If you’re looking at the end of the year wondering how you stayed busy but still didn’t make the money you thought you would, you’re not alone. This is one of the most common and frustrating realizations contractors have in December.
The problem usually isn’t effort. Most contractors work their tails off. Long days. Weekends. Missed family time. The issue is that busy does not equal profitable.
Here’s what usually goes wrong.
You won jobs that never should have been won
Landing work feels good. Especially when things are slow. But a job you win because your price was too low will quietly bleed you dry.
Low-margin jobs don’t scream for attention. They just steal money slowly. Extra labor hours here. Material overages there. By the time the job is done, the damage is already baked in.
If you don’t compare what you estimated versus what actually happened, you never see the pattern.
Labor ate you alive
Labor is the biggest wildcard in construction. One slow crew member, one bad layout, one weather delay, and your labor numbers go sideways fast.
Most contractors only look at labor costs after the job is over. At that point, it’s too late to fix anything. You needed to know weeks earlier that the job was drifting.
Tracking labor during the job is uncomfortable, but ignoring it is expensive.
You guessed instead of estimating
A lot of bids are built on memory and gut instinct. That works until it doesn’t.
When material prices shift or crews change or job types evolve, old assumptions break. Without real historical data to lean on, you’re just guessing with more confidence.
Good estimating is not about being perfect. It’s about being informed.
Change orders didn’t save you
Change orders are supposed to protect profit. Too often, they just add stress.
If your original bid was weak, change orders only help a little. And if you don’t track them properly, they can actually make things worse.
What to fix before next year starts
Before you bid your first job of the new year, do this:
Look at your last 10 jobs.
Compare estimated labor to actual labor.
Compare estimated materials to actual materials.
You don’t need an accountant. You need clarity.
This is where a tool like ProfitDig earns its keep. It shows you where jobs went sideways while you can still do something about it, not months later.
Hard work matters. But hard work without tracking is just expensive exercise.