7 Essential Metrics for Solo Tradespeople to Track Weekly: Grow Your Plumbing, Roofing, or Flooring Business
Most new self-employed tradespeople — roofers, plumbers, flooring installers, drywallers — track too many numbers or, worse, none at all. You need to focus on your trade, not get buried in paperwork. The right answer is fewer metrics, looked at more consistently. This guide gives you the seven numbers that predict your trade business health — and tells you exactly how to track them without hiring an office manager or building complex spreadsheets. Keep your focus on the job, but keep an eye on your business's pulse.
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Why most business dashboards fail for solo trades
A dashboard with 40 numbers isn't helpful for a busy plumber or roofer. It creates confusion, not clarity. Every number you add reduces the chance you'll actually use any of them to make a decision. Your goal isn't perfect accounting. It's a small set of clear numbers that tell you if your business is on track. These 'early warning signals' let you fix problems with job pricing, finding new clients, or managing cash before they turn into a full-blown crisis. Your time is best spent on the job site, not drowning in data.
Metric 1: Monthly Job Revenue
This is the total income you bring in from all your completed trade jobs each month. For a plumber, it's all payments received for service calls, repairs, and installations. For a roofer, it's the total for new roofs, repairs, and inspections. Track the total dollars you collect. Also, look at how this number changes week-over-week and month-over-month. If your job revenue is flat when it should be growing, or if it drops unexpectedly, that's your first sign to investigate. It could mean fewer calls, lower job prices, or delays in getting paid. Use a simple spreadsheet or your accounting software like QuickBooks Self-Employed or Wave to see this number quickly.
Metric 2: Client Acquisition Cost (CAC)
How much does it cost you to get one new client who pays for a job? Add up all your marketing and sales spending for the month. This includes costs for Google Local Services Ads, Facebook ads, local newspaper flyers, yard signs, referral fees to other contractors, or even the monthly fee for services like Angi or Thumbtack. Divide that total by the number of *new* paying clients you got that month. If you spent $500 on online ads and got 5 new plumbing clients, your CAC is $100 per client. If your CAC starts to rise but your job profit isn't also going up, your client-finding efforts are getting more expensive. Track this monthly, especially if you're paying for leads or ads.
Metric 3: Client Lifetime Value (LTV)
How much total revenue does an average client generate for your trade business over the entire time they use your services? For a solo roofer, this isn't just one new roof. It's the roof repair years later, and the referrals they send. For a plumber, it's the emergency leak fix, then the water heater replacement, and eventually the drain cleaning for a rental property they own. Calculate this by finding your average profit per job. Then, estimate how many jobs an average client gives you per year and how many years they might stick with you or refer new clients. For example, if a client brings you $500 profit per job and calls you twice a year for 3 years, their LTV is $3000. If your LTV is low compared to your CAC, you're spending too much to get clients who don't bring in enough repeat business or referrals. A good rule of thumb is LTV should be at least 3 times your CAC.
Metric 4: Repeat Client Rate
In the trades, 'churn' means clients don't come back or don't refer you. Since most trade jobs aren't monthly subscriptions, this metric focuses on repeat business. What percentage of your clients from last year have booked another job with you this year, or sent you a referral? Or, for new clients, what percentage book a second job within six months? Track this by looking at your client list. If you did 100 jobs last year and only 15 of those clients called you back this year, your repeat client rate is 15%. A low repeat client rate means you're constantly chasing new business. Happy clients who return or refer are gold. Follow up with clients after a job to ensure satisfaction and remind them of other services you offer, like annual plumbing inspections or roof maintenance.
Metric 5: Cash Runway
This is critical for a solo tradesperson. How many months can your business operate at its current spending level before your cash runs out? Divide your current business bank balance by your average monthly business expenses. This includes truck payments, liability insurance, tools, fuel, materials, phone, software subscriptions, and any subcontractor payments. If you have $10,000 in your business account and your average monthly expenses are $2,500, you have 4 months of cash runway. This number should never drop below three months without a clear plan to boost cash. This metric helps you prepare for slow seasons, unexpected equipment repairs (like a broken tile saw or plumbing snake), or sudden increases in material costs. Review it at least monthly through your banking app or accounting software.
Metric 6: Quote-to-Job Conversion Rate
What percentage of potential clients you give a quote to actually hire you for the job? This has several steps: 1) Initial call/lead to qualified request, 2) Qualified request to submitted quote, 3) Submitted quote to accepted job. Focus on the last step. If you provide 10 detailed quotes for flooring installations this month, but only 4 clients accept, your conversion rate is 40%. If this number drops, you have a problem. It could be your pricing is too high, your communication or follow-up is weak, or the leads you're getting aren't good quality. Knowing where clients drop off saves you time and helps you fix your process. Keep a simple log of quotes given and jobs won in a spreadsheet or even a small notebook.
Metric 7: Net Promoter Score (NPS) - or Client Satisfaction
How likely are your clients to recommend your plumbing, roofing, or flooring service to a friend or colleague? This simple measure tells you if customers are truly happy. Send a quick one-question text or email survey after a job: 'On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend [Your Business Name] to a friend or colleague?' Scores of 9-10 are 'Promoters.' Scores of 0-6 are 'Detractors.' Your NPS is Promoters minus Detractors. For solo trades, word-of-mouth is your best marketing. A low NPS predicts fewer referrals and bad online reviews (Google, Yelp, Facebook) before they hit your business. Aim to survey a few clients quarterly. Even just asking a few happy clients for a Google review serves a similar purpose.
How to build your weekly dashboard (the easy way)
You don't need fancy software. Start with a simple Google Sheet or even a notebook. Make five columns: 'Metric Name,' 'Last Week's Value,' 'This Week's Value,' 'Change (+/-),' and 'Notes.' Every Monday morning, before you head to your first job site, take 10-15 minutes to fill it out.
* **Job Revenue & Cash Runway:** Use your business banking app or QuickBooks/Wave. * **CAC & LTV:** Track your ad spending and client sources (referrals, new leads) in a simple spreadsheet. * **Repeat Client Rate & Quote Conversion:** Keep a basic client list and quote log in a spreadsheet or even a physical job folder. * **Client Satisfaction:** Use a simple text message or email for surveys, or just pay attention to your online reviews.
The discipline of looking at these few, key numbers weekly changes how you run your self-employed trade business. It keeps you focused on growth and prevents costly surprises.
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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
How often should I look at my metrics?
Revenue, CAC, and pipeline: weekly. LTV, churn, and NPS: monthly. Cash runway: monthly, more frequently if under six months. The goal is to spot trends before they become emergencies, not to react to daily noise.
Do I need special software for a business dashboard?
No. A Google Sheet updated weekly is more valuable than a sophisticated BI tool that no one looks at. Start with a spreadsheet and add software (Looker Studio, Databox) only when manual data collection becomes the bottleneck.
What is a good LTV:CAC ratio?
3:1 is the commonly cited healthy threshold for a growing business. Below 1:1 means you are losing money acquiring customers. Above 5:1 may indicate you are underinvesting in growth — you have room to acquire more customers at higher cost.
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