Reading a bad month: fence contractor KPIs by symptom

What to take away

Start with the symptom, not the dashboard

Read one measure first: the one your symptom points at. Six numbers read together on a bad day only start an argument. The records behind them are the short list in the fence contractor software and KPI guide, and this page assumes they exist.

A measure earns its place only if a bad reading would change what you do next month. Fill each one from your own data, and set no target copied from elsewhere, because a target copied from another business is a target for another business.

Busy crews and thin money

Check contribution per crew day first, then the installable hour ratio. Crew days are what you are short of, so the work that pays least per crew day is where a busy season leaks. Contribution shows which jobs those are, and the hour ratio shows why.

The formula is the price received, minus direct materials, minus direct labor, minus job specific costs, divided by crew days consumed. Count the return visit after cure as crew days, or the figure flatters every job that needed one. Invoices, material costs by job and hours by job supply the inputs.

Sort completed jobs by this number and look at the bottom group for what they share. It is rarely the fence type. Usually it is distance, ground, or a gate that was not priced separately, and that points at the quoting checklist, not at one more rate rise.

When contribution is thin on jobs whose quote looked sound, divide installing hours by total paid hours. This is usually the least flattering number in a fencing business, and it points at routing and handling, not at people. Split every timesheet into travel, load, wait, install and return.

Then attack the largest non-installing bucket. Route by geography, batch return visits after cure, book locate requests against the schedule rather than the sale, and load in reverse order of use. The equipment checklist for new owners covers the load-out.

Jobs that run over

Read estimate accuracy operation by operation, never as one job total. Divide quoted hours by actual hours for layout, locating and waiting, digging, setting, panel or fabric work, and gates, each on its own line. The line that drifts is the assumption that broke.

This reading shows where your estimating is wrong, which is a different question from whether your price is right. Correct the estimating rule for that operation rather than raising the overall price. It needs the quote build-up and the hours split by operation.

A digging assumption that is wrong in one part of your area is a note on the quoting checklist, not a price rise for everybody. Write the note, check it against the next few jobs there, and leave the rest of the price list alone.

Quotes that do not become jobs

Look at the visit before you look at the price. Divide jobs won by quotes issued, separately for repair, replacement, new installation and specification work. In this trade most losses are scope gaps rather than price gaps.

The record is a numbered quote series with an outcome written against each. A high conversion with thin margins usually means the price is low. A low conversion with a good margin may just mean you are quoting the wrong work.

Customers who call back

Count unplanned return visits against jobs completed, and write the cause on each one. Gates and post movement dominate. The measure is only as good as the callback log, which must record why the visit happened, not just that it did.

Fix the cause in the standard, not in the individual job. Three gate adjustments in a season with the same leaf size is a specification problem. Rewrite the line in your written service standards so the next gate is built to the corrected rule.

Work done, cash short

Read days to cleared funds when work is plentiful but money is tight. Take the average days from final invoice to funds cleared, and separately the days from material order to final payment. Together they show how much of your own cash each job holds.

That sets how many jobs you can run at once. If the number is rising, look at deposit sizing and terms before you look at sales. A busy season that raises it also raises your working capital need at the same time.

The records behind every reading

None of this works without dated records, so build the habit before any dashboard. The Internal Revenue Service says good records help you monitor the progress of your business, which is the plain case for logging invoices, payments and job costs as they happen.

For the installable hour ratio, the timesheet needs a split, not just a total. The U.S. Department of Labor says employers may use any timekeeping method they choose, so travel, load, wait, install and return can go on the paper or app you already use.

Common questions

Which measure should I read first?

The one your symptom points at. Thin money sends you to contribution per crew day, overruns to estimate accuracy by operation, lost quotes to conversion by service family. Reading all six at once on a bad day produces noise rather than a decision.

Should I track anything weekly?

Cash and the schedule, informally. The six measures here are monthly, and reading them weekly produces noise rather than information.

What if I cannot produce one of the measures?

Then that gap is your first finding. Hours by operation is the record that unlocks the others, and it is the one most often collected as a job total instead of a split.

How long before a reading means anything?

Contribution and conversion need a season. Return visit rate needs longer, because callbacks arrive after the first freeze and thaw. Installable hour ratio is meaningful within a month.