The Contractor Fight with Tom Reber

See what needs your attention in your contracting business:

https://bit.ly/BuildABusinessWorthHaving_cf1

Contractor finances are about more than revenue.

You can run a $2 million, $5 million, or even $10 million contracting business and still not know if you’re actually making money.

Revenue tells you how big your business is. It doesn’t tell you how healthy it is.

In this episode, Tom Reber breaks down the 6 numbers every contractor needs to know to understand the financial health of their business: revenue, gross profit, overhead, net profit, cash flow, and owner’s compensation.

These numbers show you what your work is actually producing, what it costs to run the company, how much profit is left, whether you have enough cash to cover what’s due, and what the business is ultimately producing for you.

If you want to get control of your contractor finances, you don’t need to become an accountant. You need to understand your numbers well enough to make better decisions.

In this episode:

• The 6 financial numbers every contractor should know
• Why revenue alone doesn’t tell you whether your contracting business is healthy
• How gross profit shows what your jobs are actually producing
• Why Tom pushes contractors to bid at a minimum 50% gross profit
• How overhead affects what your business needs to produce every day
• Why more revenue doesn’t automatically mean more profit
• The difference between net profit and cash flow
• How accounts receivable can leave a profitable contracting business short on cash
• Why owner’s compensation matters when measuring what the business actually produces for you

Chapters:

00:00 — Contractor finances: Is your business healthy?

00:43 — #1: Revenue

01:36 — #2: Gross profit

02:44 — Build a Business Worth Having Scorecard

03:09 — #3: Overhead

04:00 — #4: Net profit

05:18 — #5: Cash flow

06:04 — #6: Owner’s compensation

06:56 — How the 6 financial numbers work together

07:44 — Find the number you don’t know

Your challenge:

Pull your P&L and your receivables and find all six numbers:

Revenue. Gross profit. Overhead. Net profit. Cash flow. Owner’s compensation.

If there’s one you can’t answer, start there.

You can’t make good decisions with numbers you don’t know. Getting control of your contractor finances doesn’t mean becoming an accountant. It means understanding your company well enough to know what the business is actually producing for you.

Take the free Build a Business Worth Having Scorecard to see where your business needs your attention right now:

https://bit.ly/BuildABusinessWorthHaving_cf1

The goal isn’t just to build a bigger contracting business. It’s to build one that’s actually worth having.

#ContractorFinances #ContractorFinance #ContractorProfit

See if you've built a business worth having: https://bit.ly/BuildABusinessWorthHaving_itf1

Jarrod was working sunup to sundown at least six days a week.

He had moved to Colorado with his wife to build a new life, but instead of having the freedom to enjoy it, most of his time was consumed by work.

Today, that's starting to look very different.

In this episode of Inside The Fight, Tim and Derek sit down with Jarrod, owner of Alpine Design and Remodeling, to talk about how he went from grinding six days a week, not knowing his numbers, and struggling to step away from work to building a contracting business he can actually be proud to own.

They break down:

• Why working sunup to sundown six days a week was costing Jarrod more than just his time

• How learning his numbers changed the way he thought about growing and scaling his business

• Why moving from Minnesota to Colorado forced him to get uncomfortable and make major changes in his life

• How coaching helped Jarrod build confidence, communicate better, and change the way he saw himself

• Why head trash can limit what contractors believe they can accomplish and what they're willing to charge

• How Jarrod went from feeling like he couldn't afford to take a day off to stepping away from the field without worrying about it

Chapters

00:00 Jarrod's Move to Colorado and Starting Over

02:58 Building a Business Worth Owning

05:56 What Wasn't Working Before The Fight

08:32 How the Grind Was Affecting His Home Life

10:35 Realizing There Was a Better Way

14:32 The Coaching Moment That Changed His Identity

19:23 The Change Jarrod Resisted the Most

23:21 Learning to Track the Numbers That Matter

25:21 What His Business Allows Him to Do Now

33:42 The Head Trash Holding Contractors Back

Jarrod didn't just need a better business strategy.

