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I equate the running of a contracting business to the flying of an F-16 jet fighter through the Grand Canyon. You drop into the canyon at Point A, which is January 2 of any business year. You fly 300 feet above the canyon floor with the walls of the canyon 1,000 feet off each wing. You have to fly in a perfect straight line to Point B, which is December 31st of any business year. You want to arrive with a profit – preferably a hefty one.

On the floorboard of your plane are two pedals. You must keep the pedals even with each other. If one pedal gets out of line, the plane will begin to "yaw" and turn into one of the canyon walls. "So, what are these two pedals in the jet fighter called my business?" you ask.

One is the amount of overhead you must recover in a business year. The other pedal is the amount of business you must do in a business year to have enough money to recover that overhead, and to make a profit besides. Let's say that your overhead is $100,000. You have determined that you must do $400,000 in sales to recover that overhead and make a profit. You drop into the canyon on January 2, but by May 15 you see that you are behind your sales goal and you are not going to do $400,000 in sales. You will be lucky to do $350,000. Your pedals are now out of line. What is your plane doing? It is yawing. And, if it continues to yaw, you will crash your business into one of the walls of the Grand Canyon.

Now, if you were really in the Grand Canyon and your F-16 plane began to yaw, what would you do in a hurry? You would either push the left pedal forward or let off the right pedal until the pedals line up perfectly. So do the same with your business: Push the sales pedal forward, or let up on the overhead pedal.

Overhead is a fixed cost. It does not rise and fall based on what you charge for a certain job. You do not need to find out what others charge for overhead and charge the same. Overhead is not charged, it is recovered. And you don't make any profit until you recover your overhead. To do this you must budget overhead, spend overhead within that budget, allocate overhead properly, and recover it.