The Remodeler Who Was Allergic to His Own Numbers

Tony thought he was profitable. His QuickBooks had other ideas.

Client: Tony
Industry: Kitchen & Bath Remodeling
Annual Revenue: $1.4 million
Service: Fractional Controller + QuickBooks Online Migration + CoConstruct Integration

The Problem

Tony had been remodeling kitchens and bathrooms for six years. He'd grown from a one-man operation to a crew of four, running $1.4 million through the books. Clients loved him. Referrals kept coming. He figured he was doing fine.

He figured wrong.

His "accounting system" was QuickBooks Desktop running on a laptop that sounded like a helicopter taking off. Personal Amazon orders lived next to lumber purchases. His wife's Costco runs were coded as "job materials." And job costing? That was a rumor he'd heard about at a trade show once.

Every project went into the same financial bucket—a bucket with a hole in the bottom.

When we asked Tony which of his jobs made money, he gave us the answer we hear from half the contractors we meet: "I mean... all of them? Probably?"

Spoiler: Not all of them. Not even close.

What We Fixed

Migrated to QuickBooks Online (And Into the 21st Century)

We moved Tony off Desktop and built a proper Chart of Accounts using NAHB standards for remodelers. Labor, materials, subs, permits, that random breakfast he bought the tile guy—everything now has a home. We connected CoConstruct so his estimates, change orders, and invoices actually talk to each other instead of living in parallel universes.

Performed Financial Archaeology on His Expenses

We dug through 18 months of transactions and found $14,600 in personal expenses masquerading as business costs. Dog food is not a job expense, Tony. Neither is your Netflix subscription or that "client entertainment" that was actually your anniversary dinner.

Turned On Job Costing (The Real Kind)

Every dollar now flows to the correct project. Tony can see exactly what a master bath remodel costs—labor, tile, fixtures, even the porta-potty rental. When a job wraps, he knows immediately whether he made money or donated his time to charity.

The Financial Impact

With clean data, we discovered something painful: Tony's most popular project type—the $45K-$65K bathroom gut-and-rebuild—was running at 14% gross margin instead of the 28% he assumed.

He'd been underpricing by roughly $6,000 per job.

At 18 of those projects per year, that's $108,000 in margin he was leaving on the table. Not losing money exactly—but working twice as hard as he needed to for the same profit.

Tony adjusted his pricing. He lost two price-shoppers who weren't his clients anyway. Everyone else said yes without blinking. Turns out, he'd been the cheapest option in his market—and not in a good way.

He also stopped accidentally taking jobs that were underwater from the start. That saved another $23,000 in the first year—projects he would have bid at a loss without realizing it.

The ROI

First-Year Financial Results:

• Pricing correction on bathroom remodels (18 jobs × $6K): $108,000

• Avoided underwater projects: $23,000

• Tax savings from removing personal expenses: ~$3,500

Total measurable impact: ~$134,500

Investment: $3,500/month × 12 months = $42,000

Result: 3.2× ROI in year one.

The Takeaway

Tony didn't need more leads. He needed to stop working for free.

Once he could actually see which jobs made money, he stopped guessing and started pricing. His revenue stayed flat. His profit jumped 40%.

The best part? He finally knows what a bathroom remodel actually costs him. Turns out, that's useful information when you're trying to run a business.

Ready to Find Your Hidden Profit?

If you're running a remodeling company and can't answer "which jobs actually make me money?"—that's a problem we can fix.

Schedule a free 30-minute Profit Leak Assessment →

We'll look at your current setup, identify where margins are likely leaking, and tell you honestly whether we can help.

Salisbury Bookkeeping specializes in helping construction companies move beyond basic bookkeeping into controller-level financial clarity. We integrate with project management tools like CoConstruct, Buildertrend, and Procore to give you real-time job costing without the double-entry headache.