change one decision on the next job. If six jobs needed an extra half-day for site setup, give the estimator that evidence and change the allowance. If the quote allowed enough time but return visits swallowed it, ask the operations manager to check why the first visit fell short.
4. Check again on the next comparable job. Record whether the new allowance was used, what the customer agreed to pay and how many hours delivery took. That tells you whether the change helped.

If the ten jobs broadly delivered the contribution you expected, widen the check. Look at the mix of jobs you’re winning and what it now costs to run the business each month. If the accounts show a profit but the bank balance feels tight, check unpaid invoices, stock purchases and payment timing separately.

You can start with one job using Fettle’s job contribution and pricing checker. If you spot the same gap across several jobs and want to talk through what to change first, book a free 15-minute call with Jamie.