The Live Job Profitability Toolkit. Read the score before the job ends.
Most contractors find out a job lost money 45 days after it closed. This free toolkit flips that: log costs as they come in and the tracker tells you where you land if you stop now, finish at this rate, or finish at your original estimate — while you still have time to do something about it.
"The loss almost never happens at the bid. It happens during the work, while nobody's watching."
A quick take from Joe on catching a job going sideways mid-stream — and the daily habit that keeps the tracker honest enough to warn you.
A tracker for the numbers. A routine to keep them current.
Two artifacts, built to work together. The Excel tracker runs the three-ways-it-ends projection on any job. The daily routine PDF is the field habit that keeps the logged costs current enough to trust.
- Excel Tracker — budget vs. actual, percent complete, three projections
- PDF Routine — the daily job-tracking habit, one page
- Free. No upsell. Built on the 35 / 45 gross-margin zones.
Live Job Profitability Tracker
Set up the job once, then add costs as they happen. The tracker keeps a running cost-to-date and shows where the job lands three ways, so a slow leak shows up while you can still respond.
- Budget vs. actual, by cost category
- Percent-complete and running cost-to-date
- Stop now / finish at this rate / finish at estimate
- Auto-flagged margin against the 35 / 45 zones
Daily Job Tracking Routine
The tracker is only as honest as the costs you feed it. This one-page routine is the field habit that keeps receipts, hours, and change orders flowing in the same day they happen.
- Same-day receipt and hours capture
- Change orders in writing before work starts
- The 5-minute end-of-day update
- Red flags that mean "call the office now"
Three ways every job can end.
The tracker shows all three at once, so you're never guessing which one you're headed for.
Where you stand today.
Bills the share of the contract you've earned and subtracts the costs logged so far. The honest read on the job as it sits right now.
The warning shot.
Projects the total cost if the current burn rate holds. This is the column that catches an overrun while there's still job left to fix it.
The plan you bid.
Keeps costs to date and adds the budget for the work that's left. The target you priced — and the gap between it and "this rate" is your alarm.
The zone to land in.
A planned job should start at 30% or higher and finish 35–45%. Under 30% won't cover overhead for most trades. The gauge flags it live.
Set it up once. Log as you go. Read the projection.
Enter the job once
Contract amount and the budget by cost category. That's the baseline every projection measures against — five minutes at the start of the job.
Add costs as they happen
Use the daily routine to keep receipts, hours, and change orders flowing in the same day. The tracker updates cost-to-date and percent complete.
Watch the three columns
When "finish at this rate" drifts below "finish at estimate," you've got a leak — and a job still running to fix it on. That's the whole point.
Read the score before the game ends.
Joe walks through the daily job-tracking routine on Behind the Books: how to log costs as they happen and know where a job lands while you still have time to do something about it. The toolkit on this page is that system.
Watch on YouTube →Prefer to do it in the browser?
The online Live Job Profitability Tracker runs the same three-ways-it-ends math on a single job without a download — set the job up, log costs, and watch the projection move. Same model, designed to be used with the workbook.
Open the Live Job Profitability TrackerPair it with these.
Job Cost Tracking Toolkit
The checklist + 30-job tracker for reading the pattern across closed jobs.
Get the toolkit →Job Cost Calculator
Score one closed job against the healthy gross-margin range for your trade.
Open the tool →Mini CFO Dashboard
Roll jobs up to segments and see which part of the business carries the rest.
Open the tool →We'll get your job costs current enough to warn you.
Best Decision Bookkeeping installs the field-to-books routine that keeps job numbers live, so a job going sideways shows up while you can still fix it. 30-minute call. No pitch. We'll walk your books together.