He needed to change the way he thought about his business, his time, and what was actually possible for his life.

Because building a successful contracting business isn't just about working harder or generating more revenue.

It's about building something worth owning.

Tom Reber is the founder of The Contractor Fight. He is the host of Contractor Fight TV, an entrepreneur, a speaker, a podcaster, and a former HGTV host.

For over 20 years, Tom has helped hundreds of thousands of contractors build businesses worth having.

He does this by helping them become the kind of people capable of building them.

On this channel you will find straight-talk training for your business.

We cover sales, pricing, profit, leadership, and mindset.

Our goal is to build a Strong You, a Strong Home, and a Strong Business.

The first fight is always with yourself.

Join The Fight. 👊

https://bit.ly/BuildABusinessWorthHaving_tob

Successful, Miserable, Trapped

You got the trucks, the crew, and the revenue number you used to dream about.

From the outside, it looks like you’ve made it. But you can’t take a week off. Every important decision comes back to you. And somewhere along the way, you stopped thinking about what the business could become and started focusing on getting through the day.

In this episode, Tom Reber explains how a contractor can build a successful business and still feel miserable and trapped inside it.

The usual scoreboard measures revenue, trucks, and head count. It doesn’t tell you whether the business pays you well for the roles you’re filling, gives you a life outside of work, or can function when you step away.

In this episode:

• Three signs you may be trapped in the business you built
• Why a business that can’t run for a week without you has a serious problem
• How you can be the highest paid employee and the lowest paid owner
• Why being great at your trade can lead to years of reacting instead of building
• How to define what you need the business to pay you and how much time you’re willing to give it
• Which roles to start moving off your plate
• Why healthy margins give you room to make those changes

Chapters:

00:00 — You hit the goal, so why do you feel trapped?

01:56 — Sign #1: The business can’t run a week without you

02:47 — Sign #2: You’re the highest paid employee and lowest paid owner

03:40 — Sign #3: You stopped imagining what’s next

04:14 — How you became the person who solves everything

05:35 — Successful, miserable, trapped

06:03 — Decide what the business is for

06:24 — Decide which roles you’ll leave

06:47 — Fix the margins that make change possible

08:40 — Your business doesn’t have to be a life sentence

Your challenge:

Write down two things: what you need this business to put in your pocket and how many hours you’re willing to work.

Then look at the roles you’re filling right now. Which one makes the best use of your time? Which ones need someone else in the seat, and when will you make that happen?

A bigger business won’t automatically give you a better life. You have to decide what worth having means to you and build toward it.

Take the free Build a Business Worth Having Scorecard to see which problems are costing you the most:

https://bit.ly/BuildABusinessWorthHaving_tob

The business you have today doesn’t have to be the business you’re stuck with forever.

https://bit.ly/BuildABusinessWorthHaving_rbo

Why More Revenue Won't Fix Your Burnout

You’re doing $1 million, maybe $2 million a year.

You’ve got a crew. Your trucks are wrapped. People in town know your name.

And somehow, you’re more exhausted than when you were running the business solo.

In this episode, Tom breaks down why contractor burnout isn’t always the result of working too hard.

It’s what happens when you keep working hard without making real progress.

More revenue. More employees. More leads. More responsibility.

But you’re still selling the jobs, solving customer problems, making every important decision and putting out fires every week.

On paper, the business has grown.

In reality, it still depends on you.

Taking a vacation doesn’t fix that. Hustling harder doesn’t fix it either.

The solution is building a business that can operate without everything running through you.

In this episode:

• Why hard work alone isn’t what burns contractors out

• How more revenue can still leave you running in place

• Why your business should depend less on you as it grows

• How constantly saving the day keeps the business from progressing

• Why taking time off doesn’t fix the underlying problem

• The importance of building a sales process that doesn’t live in your head

• Why your crew needs standards they can execute without you

• How training people to make decisions gives you back your time

• Why better visibility into your numbers matters

• Why a growing business should eventually become easier to run

Your challenge:

Look at your business and identify where it still depends on you like it did in year one.

