282 - Are You Losing Money on Every Service Call?
20 November 2025

282 - Are You Losing Money on Every Service Call?

The Cash Flow Contractor

About

Is your service department draining profits instead of generating them? In this practical episode, Martin and Khalil tackle a real contractor dilemma: how to transform service calls from costly overhead into a profitable business segment. Discover why your current pricing model might be leaving thousands on the table and the straightforward systems you need to fix it.


What You’ll Learn

    Why mixing service and install teams creates hidden profit leaksHow to properly calculate service call pricing (hint: it's much higher than you think)Simple systems to separate service operations for clarity and profitabilityWhy treating service as a "loss leader" is destroying your margins


Time Stamps

    00:52 - Episode Intro01:02 - The Service Dilemma03:23 - Exploring Solutions and Pricing17:37 - Final Thoughts and Takeaways


Snippets from the Episode

    "If I can't figure out what something costs me and what I gotta sell it for, then I shouldn't be doing it." - Martin Holland"I think the way that this gets created is you start thinking 'If I can't service these clients, the builder's gonna get upset and not give me new jobs.' So we have it as a loss leader. That's a recipe for disaster."- Khalil Benalioulhaj"Make some estimate and just make sure the estimate is high enough that it's worth it. If we get half of our estimated calls, we still make money."- Martin Holland"You gotta know your costs. That's the takeaway."- Martin Holland


Key Takeaways

    Double your service department costs at a minimum when setting pricesSeparate service from installation teams completelyStop treating service as a loss leaderUnderstand the full cost of running a dedicated service departmentBe bold with pricing until you get pushbackService should have its own tracking and profit metricsService work requires specialized skills and dedicated resources


Resources

    ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠24 Things⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Construction Business Owners Need to Successfully Hire & Train an Executive Assistant
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More from Martin Holland

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