You are busy, but profit still feels thin
Compare what the job looked like when you priced it with what actually happened after labor, materials, owner time, rework, and extra service burden showed up.
Free pricing and job-profitability workbook
See which jobs and prices actually leave enough money behind.
Revenue can look healthy while a few jobs, customers, or pricing habits quietly use up the profit. This workbook compares estimated and actual job economics so you can see where money, time, and capacity are really going.
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Built from CFO and business-owner experience for owner-led businesses.
Illustrative job reviewSee what changes after the job is finished and the hidden effort is counted.
Here's a filled-in example so you can see what the numbers are showing before you use your own.
Example · fictional numbersKitchen remodel — completed job
Job itemEstimatedActualDifference
Revenue$8,400$8,400$0
Direct costs$4,850$5,300+$450
Owner time + extra cost to serve$450$850+$400
Contribution after owner time$3,100$2,250-$850
26.8% after-owner margin$850 owner time + service burden+$500 price test
When this helps
Useful when revenue alone is not telling you whether the work is worth doing.
The workbook is meant for owners who need a clearer connection between the price they quote, the work the job actually takes, and the money that is left after the job is done.
Estimates keep missing actual results
See whether the difference is coming from price, scope, labor, materials, callbacks, or other costs that were not visible up front.
Some customers take much more work
Compare customers and job types by contribution, owner time, payment behavior, and capacity used instead of looking only at revenue.
You are considering a price increase
Test one price-change scenario and see the change in dollars, percentages, contribution per job, and how much volume you would need to retain.
What you get
A job-by-job view of what changed and what may be causing it.
Compare estimates with actual results, include owner time and extra cost-to-serve burden, summarize customers and job types, and test one price change before you make a broader move.
- Compare estimated and actual job contribution and margin.
- Make owner time, callbacks, and extra service burden visible.
- Compare customers and job types by contribution, capacity, and payment behavior.
- Test a price change in dollars, percentages, and retained volume.
Get the Workbook and Monthly GuidanceFree Excel download. No account required. Join the Monthly Owner Guide to receive this workbook.
See what's inside
Review the job, test the price, then step back and compare the pattern.
Use completed-job numbers to see what changed, compare customers and job types, and decide which pricing or operating assumption deserves another look.
Job ReviewIllustrative owner review
Actual contribution$3,100
After owner time / service burden$2,250
Labor hours variance+5.5 hrs
Days to payment42 days
Job Review
Compare what you expected with what actually happened and make owner time, callbacks, payment behavior, and other customer-specific burden harder to miss.
Price Change
Current price$8,400
Proposed price$8,900
Price change+$500 / +6.0%
Max volume decline11%
Profitability Summary
Repeat remodel work$92 / capacity hr
Small repair calls$31 / capacity hr
Customer B payment time58 days
Customer C service burdenHigh
Action Plan
Review small-job minimum chargeFriday
Update labor assumptionNext estimate
Clarify change-order scopeThis week
Recheck results30 days
All names, amounts, dates, businesses, and scenarios shown in the previews are illustrative.
Ready to use your own numbers?Free Excel download. No account required. Join the Monthly Owner Guide to receive this workbook.
Get the Workbook and Monthly GuidanceStart with a few jobs
You do not need to rebuild your accounting system.
Start with a small set of recently completed jobs where you can support the estimate, actual costs, time, and payment information reasonably well.
The goal is to make the economics visible enough to improve the next decision.
- 1
Enter the estimate and actual results for a small group of completed jobs.
- 2
Add owner time, callbacks or rework, and any material extra cost to serve that is not already included elsewhere.
- 3
Compare customers and job types to see where contribution and capacity are actually going.
- 4
Test one price change and decide what deserves a closer look before changing prices broadly.
Workbook details
Built to be useful without turning the decision into a bigger project.
FormatExcel .xlsx
Sheets6 guided worksheets
UpdatedAugust 2026
Created byJosh Keller, CFO
Related resources
Use the workbook with the question you are actually trying to answer.
These guides and calculators cover the closest next questions without turning the workbook page into a full pricing course.
A practical way to think about job pricing before the workbook gets into the numbers.
Work through the reasons activity can stay high while too little money is left behind.
Use the workbook numbers with a broader pricing decision instead of reacting to one cost increase in isolation.
Check the difference between markup and margin before comparing job economics.
Estimate a simple price floor for service work using your own cost and capacity assumptions.
Check whether small jobs need a minimum charge to cover the time and cost they consume.
Common questions
What this workbook does — and what it does not do.
Does this workbook tell me exactly what price to charge?
No. It helps you see what completed jobs actually left behind and test a proposed change. Pricing still depends on your market, positioning, demand, scope, and judgment.
Do I need perfect job-costing data before I start?
No. Start with a small set of completed jobs and the best numbers you can support. The point is to make missing costs and assumptions more visible, not pretend uncertain data is exact.
Can I compare customers and job types?
Yes. The summary is designed to help you compare contribution, owner-time burden, capacity use, payment timing, and other job-level signals without building an enterprise costing system.
A practical business tool from Owner Advisor
Get the Pricing and Job-Profitability Workbook and Monthly Guidance.
Use completed-job data to see where contribution is being won or lost before you make the next pricing decision.
Job economics and pricing review aid; not accounting, tax, or valuation advice.