Sales.

Production.

Customer problems.

Money.

Day-to-day decisions.

If everything still has to go through you, more revenue isn’t going to solve the problem.

You have to build a business that needs less of you in the right places.

Take the free Build a Business Worth Having Scorecard to see what needs your attention and identify the bottlenecks keeping you from getting ahead:

https://bit.ly/BuildABusinessWorthHaving_rbo

You’ve already proven you can hustle.

The next level isn’t more of you.

It’s building a business that can grow without everything depending on you.

See if you've built a business worth having: https://bit.ly/BuildABusinessWorthHaving_itf1

Most contractors build a business that depends on them being there every day.

Taylor built one that allowed him to move to another state.

After years of working nonstop, struggling to trust his team, and feeling like he always had to be the one to come to the rescue, Taylor made a massive change. He moved from Arizona to Idaho while his contracting business stayed in Arizona — and continued to grow.

In this episode of Inside The Fight, Tim and Derek sit down with Taylor Payne, owner of Total Precision Builders in Casa Grande, AZ, to talk about how he went from being a workaholic who couldn't step away from the business to running a $2.7 million contracting company from another state.

They break down:

• How Taylor built a contracting business he could run from another state

• Why learning to trust his team was one of the biggest hurdles to gaining freedom

• How knowing his numbers, job costing, and understanding his margins changed the way he runs his business

• Why charging more and targeting a 50% gross profit forced him to rethink his pricing

• How pride kept him from admitting what wasn't working and implementing what he already knew

• Why Taylor put his first Mile High Profit Summit trip on a credit card when he felt like he couldn't afford to go

• How failing to implement kept him stuck even when he had the tools to move forward

• Why building the right team means no longer tolerating people who aren't aligned with your standards

• How Taylor went from making money the priority to valuing his freedom, family, and time

Chapters

00:00 How Taylor Runs a $2.7M Business From Another State

03:20 Moving to Idaho While the Business Stayed in Arizona

06:53 The Real Reason Taylor Needed More Freedom

10:35 What The Fight Changed in His Business

14:18 Discovering the 50% Gross Profit Mindset

18:45 Why His Old Business Couldn't Continue

22:06 Learning to Track the Numbers

27:32 The Coaching Moment That Changed His Sales

31:26 Pride, Failure & Starting Over

36:53 Taylor's Biggest Implementation Mistake

46:08 Why He Refuses to Go Back

50:15 What Contractors Need to Stop Tolerating

A successful contracting business shouldn't require you to be physically present every day just to keep it running.

When you know your numbers, build the right team, implement proven systems, and stop making yourself the answer to every problem, you create something bigger than revenue.

You create freedom.

Tom Reber is the founder of The Contractor Fight. He is the host of Contractor Fight TV, an entrepreneur, a speaker, a podcaster, and a former HGTV host.

For over 20 years, Tom has helped hundreds of thousands of contractors build businesses worth having.

He does this by helping them become the kind of people capable of building them.

On this channel you will find straight-talk training for your business.

We cover sales, pricing, profit, leadership, and mindset.

Our goal is to build a Strong You, a Strong Home, and a Strong Business.

The first fight is always with yourself.

Join The Fight. 👊

https://thecontractorfight.com/leak

Why The Best Salespeople Disqualify More Than They Sell

The best salespeople don’t try to close everyone.

They identify the wrong prospects early so they can spend their time on the right ones.

In this episode, Tom explains why chasing every lead isn’t commitment, hustle or good salesmanship. It’s a qualification problem.

Wrong budget. Wrong timeline. Multiple decision-makers who aren’t involved. Homeowners collecting estimates with no intention of buying.

No closing technique can fix a bad fit.

When you push every lead toward a meeting and proposal, you waste hours on opportunities that were dead from the beginning. That wasted effort eventually damages your confidence, creates desperation and pressures you to offer discounts you never needed to give.

The solution is to command the gate.

Ask the real questions before you get in the truck and require every lead to earn the meeting.

