Service & Repair
Flat-rate, T&M, dispatch fees
Profit levers
- Billable efficiency
- Trip charges
- Truck stock accuracy
- Callback rate
Where it bleeds: Small service calls eat truck material that never gets billed. Margin evaporates before invoicing.
Built for electrical contractors
Service, remodel, or commercial — one of them is actually making you money.
Most electrical shops run three businesses under one roof — service & repair, residential remodel, and commercial / new construction — reported as one blended P&L that hides which one is actually carrying the company.
Dead Level rebuilds your books so each revenue stream stands on its own — with job costing, WIP accounting, and a cash-flow view your bank will actually read.
Three revenue models · One shop
Each one has to be measured differently. Most accountants measure them the same.
Residential Remodel
Fixed-price, milestone billing
Profit levers
- Estimate accuracy
- Change order capture
- Rough-in vs. trim productivity
- Punchlist cost
Where it bleeds: Change orders get done verbally on site and never make it into the billing — the labor did, though.
Commercial / New Construction
Progress billing, retainage
Profit levers
- Labor productivity vs. bid
- Material burden
- Punchlist cost
- Retainage aging
Where it bleeds: Billings ahead of costs looks like profit — until the retainage sits unpaid for 90+ days.
Things we hear on the first call
Not general accounting problems. Electrical contractor problems.
- 01
"We ran 1,100 service calls last month. I have no idea which ones actually made money."
Root cause
No job costing tied to labor hours, truck stock, or dispatch time.
- 02
"Every van carries $4K in wire and devices and half of it never makes it onto an invoice."
Root cause
Van inventory expensed at purchase, not consumed against jobs.
- 03
"The commercial GC is holding $180K in retainage across four jobs. My books show it as revenue."
Root cause
Retainage isn't tracked as an asset. Cash forecast overstated by 6 figures.
- 04
"Revenue is up 18% and cash is somehow tighter than last year."
Root cause
Progress-billed jobs paid over months; you funded the crew and material today.
- 05
"I raised flat-rate pricing 10% and margin didn't move."
Root cause
Material burden and true labor cost never reloaded into the price book.
- 06
"The bank wants a WIP schedule for our commercial work. My bookkeeper doesn't know what that is."
Root cause
Books kept on cash basis; no percent-complete accounting.
The cash view
A profitable month can still drain the bank. Your books should tell you that in advance.
Between commercial retainage, remodel deposits, and payroll that runs whether the GC pays or not — cash and profit don't move together in an electrical shop.
- 13-week rolling cash forecast tied to your job board
- Retainage tracked as an asset with aging by GC
- Progress billing modeled against actual funding timelines
- Payroll, tax, and insurance obligations sequenced week-by-week
- Weekly cash call — no surprises on the 15th or the 30th
13-Week Cash Forecast · Sample
Period ending 10/31
| Week | Service In | Commercial In | Payroll | Material / PO | Net | Bank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W1 | $72K | $58K | $68K | $42K | $20K | $196K |
| W2 | $68K | $0K | $68K | $46K | ($46K) | $150K |
| W3 | $81K | $92K | $68K | $44K | $61K | $211K |
| W4 | $76K | $0K | $68K | $38K | ($30K) | $181K |
| W5 | $74K | $114K | $68K | $52K | $68K | $249K |
| 5-wk totals | $371K | $264K | $340K | $222K | $73K net | — |
For illustrative purposes only. Sample numbers are hypothetical and will vary based on your shop.
What you actually get
Six deliverables, standardized for electrical shops.
01 / 06
Job costing rebuild
Every service call, remodel, and commercial job re-costed against labor hours, van stock consumed, and burden — so target vs. actual is real and defensible.
02 / 06
Segmented P&L
Service, residential remodel, and commercial reported as three distinct income statements. One page each.
03 / 06
Price-book & bid audit
Flat-rate service and commercial bid rates recalculated on true burdened labor cost + material margin. No more guessing on quotes.
04 / 06
13-week cash forecast
Rolling cash view that pulls from AR, retainage, payroll, and material commitments. Updated weekly.
