A finish-carpentry quote needs to recover ordinary purchased materials and the employed crew’s entire paid calendar, including unsold workshop and preparation time. This fictional service includes timber, hardware and finishes in realized hourly-equivalent fees, while customers supply major cabinet units. Its selected mix still produces an operating deficit after ramp.
Keep the material boundary explicit and check collected contribution across the paid month. Customer-supplied units reduce a purchase responsibility; they do not make the crew, workshop or owner estimating free.
What does the quoted hourly equivalent include?
The case is a residential finish-carpentry service in a suburban mid-cost US area, forecast from January 2027 through December 2029. It covers trim, cabinet fitting, doors/windows, deck repairs and built-in shelving. Major cabinet resale, new construction and unassessed structural work are excluded.
The realized fee includes ordinary purchased timber, hardware and finishes. Major cabinet units are customer-supplied. A quote should identify who selects, orders, checks and stores those units, because an unavailable or unsuitable unit can still occupy scheduling and estimating time. The scenario price is a scoped revenue allocation, not a market labor-rate claim.
How much of the employed calendar is sold?
Three paid carpenters provide 480 individual craftsperson hours monthly. At 58% utilization, the full-ramp mix sells 278.4 hours, leaving 201.6 hours outside sold work. Workshop preparation, travel, setup, estimates that need field input and internal rework have to fit the retained calendar.
The owner has three-quarter-time estimating/management coverage and administration has quarter-time coverage, both represented by prorated budgets. Neither adds more delivery hours. If the owner must work on site without a corresponding change in the role allocation, the schedule no longer matches this case.
| Work type | Sold hours | Fee/hour | Earned fees |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trim | 83.52 | $125.00 | $10,440.00 |
| Cabinet fitting | 55.68 | $140.00 | $7,795.20 |
| Doors/windows | 55.68 | $115.00 | $6,403.20 |
| Deck repairs | 41.76 | $130.00 | $5,428.80 |
| Shelving | 41.76 | $150.00 | $6,264.00 |
Do the selected fees cover the retained operation?
March earns $36,331.20. Direct inputs of $8,901.14 and operating expenses of $28,208.03 leave EBITDA of -$777.97. Paid crew time, owner estimating, administration and workshop costs remain in that result. Reclassifying them as unpaid owner effort would not be a like-for-like repair.
The first operating year records net income of -$48,651.44, and the later years remain negative. The apparent proximity to full-ramp operating break-even does not cover depreciation or prove that a better sold-hour mix is obtainable. The selected forecast needs an economic change, not a claim that all workshop hours are billable.
When do materials and customer receipts use cash?
The scenario assumes ten inventory days, 21 blended supplier payment days and eight collection days. Direct inputs and physical stock are related but different: some direct costs are purchased services rather than goods held on a shelf. Count each purchase once and keep the customer-supplied major units outside the contractor’s stock budget.
Startup uses are $70,906.50, including launch assets, setup and opening stock. Proposed uncommitted equity of $179,526.29 supplies opening liquidity as well; no debt is modeled. The minimum forecast cash of $39,919.96 depends on that funding and does not validate the loss-making fee structure.
What should the next quote be based on?
Take one completed fitting or trim job and record ordinary materials, consumables, all individual crew hours, workshop preparation, owner estimating, return visits and collection. State separately which major units came from the customer and which extra work was authorized.
Use the record to check a revised scoped fee or a narrower offer against the retained monthly costs. Do not add the customer’s cabinet purchase value to revenue, and do not multiply three carpenters’ hours into an additional owner field pool merely to make the job look adequately priced.
Make the next decision with your own evidence
Reconcile a completed finish-carpentry job to ordinary materials, all paid preparation/delivery time, owner estimating and cash received; use it to test a revised fee without adding customer-owned unit value.
Explore published business plan examples ↗Oakline Craft is a fictional prelaunch scenario prepared with AI assistance. Inputs are illustrative; forecast results come from the matching saved financial model. Funding is proposed. The diagrams explain the case and do not depict actual premises, established demand or promised earnings. Replace the assumptions with evidence before committing.
Read our methodology