Know your numbers
Your overhead, your equipment's real cost per hour, and what a man-hour must sell for. Estimates stop being guesses.
Fill in the six numbers below and add your equipment. The CRM then computes your true break-even per man-hour and the rate to charge - and every estimate can be checked against it.
Your annual budget
Everything that isn't on a job: your pay, rent or shop, insurance, software, phones, advertising. The test: if you don't include it when estimating a job, it's overhead. Don't include payroll taxes (burden covers them) or equipment (the list below covers it).
All crew hours you'll pay for this year. One full-timer is about 2,000.
The share of paid hours spent driving, loading, and at the shop. Dense routes run ~15%; if you've never measured, 25-35% is common.
Payroll taxes, workers comp, unemployment - as a % on top of wages. Typical 13-25%.
Profit as a share of the PRICE (not a markup on cost). 10% is a solid start.
People on the rig. The truck and equipment cost is split across them.
Equipment
Budget the replacement, not the purchase: a paid-off mower still costs you its replacement spread over its life.
What each service costs per hour
Tick the machines each service actually uses. Its true hourly cost = your loaded man-hour + overhead + that equipment - so an estimate can show real profit per line.