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A Clean Chart of Accounts for Home Service Businesses (Template)
Your chart of accounts is the backbone of your bookkeeping — the set of categories every dollar flows into. Get it right and you can see exactly where your money goes, what jobs really cost, and how profitable you are. Get it wrong (or use a generic default) and your numbers are a fog. Here’s how to structure a clean one for a home service business.
Flat Rate vs Hourly Pricing for Service Businesses: Which Makes More Money?
Charge by the hour, or charge a flat price per job? It’s one of the biggest pricing decisions a service business makes — and it changes how much you earn, how customers feel, and how your techs behave. Here’s the honest comparison, and why most successful service businesses land on flat rate.
How to Build a Flat Rate Price Book From Scratch (With Formulas)
A flat rate price book turns your pricing from a nervous on-the-spot guess into a confident, consistent, profitable number every tech can quote. Building one from scratch sounds daunting, but it comes down to a formula and some discipline. Here’s how to build yours, step by step.
Job Costing for Contractors: Track Labor Materials and Real Profit
You can’t know if a job made money until you know what it truly cost — and “revenue minus parts” isn’t it. Job costing is the discipline of tracking the real cost of each job so you know your actual profit, not a guess. Here’s how to do it and why it changes everything.
How to Calculate Your Labor Burden Rate (Free Formula + Example)
If you price your labor at what you pay your tech per hour, you’re losing money on every job — probably a lot. A tech who earns $25/hour actually costs you far more once you add everything up. That real number is your labor burden rate, and calculating it is the foundation of profitable pricing. Here’s the formula, with an example.
A 13-Week Cash Flow Forecast Template for Small Contractors
Profitable businesses go under all the time — not because they aren’t making money, but because they run out of cash at the wrong moment. A 13-week cash flow forecast is the simple tool that keeps that from happening to you. Here’s the template and how to use it.
Get Paid Faster: Invoicing Rules That Cut Days Sales Outstanding
The job’s done, but the money isn’t in — and every day it sits unpaid is a day your cash is working for the customer instead of you. Slow-paying invoices strangle cash flow, especially as you grow. Here are the invoicing rules that cut your Days Sales Outstanding and get you paid faster.
Deposits and Progress Payments: How Much to Ask For (By Job Size)
Should you ask for money before the work is done? For small repairs, usually no. For larger jobs, absolutely — a deposit protects your cash flow and filters out non-serious customers. The real question is how much to ask for, and when. Here’s a practical guide by job size.
Chasing Late Payments: A Collections Sequence That Keeps the Relationship
Chasing late payments is nobody’s favorite job — it feels awkward, and you don’t want to torch a customer relationship over it. But unpaid invoices are your money, and letting them slide teaches customers they don’t have to pay. Here’s a collections sequence that gets you paid while keeping the relationship intact.
Can You Add a Credit Card Surcharge? State-by-State Rules for SMBs
Tired of watching 2–3% of every card transaction disappear to processing fees? You may be able to pass that cost to customers with a surcharge — but the rules are a legal minefield that varies by state and card-network policy. Here’s how surcharging works and where it’s allowed.
Offering Customer Financing: How It Changes Your Average Ticket
A $9,000 system replacement is an easy “no” when the customer has to write one big check — and an easy “yes” at “$150 a month.” Offering customer financing changes the question from “can I afford this?” to “which option?” and it can meaningfully lift your average ticket and close rate. Here’s how it works and what to weigh.
Buy or Lease Your Service Trucks? A Real Cost Comparison
Your trucks are one of your biggest expenses, and the lease-or-buy decision affects your cash, your taxes, and your flexibility for years. There’s no universally right answer — it depends on your cash position, how you use the vehicles, and your tax situation. Here’s a real cost comparison to help you decide.
Credit Card Processing Fees Explained: What SMBs Really Pay in 2026
Credit card processing fees are one of those costs that quietly eat 2–3% of your revenue while you’re not looking. Multiply that across every job and it’s real money. Here’s what small businesses actually pay in 2026, how the fee structure works, and how to stop overpaying.
SBA 7(a) Loans for Service Businesses: Requirements Rates Timeline
An SBA 7(a) loan is one of the best financing options a small service business can get — longer terms and lower rates than most conventional business loans, because the government guarantees part of it. But the requirements and timeline trip people up. Here’s what it takes to qualify, roughly what it costs, and how long it takes.
LLC vs S-Corp for a Service Business: The Tax Math at $150K $400K $1M
“Should I be an LLC or an S-Corp?” is one of the most common — and most consequential — questions a growing service business asks. The answer is really about tax math, and it changes as your profit grows. Here’s how the two compare at $150K, $400K, and $1M in profit.
General Liability Insurance for Contractors: What It Costs in 2026
General liability insurance is table stakes for a contractor — it protects you when a job goes wrong, a customer’s property is damaged, or someone gets hurt. It’s also often required to get licensed, bonded, or hired for commercial work. Here’s what it covers and roughly what it costs in 2026.
Workers' Comp for Small Contractors: Rules Rates and Exemptions
Workers’ compensation insurance is one of the most misunderstood — and most legally required — costs for a contractor with employees. Get it wrong and you face fines, lawsuits, and uninsured injury bills that can sink the business. Here’s how workers’ comp works, who needs it, and what drives the rates.
Overhead Recovery: What to Charge Per Billable Hour to Break Even
Your rent, trucks, insurance, office staff, and software don’t bill customers directly — but they have to get paid somehow. Overhead recovery is how you build those fixed costs into every job so you actually break even before profit. Miss it and you can be “busy and broke.” Here’s how to calculate what to charge per billable hour.
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