Markup vs. margin: the difference that's quietly costing you money
A 35% markup is not a 35% margin. Here's the math, and how to price so the profit actually lands — plus a free calculator.
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Blog
Field notes for contractors
Practical playbooks on job costing, purchasing, the field, and running a tighter construction business.
Why your job costing is always a month behind (and how to fix it)
If you only know your real margin after the job closes, you're flying blind. Here's how a live cost spine changes the game.
Read article →Stop typing in supplier invoices: AP automation for contractors
An email-in bills inbox plus vendor coding rules can take your AP from hours to minutes a week. Here's the workflow.
Read article →Your crew's app shouldn't die in a basement
Job sites have dead zones. An offline-first field app keeps time, photos, and reports flowing — and syncs when signal returns.
Read article →3-way matching, explained for trade contractors
PO, receipt, and invoice — match all three and you'll never overpay a supplier or double-count a commitment again.
Read article →Subcontractor insurance: catching expirations before they bite
An expired COI on an active sub is a liability waiting to happen. Automate the warnings instead of tracking them by hand.
Read article →Labor productivity: reading performance factor like a pro
Budgeted vs. earned vs. burned hours tells you whether a job is winning or bleeding — while you can still act on it.
Read article →Stop doing free work: change orders that actually get signed
Unsigned change orders are free work you'll never get paid for. Here's a change order process that gets approved before the crew lifts a finger.
Read article →Time & materials billing: stop leaving hours and materials unbilled
On T&M work, the money you lose is the hours and materials nobody tied to the invoice. Here's how to bill every one without billing anything twice.
Read article →Progress billing without the headache: schedule of values, retainage, and getting paid
Progress billing trips up contractors with schedules of values, prior-amount math, and retainage. Here's how to bill a percentage-complete job cleanly.
Read article →Over-billed or under-billed? How to read WIP for contractors
Work-in-progress (WIP) tells you whether you've billed ahead of the work or you're financing the job yourself. A plain-English guide for contractors.
Read article →Why profitable contractors still run out of cash
Profit and cash are not the same thing. Here's why a contractor can win every job on paper and still miss payroll — and how to see it coming.
Read article →Your estimate and your job costing should be the same system
When your estimate lives in one tool and your costs in another, you never really learn whether you bid right. Here's why they belong together.
Read article →Dispatching service calls without the whiteboard
A whiteboard and a group text don't scale a service operation. Here's how a real dispatch board keeps techs busy and customers informed.
Read article →The wrong set of drawings just cost you a day
Building off a superseded revision is one of the most expensive mistakes on a job. Here's how revision control keeps the crew on the current set.
Read article →Going digital without losing your crew
New software dies when the crew won't use it. Here's how to move a paper-run contracting business onto an app without a revolt.
Read article →Truck stock: stop buying material you already own
Every service truck is a rolling warehouse you're not tracking. Here's how managing truck stock cuts double-buying and lost material.
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