1 rich Libsyn https://www.libsyn.com 90 600 Most home service businesses keep just 5 to 12% net profit, and most owners have no idea that is where they are. The best run HVAC, plumbing, and electrical shops keep 20%, and the gap almost always comes down to a few fixable mistakes. In this episode of Service Business Mastery, Tersh Blissett and Josh Crouch sit down with Matthew Mooney and Raymond Gong of Profitability Partners, a fractional CFO firm that spent years on the private equity side of the table and now helps owners find the profit already hiding in their business. They break down the real gross profit benchmarks for every trade, the labor and pricing mistakes that make your P&amp;amp;L lie to you, why fixing your booking rate beats spending more on ads, and how one plumbing company cut 3 million dollars a year in overhead in six months. This episode is brought to you in partnership with Upfrog, one of our show partners. Upfrog turns paid ad spend into booked, sold system replacements instead of wasted leads. Learn more at upfrog.com. CHAPTERS 0:00 – The 20% Net Margin Most Contractors Never Hit 3:49 – Meet Profitability Partners: Fractional CFOs From Private Equity 7:54 – What Private Equity Looks For in an Undervalued Business 11:00 – Gross Profit Benchmarks by Trade: HVAC, Plumbing, Electrical 15:56 – The Fully Loaded Labor Mistake That Hides Your Real Margin 18:16 – The What Is Everyone Charging Trap and the Discount Price Book 20:24 – Why Discounting Costs You More Than Spending on Ads 23:36 – Fix Your Booking Rate Before You Spend a Dollar on Marketing 27:47 – What Separates a 12% Company From a 20% Company 29:55 – Switching to Commission Pay Without Losing Your Techs 36:41 – Where AI Actually Helps a 5 to 30 Million Dollar Contractor 39:12 – The Overhead Trap: Unused Software and Oversized Leases 41:56 – Case Study: Cutting 3 Million Dollars a Year in Six Months 48:22 – The Exit Math That Turns 200K Saved Into 2 Million 52:15 – The 1% Booking Rate Worth 3 Million, and Why Your CRM Lies 55:33 – Where to Find Matthew and Raymond WHAT YOU'LL LEARN - The real gross profit benchmarks by trade, and why a 50% GP can secretly be sub 40 once labor is fully loaded - Why 20% net profit is realistic, and the mistakes keeping most shops at 5 to 12% - How discounting quietly wrecks your margin, and why 2 to 3% more on ads beats 10% off the price - Why booking rate is the first thing to fix before spending another dollar on marketing - How one plumbing company cut 3 million dollars a year in overhead in six months - The exit math that turns a 200,000 dollar expense cut into 2 million more at the sale THIS EPISODE IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY UPFROG System replacement leads from paid ads, nurtured and booked into sold jobs before your team arrives: upfrog.comBREEZY About 30 percent of inbound calls in home services go unanswered, and those are customers ready to book with whoever picks up first. Breezy puts AI agents on every call, books the job, and follows up instantly, so you wake up to booked jobs instead of missed calls. See how many jobs you are losing at https://getbreezyapp.com and use code SBM for 500 dollars toward Breezy. MARKET STORM Market Storm uses AI to catch early buyer intent and put your brand in front of homeowners before they ever search. Visit https://marketstorm.ai or text 213-575-5448. CALLRAIL CallRail assigns a unique tracking number to each marketing effort, so you know which channels bring your best leads. Try it free at https://callrail.com/sbmpod. PHONETAP Your calls hold the key to growing your business. PhoneTAP gives you instant AI analysis, real customer lifetime value, and tools to coach your team. Learn more: phonetap.ai/demo COMPANYCAM Capture work, track job progress, and stay connected from the field to the office with photo documentation and AI tools that keep work moving. Start a free trial at https://companycam.com/ CONNECT WITH OUR HOSTS AND GUEST Tersh Blissett: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tershblissett/ Josh Crouch: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-crouch/ Matthew Mooney (Profitability Partners): https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-mooney-54b09047/ Raymond Gong (Profitability Partners): https://www.linkedin.com/in/gongraymond/ ARTICLES WORTH READING HVAC profit margin benchmarks: https://profitabilitypartners.io/hvac-profit-margins/ Plumbing profit margin benchmarks: https://profitabilitypartners.io/plumbing-profit-margins/ ABOUT SERVICE BUSINESS MASTERY Service Business Mastery helps home service owners run better, more profitable companies. Every week, Tersh Blissett and Josh Crouch break down the operations, technology, and leadership behind growing an HVAC, plumbing, or electrical business, with the operators actually doing the work. More at https://servicebusinessmastery.com/ Want the frameworks from each episode in your inbox? Join the free Service Business Mastery newsletter: https://servicebusinessmastery.com/ Subscribe on YouTube and follow us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts so you never miss an episode. If this one helped, share it with an owner who needs it. #ServiceBusinessMastery #HomeServices #ContractorProfit #HVACBusiness #FractionalCFO Service Business Mastery for Skilled Trades: HVAC, Plumbing &amp; Electrical Home Service https://www.servicebusinessmastery.com <iframe title="Libsyn Player" style="border: none" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/42244805/height/90/theme/custom/thumbnail/yes/direction/forward/render-playlist/no/custom-color/88AA3C/" height="90" width="600" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen></iframe> https://assets.libsyn.com/secure/content/204550270