Job costing for trades: did that job actually make money?

Plenty of trade businesses are flat out and still not making money. The usual reason is not laziness or bad luck; it is that nobody is checking whether each job actually came in at a profit. Job costing fixes that. It is simply the habit of tracking what a job cost you against what you charged.

Why job costing matters

A quote is a prediction. Job costing is the scoreboard. Without it you are flying blind: you might be losing money on the work you do most and never know. With it, you learn which jobs, customers and types of work are actually worth your time.

The three costs to capture

Labour

The biggest and most slippery cost. Capture the hours actually worked on the job, including travel and the parts that ran over, at your true cost of labour rather than the bare wage.

Materials

Record what was actually used, not what you guessed at quote time. Tracking materials against the job as parts get used keeps this honest.

Overhead

Vehicles, tools, software, insurance and admin time do not vanish just because they are hard to see. Apply a consistent overhead loading so every job carries its fair share.

Capture costs as they happen

The fatal mistake is leaving job costing until month-end, when nobody remembers the details. Capture time and materials against the job while the work is happening, from the field, and the numbers are there when you need them.

Compare quoted versus actual

The useful moment is putting the quote next to the actual cost. A job that came in over is a lesson; a job that came in under is a recipe to repeat. Either way you learn something you can price on next time.

Use what you learn

Job costing only pays off if it changes your quoting. Feed the patterns back in: if a certain job type always runs over, your price for it should too. Over time your quotes get sharper and your margins stop being a surprise.