Ownership · Run
Track 02 · Running it well
What separates
a thriving shop
from a struggling one.
Pricing, margins, hiring, cash flow, KPIs. The operational knowledge most trade owners learn the hard way — written clearly.
Operations guide
Seven operational areas every trade business owner needs to understand. Each links to a full guide when available.
01
Pricing strategy
Flat rate vs T&M vs service agreements. How to calculate your real cost per hour and set prices that protect your margin — not just what the shop down the street charges.
Flat rateT&MMarkup
LIVE02
Hiring employee #1
When the math says hire. W-2 vs 1099. What to pay, how to find them, and the paperwork that actually matters. Most owners wait too long.
W-2 vs 1099PayrollOnboarding
LIVE03
Cash flow basics
Revenue is vanity, cash flow is sanity. How to manage AR, AP, and payment terms so you're never waiting on a big check to make payroll.
ARAPPayment terms
LIVE04
KPIs that actually matter
Revenue per truck, gross margin, callback rate, close rate, average ticket. The numbers that tell you if the business is healthy before the P&L does.
MarginsCallbacksClose rate
LIVE05
Service agreements & recurring revenue
The single highest-leverage move in residential service. A service-agreement book adds 0.5–1.0 turns to your valuation multiple and smooths cash flow.
RecurringMaintenanceValuation
LIVE06
Owner compensation
How to pay yourself correctly — W-2 salary plus S-corp distributions, reasonable-comp thresholds, and why taking too little is as dangerous as taking too much.
S-corpSalaryDistributions
LIVE07
From 1 truck to 5
The playbook for scaling beyond yourself — dispatch, call handling, tech-stack upgrades, and when to hire a service manager instead of another tech.
ScalingDispatchOperations
LIVEWhat good looks like
Industry benchmarks for healthy trade businesses, 1–20 trucks. How does your shop compare?
Gross margin
50–60%
After labor + materials. Below 45% is a pricing problem.
Revenue per truck / yr
$250K
Residential service. Top performers hit $350K+.
Callback rate
<3%
Callbacks kill margin. Track every one.
Service-agreement rate
20–30%
% of service customers on a maintenance plan.
Close rate (in-home)
60–75%
Below 55%: training issue. Above 80%: pricing too low.
Average ticket
$350+
HVAC residential. Lower for small plumbing/electrical jobs.
A/R days outstanding
<30
Collect faster. Net-30 is a habit that kills cash flow.
Owner comp (% revenue)
10–15%
Too low: you're not paying yourself. Too high: no reinvestment.
Benchmarks based on ACCA, PHCC, and SGI industry data. Residential-service focus, 1–20 trucks.
Growth stages
Each stage has different constraints and different priorities. Most shops stall at Stage 2.
1
Solo operator
$0–$500K revenue
You are the business — every job, quote, and invoice. Goal: get to $250K/truck/yr and prove the model.
Bottleneck: Your time
2
Small crew
$500K–$1.5M
You have 1–3 techs and a dispatch problem. Revenue grows but margin compresses. Most owners stall here.
Bottleneck: Dispatch & pricing
3
Growing shop
$1.5M–$5M
Defined roles, a dedicated dispatcher, a real management layer. Cash flow is the constraint, not capacity.
Bottleneck: Cash & finance
4
Platform-ready
$5M+
PE-attractive, a service-agreement book, professional management. Exit or growth capital becomes an option.
Bottleneck: PE attention & valuation