Lesson 1 of 3•AI for Business Management (Trades)0 of 3 complete (0%)
10 min read
Job Costing & Profitability Analysis
What you'll learn
- 1Use AI to build job costing templates specific to your trade
- 2Analyze completed jobs to identify where you made or lost money
- 3Calculate true overhead costs and build them into your pricing
- 4Identify patterns in profitable vs. unprofitable job types
# Job Costing & Profitability Analysis
The most dangerous number in a trades business is a "gut feel" estimate. Many contractors are busy but not profitable because they underprice work by forgetting to account for true costs. AI helps you build accurate job costing that includes every cost — not just materials and labor.
Building a Job Cost Model
Start with this prompt to create a comprehensive cost model:
I run a [trade] business with [number] employees. Help me build a job costing template that includes ALL costs:
Direct costs:
- Materials (with waste factor)
- Labor (hours x loaded rate — not just wage, include burden)
- Subcontractors if any
- Equipment rental
- Permits and inspectionsUnlock this lesson
Upgrade to Pro to access the full content
What you'll learn:
- Use AI to build job costing templates specific to your trade
- Analyze completed jobs to identify where you made or lost money
- Calculate true overhead costs and build them into your pricing