How do you calculate your labour efficiency as a percentage?
The formula is simple: billable hours divided by actual hours, multiplied by 100. If a job is quoted at eight hours and your person finishes in four, they are 200% efficient. If they take eight hours on a four-hour job, they come in at 50%.
The benchmark used here is anything below 75% is a red flag, 75% to 100% is acceptable, and above 100% is where you want your team sitting. These thresholds work for service and field staff.
Should you measure daily efficiency or job efficiency?
Measure daily efficiency, not just job efficiency. A technician can be highly efficient on the tools during a job but still drain the day with long lunches or multiple wholesaler runs. Daily efficiency captures the full picture because it measures billable hours across the entire working day, not just the time spent active on a task.
This is also why non-billable tasks such as travel to and from site and wholesaler visits need to be accounted for separately. They inflate actual hours without adding billable output.
How do you run van stock without micromanaging every item?
Run a monthly purchase order for each van, tied to an approved list of stock items agreed with your wholesaler. Staff can only buy from that list. At the end of the month, review the purchase order and flag anything above a set threshold, because a large purchase on a van stock order should not exist if they are buying from a locked list.
If the wholesaler sells something off the list, you have the right to refuse payment and ask for it back. Done consistently, the wholesaler quickly learns to stick to the list.
To keep technicians off the road and on the tools, have them note what they use from the van during the week and submit it at the end of Friday. The wholesaler bundles the replenishment order, delivers it to your yard, and the technician restocks from the yard on Monday morning without making a single wholesaler trip.
Why split material orders into first-fix and second-fix?
Ordering everything at the start of a project means materials sit on site for weeks or months before they are needed. Items go missing, and you are carrying the cost of second-fix materials long before they are fitted. On a job where second fix is two months away, that is two months of unnecessary cash tied up.
Instead, raise a separate purchase order for first-fix items and a separate one for second-fix items. This keeps cash in your account longer and reduces the risk of materials being lost or damaged before they are installed. Taking a deposit from the client and holding it until the materials are actually needed is a practical way to manage this.
How do you price materials to protect your margin?
Price on a worst-case-scenario basis, then subtract around 30%. In practice, this means estimating slightly above what you expect to use. Jobs almost always consume more labour and more material than planned, so building this buffer in at the quoting stage protects your margin without overcharging significantly.
Monitoring scrap is another check on material waste. For example, tracking how much scrap cable comes back at the end of the month gives a clear picture of whether the team is being careful with stock.
Why does reporting efficiency data matter for your business?
Without data you are kicking the ball and turning your back before it reaches the goal. You will find out you are losing money, but only after the damage is done.
Data lets you have evidence-based conversations with staff instead of difficult gut-feel ones. It lets you refine your pricing because once you know your team's actual efficiency rate, you can adjust quoted hours to reflect what they will realistically produce on site. If your team consistently operates at 75% efficiency and you quote 100 hours, you need to factor in that gap before you submit the price.
The confidence that comes from knowing your numbers means you can tender for larger contracts without losing sleep over whether you have cut too deep.
