Service & Repair
Flat-rate, T&M, dispatch fees
Profit levers
- Billable efficiency
- Trip charges
- Truck stock accuracy
- Callback rate
Where it bleeds: Truck stock walks off the shelf and never gets billed to the job. Margin evaporates before invoicing.
Built for plumbing contractors
Service calls or installs — one of them is actually making you money.
Most plumbing shops run three businesses under one roof — service & repair, replacement & install, and new construction / commercial — reported as one blended P&L that hides which one is actually feeding the company.
Dead Level rebuilds your books so each revenue stream stands on its own — with job costing, truck-stock accuracy, 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.
Replacement & Install
Fixed-price, financed jobs
Profit levers
- Estimate accuracy
- Change order capture
- Install-day productivity
- Warranty reserve
Where it bleeds: Callbacks and warranty work hit next month's margin — not the job that caused them.
New Construction / Commercial
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 never funds.
Things we hear on the first call
Not general accounting problems. Plumbing contractor problems.
- 01
"We ran 1,400 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 truck carries $5K in fittings and half of it never makes it onto an invoice."
Root cause
Truck inventory expensed at purchase, not consumed against jobs.
- 03
"Our install crew looks profitable, but callbacks are eating us alive."
Root cause
Warranty and callback labor booked to overhead — not back to the job.
- 04
"Revenue is up 20% and cash is somehow tighter than last year."
Root cause
Financed installs paid over months; you funded the crew today.
- 05
"I raised flat-rate pricing 8% 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 financed installs, deposits held for future work, and payroll that runs whether the customer pays or not — cash and profit don't move together in a plumbing shop.
- 13-week rolling cash forecast tied to your dispatch board
- Deposits and progress payments tracked as liabilities, not revenue
- Financed jobs 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 | Install In | Payroll | Material / PO | Net | Bank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W1 | $84K | $46K | $62K | $38K | $30K | $212K |
| W2 | $78K | $28K | $62K | $44K | $0K | $212K |
| W3 | $92K | $18K | $62K | $52K | ($4K) | $208K |
| W4 | $88K | $74K | $62K | $41K | $59K | $267K |
| W5 | $81K | $22K | $62K | $48K | ($7K) | $260K |
| 5-wk totals | $423K | $188K | $310K | $223K | $78K net | — |
For illustrative purposes only. Sample numbers are hypothetical and will vary based on your shop.
What you actually get
Six deliverables, standardized for plumbing shops.
Not every recurring package includes every report below. We scope deliverables to the engagement tier and what your shop actually needs right now.
Deliverable 01 / 06
Job costing rebuild
Every service call and install re-costed against labor hours, truck stock consumed, and burden — so target vs. actual is real and defensible.
Deliverable 02 / 06
Segmented P&L
Service, install, and new construction reported as three distinct income statements.
Deliverable 03 / 06
Price-book audit
Flat-rate and install pricing recalculated on true burdened labor cost + material margin. No more guessing on quotes.
Deliverable 04 / 06
13-week cash forecast
Rolling cash view that pulls from AR, financed jobs, payroll, and material commitments. Updated weekly.
Deliverable 05 / 06
Truck inventory system
Truck stock costed as job material, not shop expense. Real material margin per truck, per tech, per week.
Deliverable 06 / 06
True labor cost per tech
Wages + workers' comp + payroll tax + benefits + non-billable time = fully-loaded hourly cost. Loaded into every quote.
The numbers that matter
Plumbing contractor benchmarks — the ones we hold you to.
50%+
Service gross margin
Below 45% means pricing or dispatch efficiency
35–42%
Install gross margin
After true labor burden — not before
65–75%
Booked ratio (service)
Below this is a CSR or pricing problem
<3%
Callback rate
Each callback wipes the margin on 3 profitable calls
$650+
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 a plumbing shop on the numbers actually looks like.
- Day 1–201
Every call gets a number
New service call or new install contract — both open a job in ServiceTitan / Housecall Pro / 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
Truck stock consumed to jobs
Material used on the truck posts to the job — not the shop. You see the real material margin as it happens.
- Monthly04
Books closed, dashboard delivered
Segmented P&L, KPI dashboard, and 13-week cash forecast in your inbox by day 7.
- Monthly05
CFO working session
Which service lines to reprice, which techs need coaching, which install crews to promote, which financing plans to renegotiate.
This is for you if
- Plumbing shops $1M–$25M running service, install, or both
- Owners who suspect one revenue stream is subsidizing another
- Contractors adding trucks or crews and losing visibility into margin
- 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 plumbing owners ask
What to expect before the diagnostic.
How long does onboarding take?
Most plumbing shops are fully onboarded in 2–4 weeks. That includes mapping your chart of accounts to service, install, 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, etc.). 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 plumbing shop books every week. We look at your revenue mix, gross margins, cash cycle, 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 replace my CPA or bookkeeper?
Not necessarily. We handle the financial operating system, job costing, dashboards, and CFO-level guidance. Many clients keep their tax CPA and we coordinate with them. If you need a new bookkeeper, we can recommend one trained in our system.
Can this work if we don't use ServiceTitan or Housecall Pro?
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 Plumbing Financial Diagnostic
Bring last month's service and install numbers. We'll tell you which one is carrying the other.
A structured 30-minute review with a Dead Level advisor who reads plumbing 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