In this episode:

• Why great salespeople disqualify more prospects

• How chasing every lead damages your confidence and pricing

• Why closing techniques can’t overcome a bad fit

• How five bad leads per month can waste more than 90 hours a year

• The purpose of the Shin-Fu prequalification process

• How to uncover the prospect’s true motive

• Why vague answers are valuable information

• How to discuss money before scheduling the appointment

• Why every decision-maker needs to be identified

• What Command the Gate is designed to protect

Your challenge:

Before scheduling meetings with your next 10 leads, dig into three things on the phone:

• Their motive

• Their budget

• Every person involved in the decision

If their answers are vague, evasive or reveal that the project isn’t a fit, believe the information.

Disqualifying a prospect isn’t losing a sale. It’s protecting the time you need for the sales you can actually win.

Find the biggest leak in your sales process with the free Sales Leak Scorecard:

https://thecontractorfight.com/leak

You don’t win by closing everyone.

You win by knowing who is worth trying to close.

www.thecontractorfight.com/leak

Stop Trying to Build Rapport

Your prospects don’t need another contractor pretending to care about their dog, boat or favorite football team.

They need to trust that you can solve their problem.

In this episode, Tom challenges one of the oldest beliefs in sales: people buy from people they like.

Likability matters, but it doesn’t close the job by itself. Contractors lose sales every day after having friendly conversations with homeowners who genuinely liked them.

The missing ingredient is competence.

Manufactured small talk can actually work against you. It wastes time, signals that you’re running a sales technique and delays the conversation the homeowner actually wants to have.

Instead of trying to become their buddy, take command of the meeting. Explain the process, ask better questions, understand what they want and show them exactly how you’ll deliver it.

Competence is the rapport.

In this episode:

• Why being liked isn’t enough to close the job

• The difference between being friendly and manufacturing rapport

• How forced small talk can damage trust

• What homeowners are really thinking while you talk about their boat

• Why your sales process should begin before you arrive

• How explaining the meeting builds immediate credibility

• Why diagnosing the problem positions you as the expert

• The two things that actually build trust during the meeting

• Tom’s three-meeting challenge for eliminating fake rapport

Your challenge:

For your next three sales meetings, eliminate the manufactured small talk.

Explain your process within the first 60 seconds. Get directly into what the homeowner wants, why it matters and what has changed since the qualification call.

You don’t need to be liked.

You need to be trusted.

Find out where your sales process is leaking with the free Sales Leak Scorecard:

https://thecontractorfight.com/leak

Stop guessing. Find the leak. Fix the leak. Command your sales.

Have you built a business worth having: https://bit.ly/BuildABusinessWorthHaving_itf1

Most contractors believe the only way to build a successful business is to work 80 hours a week and sacrifice everything at home.

Roberto Diaz thought the exact same thing. He was working non-stop, hiding empty bank accounts from his family, and putting thousands of dollars on credit cards just to survive.

Then he hit a breaking point: "Strong Home, Strong Business."

In this episode of Into The Fight, Tim and Derek sit down with general contractor Roberto Diaz (owner of Building by Giving in Denver, CO) to talk about how he stopped overworking, started tracking his numbers with job costing, and built a business that lets him be home by 5 PM with his wife and kids.

They break down:

• Why overworking and sacrificing family time won't save your contracting business

• How to transition from doing everything yourself to implementing real business systems

• The exact breaking point that forces contractors to stop hiding from their numbers

• Why tracking job costing reveals the painful truth about your margins

• How to build standards around subs, culture, and hospitality in construction

• The power of reaching out to realtors, designers, and local partners to stay busy

• Why asking hard questions and practicing active listening saves marriages and businesses

Chapters

00:00 Welcome to Into The Fight: Roberto Diaz

00:58 Donating 3% to 5% of Every Project

03:36 The Breaking Point: Strong Home, Strong Business

04:55 Empty Bank Accounts & Taking the Risk

07:27 Deciding to Be a Present Father

12:33 Facing the Truth with Job Costing

15:15 Working with Family and Uncomfortable Conversations

18:34 Scaling with a Subcontractor Model & High Standards

26:28 Becoming a Better Husband & Communicator

32:45 The Question Every Contractor Needs to Ask

Running a contracting business should never force you to sacrifice your home life.

