Cannot trust the numbers? Nothing else works.
If the figures are wrong, every decision after them is a guess. This is where we always start, and it usually takes a month.
Margins
Your margin looks fine at the top. Underneath it, two or three jobs or customers are usually carrying all the rest, and at least one is losing money. We find out which, line by line, so you know before you quote the next one.
Break even
How much do you need to sell just to cover the cost of being open? Most owners have never worked it out. Once you know it, you know the day of the month you start earning, what a quiet month really costs, and whether a lost customer is a nuisance or a problem.
Reporting
Numbers you can act on, within ten working days of month end. Not forty pages, and not six weeks late. Five figures that tell you whether the month worked, and what to do about it if it did not. Then the same discipline as a finished job: set the year out, and check every month against what you said, not against last year.
Systems
You should not be typing the same figure into three places. Where systems do not talk to each other, numbers drift apart and nobody knows which one is right. We tell you which system to use, and help you move to it.
Controls
Double payments, credit notes nobody chased, supplier statements nobody reconciled. Small leaks that run all year. We tighten the handful of processes where the money actually goes missing.
Cash is a date, not a surprise.
The VAT bill has been in the diary since the day you registered. So has the tax, and the quarter you always dip. Thirteen weeks on one page and none of it is a shock.
Cash
Do you know what will be in the bank in ninety days? Most owners do not, to the pound. We build a thirteen week view with every tax date on it, so you know the week it gets tight and the number, while there is still time to do something.
Getting paid
The largest pot of recoverable cash in most businesses is money you have already earned. Every day beyond your terms is your cash funding somebody else. We measure the days, tighten the terms, and get the chasing done early rather than politely.
Stock and work in progress
Stock is cash sitting on a shelf, and unfinished work is cash sitting on the floor. Too little costs you orders, too much costs you the overdraft. We put a number on it, then find the right level.
Funding and the bank
A bank lends against a forecast it believes. Go three months early with one and you get a different answer than you do on the Friday you need it. We work out what you need, what it really costs, and go in with you.
Before you put your prices up, take the cost out.
A price rise loses customers. Most businesses can find the same money without telling anyone. But start with what the work earns, because pricing moves the needle faster than purchasing ever will.
Job profitability
Cutting costs is half a job if the work was underpriced to begin with. We take finished jobs, put the real hours and the real costs against them, and compare that to the quote. Seven unlogged hours can turn a healthy margin into a loss, and it usually does it quietly.
Materials and suppliers
From raw materials to subcontractors, installers and couriers, it adds up faster than anyone tracks. We benchmark what you pay, negotiate where there is room, and work out what is cheaper brought back in-house.
People
Your biggest cost after materials, and the one nobody calculates properly. What does an hour of your team actually cost, including the hours nobody charges for? We work that out, then look at utilisation, overtime and where the time really goes.
Contracts and software
Energy, insurance, finance, maintenance, licences and subscriptions renew untouched for years, often for things you no longer use. We go through them once, then put the renewal dates in a diary so it never builds up again.
Busier is not better off.
Six ways growth quietly costs money. The fix for all of them is the same: know what a job or a product actually contributes, then only chase the work that clears it.
Thin margins scale badly
Win more low margin work and you add cost and risk, not profit. Volume magnifies a weak margin, it does not fix it.
The wrong mix drags you down
More of the wrong customers and products leaves you working harder for less. We show you which growth actually pays, and which to turn down. And we check what share of your profit sits with one customer or one supplier, because that is a plan to make, not a fact to live with.
Pricing drifts
Winning more work at last year’s prices erodes profit fast. Costs moved. If your prices did not, the growth is costing you.
Overheads creep up
Scaling quietly adds space, people and systems, and it outpaces the extra sales more often than anyone expects. We watch the line that matters.
Overtrading
The one that catches good businesses out. Full order book, healthy margins, and no money in the bank, because you pay for the work months before anyone pays you for it. It looks like success right up to the point it is not. We work out how fast you can afford to grow, which is rarely as fast as you can sell.
It all runs through you
Growth with no plan burns out the team, and the owner first. If the business only works when you are in it, growth makes that worse, not better. It is also the single biggest thing that sets what the business is worth when you come to sell.
Before you sign, what does it have to earn?
Kit, a vehicle, a unit, a system or a hire. The maths is the same, and the rep never quite gives you the number.
A clear yes or no
You walk away with a straight answer and the numbers behind it. Not a report, a decision, and one you can defend to a bank or a co director.
What it must earn
The extra profit it has to bring in every month just to cover itself. That is the number to judge it on, and it is the one nobody puts in front of you.
The real monthly cost
Not the finance payment. Running costs, maintenance, space, insurance, and the downtime when it is not turning.
Can the cash take it?
Whether you can fund it, and the deposit, before it starts paying back. Timing sinks more good purchases than price does.
How busy it must be
The hours or volume it needs to make sense. Half used kit, bought on hope, is one of the quietest profit killers.
Is there a better option?
Sometimes it is cheaper to outsource, lease, or sweat what you already own. We compare all four, honestly, including the option where you do nothing.
Tired of running the business on gut feel?
It starts with a conversation and a clear plan. No jargon, no hard sell.
Book a free call