Field Notes
Patterns I keep running into.
Not client case studies — those go up when there are results to show and permission to show them. These are the recurring problems, described plainly, so you can check your own shop against them.
On case studies: this page will carry named client results with real numbers once engagements are complete and clients have approved publication. Until then, nothing here is presented as a client outcome. If you want references, ask on the first call.
01
Growth without cash
Revenue up 20% year over year and the operating account is tighter than it was. The owner assumes it’s a collections problem.
- Usual cause
- Growth was bought with discounting, overtime, and unbilled return trips. The volume is real; the margin per job fell faster than volume rose.
- What to do
- Job-cost twenty tickets across the mix. Compare quoted margin to realised margin. The gap is almost always concentrated in three or four line items.
- Why it matters
- Fixing margin per job scales with everything you already sell — no extra marketing spend required.
02
The two-year-old price book
Material costs have moved, the labor rate hasn’t been recalculated since before the last two hires, and nobody owns the book.
- Usual cause
- Price books get built once during a busy season and then inherited. Nobody wants to be the person who raises prices.
- What to do
- Rebuild the labor rate from actual loaded cost and billable hours. Reprice the top twenty repairs. Give the book an owner and a review date.
- Why it matters
- This is usually the single largest and fastest correction available to a shop under $5M.
03
The membership base that isn’t
The shop reports a membership count that has never been reconciled against active, paid, current agreements.
- Usual cause
- Members are sold enthusiastically and renewed passively. Nobody is measured on renewal, so nobody calls.
- What to do
- Reconcile the list. Separate current from lapsed. Build a renewal process with an owner and a weekly number, then work the lapsed list before selling new ones.
- Why it matters
- Recurring agreements are what make a service business worth buying — and what keep a customer out of the search results.
04
The zero-revenue maintenance visit
Techs spend hours on newer systems under warranty where there is nothing to find and nothing to sell.
- Usual cause
- Maintenance is scheduled by calendar rather than by condition or opportunity, so the same trucks run the least productive calls in the busiest weeks.
- What to do
- Segment the maintenance base. Decide deliberately which visits earn a truck roll and which can be handled differently, then move that capacity to demand calls.
- Why it matters
- In a labor shortage, recovered technician hours are worth more than the ticket you gave up.
05
Nobody knows if last week made money
The owner can quote revenue instantly and has to call the bookkeeper for margin.
- Usual cause
- Financials arrive monthly, late, and structured for the tax return rather than for running the business.
- What to do
- Define a dozen KPIs at the department level, put them on one screen, and review them on the same day every week.
- Why it matters
- You can’t correct what you find out about six weeks later.