When you implement job costing and track your actual numbers, you build a company that runs smoothly. That clarity gives you the freedom to be fully present as a husband and father.

Tom Reber is the founder of The Contractor Fight. He is the host of Contractor Fight TV, an entrepreneur, a speaker, a podcaster, and a former HGTV host.

For over 20 years, Tom has helped hundreds of thousands of contractors build businesses worth having.

He does this by helping them become the kind of people capable of building them.

On this channel you will find straight-talk training for your business.

We cover sales, pricing, profit, leadership, and mindset.

Our goal is to build a Strong You, a Strong Home, and a Strong Business.

The first fight is always with yourself.

Join The Fight. 👊

How Contractors Leak $183,000 in Profit Every Year

Most contractors think they need more leads.

They don’t.

They need to stop wasting the opportunities already coming into the business.

In this episode, Tom breaks down how an $800,000 contractor could be leaking more than $183,000 in gross profit every year without seeing a single expense on the P&L.

The money disappears through four common sales leaks:

• The Gate: Failing to qualify leads before wasting time on an estimate

• The Meeting: Showing up, measuring and quoting without running a proven sales process

• The Money: Discounting because the price conversation gets uncomfortable

• The Follow-Up: Sending a proposal and hoping the customer eventually responds

Using a $12,000 average job, a 30% close rate and a 40% gross profit margin, Tom shows how small improvements could produce:

• 84 hours of owner or estimator time recovered through better qualification

• $52,800 in additional gross profit from improving the close rate by five points

• $20,400 kept by eliminating unnecessary discounts

• Approximately $110,000 in additional gross profit from a structured follow-up process

You don’t need more water poured into a leaking bucket.

Fix the bucket first.

In this episode:

• The five steps of the Shin-Fu qualification process

• Why 80% of the sale happens during the motive conversation

• The seven-part structure of a strong sales meeting

• How discounting comes directly off your bottom line

• The five-touch follow-up sequence every contractor should use

• Why profit is the scoreboard

• How to find the biggest leak in your sales process

Find your biggest sales leak with the free Sales Leak Scorecard:

https://thecontractorfight.com/leak

Stop guessing. Find the leak. Fix the leak. Command your sales.

"What's the going rate for a project like this?" Wrong question. In this episode, Tom breaks down why pricing off the going rate is the fastest way to price yourself into the gutter and what to ask instead. It's not about what everyone else charges. It's about your production rate, your real costs, and your number. If you're still shaving your price to "stay competitive," this one's for you.

• Why "going rate" pricing means you're averaging other contractors' blind spots into your own bid
• The one question to ask instead of "what's the going rate"
• The three numbers you need to know cold before you price any job
• The blind-spot costs that never show up in a "going rate" conversation
• Why revenue hides stupidity — and how a broken pricing model gets worse the more you scale it

• Open — The question that started this episode, and why it's the wrong one to ask
• The Going Rate Problem — Why market-average pricing means pricing off other people's guesswork
• The Better Question — Production rate vs. going rate, and why one is math and the other is a rumor
• The Cost of Guessing — How "going rate" pricing quietly scales a broken business
• How to Build Your Number — The three things to track: actual time, real costs, target margin
• The Blind Spots — Access issues, waste, permits, travel — the stuff the going rate never accounts for
• The Standard — What strong contractors do differently
• The Fight This Week — Pull your last five jobs and build your real number

"The going rate is the kiss of death for a contractor. It keeps you tied to the average. And average is not where you want to live."

Pull your last five jobs like the one you're about to bid. Look at actual hours, actual costs, actual outcome. Build your production rate... not the going rate.

oduction rate — not your going rate.

• Sales Leak Scorecard
• The Contractor Fight Website: https://thecontractorfight.com