05 / 06
WIP & retainage schedule
Percent-complete accounting, retainage aging by GC, and over/underbillings — the reports your bonding agent actually wants.
06 / 06
True labor cost per crew
Wages + workers' comp + payroll tax + benefits + non-billable time = fully-loaded hourly cost. Loaded into every bid.
The numbers that matter
Electrical contractor benchmarks — the ones we hold you to.
50%+
Service gross margin
Below 45% means pricing or dispatch efficiency
28–35%
Commercial gross margin
After true labor burden and material — not before
65–75%
Booked ratio (service)
Below this is a CSR or pricing problem
<60 days
Retainage aging
Anything past 90 days is a collections call waiting to happen
$550+
Average service ticket
Trending down means techs are unsure of the price book
3.5–4.5x
Labor burden multiplier
Your billing rate must clear this every hour
The operating rhythm
What running an electrical shop on the numbers actually looks like.
- Day 1–201
Every job gets a number
New service call, remodel contract, or commercial project — all open a job in ServiceTitan / Housecall Pro / Knowify / QBO with a matching cost code structure.
- Weekly02
Labor hours land against jobs
Payroll ties to timecards which tie to job numbers. No orphan hours. No 'shop' bucket eating margin.
- Weekly03
Van stock consumed to jobs
Wire, devices, and material used on the van posts to the job — not the shop. You see real material margin as it happens.
- Monthly04
Books closed, dashboard delivered
Segmented P&L, WIP schedule, KPI dashboard, and 13-week cash forecast in your inbox by day 7.
- Monthly05
CFO working session
Which service lines to reprice, which crews are underwater on commercial jobs, which GCs to fire, which financing plans to renegotiate.
This is for you if
- Electrical shops $1M–$25M running service, remodel, commercial, or a mix
- Owners who suspect commercial jobs are subsidizing service — or vice versa
- Contractors chasing bonding capacity and needing a real WIP schedule
- Shops where nobody trusts the P&L anymore
This is not for you if
- Shops under $750K — the fee doesn't pencil out for you yet
- Owner/operators who don't want a monthly financial rhythm
- Contractors looking for a cheap bookkeeper — that's not us
- Shops that want the CPA to only surface at tax time
Questions electrical owners ask
What to expect before the diagnostic.
How long does onboarding take?
Most electrical shops are fully onboarded in 2–4 weeks. That includes mapping your chart of accounts to service, remodel, and commercial lines, training your office on job-cost entry, and building the first clean month of reports.
What do I need to have ready before the diagnostic call?
Bring your last three months' P&L and balance sheet, plus your current payroll and job-management setup (ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro, Knowify, Procore). If your books are messy, that's fine — the call is designed to diagnose the mess, not judge it.
What happens during the Financial Diagnostic?
A 30-minute structured review with a Dead Level advisor who reads electrical shop books every week. We look at your revenue mix, gross margins, cash cycle, WIP, and job-costing gaps. You leave with a written diagnosis and a clear next step — even if that next step isn't us.
How long until I can trust the numbers?
Most owners see a clean, segmented P&L and owner dashboard within 30–45 days of starting. If your books need a deeper cleanup, we'll tell you upfront and handle the heavy lifting before the monthly rhythm begins.
Do you handle WIP and bonding reports?
Yes. Percent-complete accounting, retainage schedules, and over/underbillings are standard deliverables. If you're chasing higher bonding capacity, we build the reports the surety actually wants to see.
Can this work if we don't use ServiceTitan or Knowify?
Yes. We work with the tools you already use — QuickBooks, Xero, spreadsheets, or field-service software. The goal is clean numbers, not forcing you into a new platform. If a tool change would help, we'll flag it in the diagnostic.
The Electrical Financial Diagnostic
Bring last month's service, remodel, and commercial numbers. We'll tell you which one is carrying the other two.
A structured 30-minute review with a Dead Level advisor who reads electrical shop P&Ls every week. You leave with a written diagnosis. No pitch deck.
- Trades only
- Fixed monthly fee
- 7-day close
- Segmented P&L