One of the most dangerous myths in contracting is this:

“If I can just land more jobs, I’ll be fine.”

But here’s the truth: If your pricing is wrong — if your margins are too low — more jobs won’t fix the problem. In fact, more volume often amplifies the issue.

Let me explain. Imagine you’re underpricing every job by $3,000. At 5 jobs, that’s a $15,000 shortfall. At 10 jobs? Now you’re $30,000 in the hole. The more you sell, the more you lose. You’re working harder, running faster, and bleeding cash every step of the way.

Real World Mistake & Lesson: I worked with a contractor doing just over $1.2M in annual sales. He was booked out six months and thought he had a “cash flow” problem. But when we analyzed his job-level margins, we found the real culprit — he was bidding jobs well below market and only earning a 20% gross profit margin when he needed at least 35% just to cover overhead.

By underpricing his services, he had trained the wrong type of clients to expect Cadillac work at go-kart prices. And no matter how many projects he landed, his bank account stayed in the red. When we restructured his pricing, focused on higher-margin work, and began saying “no” to bad-fit jobs, he actually reduced his volume… and his profit doubled.

The takeaway? You can’t scale your way out of a pricing problem.

You must fix the foundation before you build the house.

 Pick up your free copy of my new book, “The 7 Minute Conversation-How to Hear the Story Your Small Business Financial Statements Are Telling You-CONTRACTOR EDITION”.  Go to www.7MinuteConversationBook.com

Ready to find out where your cash and profits are really going? Book your free 15-minute Profit and Cash Flow Call with me. No pressure. Just real clarity. I’ll help you see where your money’s hiding — and what to do about it. Schedule at www.CashFlowCallWithLarry.com