The actionable steps outlined above are completely different than how many contractors make the decision to add a service. Far too many contractors make the decision on the fly, almost as a knee jerk response to one customer that has a need. While there are spontaneous decisions to add a service that work out, such decisions more often leave a contractor having purchased tools and equipment that are rarely used in the future.

The third section of a business plan requires more consistency on the part of the contractor. Reading the financials for a business has become a recognized need for successful contractors. More than reading their Profit & Loss Statements or studying their Balance Statements, successful contractors incorporate this third business plan component to create monitoring processes that measure the success of their business objectives. Once again it will take some very practical measurements that can be easily tracked.

While you can measure just about anything you want, consider the following targets that might signal if your business planning efforts are taking the company in the right direction.

• Gross Profit for each job completed.
• Percentage material use against estimate.
• Percentage hours worked against estimate.
• Percentage bids won against bids created.
• Percentage bids won against goal per market type.
• Overtime hours worked versus overtime hours budgeted.
• Customer call-backs versus customer call-back target.

Each target above should be quantified if possible. Certainly the items addressed above can be. However, there may be other signs of a growing business that can be difficult to measure. For instance: Does the customer like our company? If so, how much? How will our construction success positively impact our future growth? How can we determine if our customers would purchase more services from our company?