Job Costing: How to unlock profitability for your business.

As a business owner, you're already wearing multiple hats—estimating, project managing, supervising crews, running the books and everything else to get the job done. But at the end of the day do you actually know how much profit you're taking home?

Job costing shouldn’t be considered a nice-to-have

If you're not tracking exact job costs when the work is complete, you could be losing out on thousands of dollars in profit without even realizing it.

It’s important to stop and consider:

• Are my material estimates accurate, or am I eating the cost of extra supplies?
• Which jobs are truly profitable, and which ones are just keeping my team busy?
• Am I actually charging enough to cover labor and overhead?

Without job costing, you're flying blind. With it, you have control over your profits—knowing exactly where your money is going and where to make adjustments.

What good profitability actually looks like

Knowing your numbers isn’t enough. Without an understanding of what your metrics should look like, you won’t know what to fix. If you’re not sure how your numbers stack up, here’s what healthy margins look like in roofing:

🏡 Residential Roofing → 30-40% gross profit, 10-15% net profit

🏢 Commercial Roofing → 25-30% gross profit, 8-12% net profit

🌞 Solar & HVAC → 20-30% gross profit

According to Roofing Contractor, the official publication for the International Roofing Expo.

But remember - margins aren’t one-size-fits-all. Some businesses operate at 10-20% gross, while others need higher margins to survive. Your goal should be to track trends—if your margins are consistently shrinking, you need to adjust pricing, labor efficiency, or material costs.

The four biggest profit killers (and how to spot them)

Studies in the industry show that most roofing businesses lose 10-30% of their potential profit to untracked expenses, inefficient labor & processes, and poor cost control. That’s $100K-$300K missing for every $1M in revenue.

Even more concerning is that most owners don't spot these issues until they've already impacted their bottom line. Here are four things to watch out for:

1. Material cost overruns

🚨 If your material costs are routinely 10% more than estimated, it’s a red flag.

🛠️ The fix: Use job costing to track patterns—are you consistently over-ordering or missing supplier discounts?

2. Labor cost creep

🚨 If projects are running 20%+ over projected labor hours, the extra hours and overtime are cutting into profit.

🛠️ The fix: Compare estimated vs. actual labor costs for each crew—some may be more efficient than others.

3. Profit fade

🚨 If your projected profit shrinks as the job progresses, it can be because of change orders without built-in margins.

🛠️ The fix: Ensure every change order has a proper markup before it’s approved.

4. Hidden costs absorbing profits

🚨 Small costs (tools, fuel, permits) add up—if they’re not assigned to jobs, they cut into your bottom line. Even admin time should be accounted for.

🛠️ The fix: Job costing ensures every expense is accounted for, not just materials and labor.

How job costing fits into your Roofr workflow

✅ Think of job costing as the final checkmark of your projects —not a separate task. It should be a non-negotiable step for everyone on your team. Because whether you're managing 1 job a week or 10: better tracking leads to better decisions, and better decisions lead to better profits.

Here’s how Roofr makes that easy;

Step 1: Create your proposal and estimate costs

A signed proposal = your projected cost. Every profitable job starts with an accurate estimate, because this is how you and your customer agree what they are going to pay. When you create a proposal in Roofr, the system automatically calculates your projected costs from those items:

• Material pricing from your catalog
• Labor costs based on crew rates
• Other costs like permits, dumpsters, and subcontractors

Pro Tip: Make sure your catalog items are properly tagged as Material, Labor, or Other for accurate cost tracking!

👉 Next Step: Once your proposal is accepted and the job moves forward, you can start tracking actual costs.

Step 2: Track your actual job costs in real-time

Every dollar spent impacts profitability. Once work begins, you’ll start incurring real costs—and Roofr makes tracking them easy.

• ‍Invoices: Invoice subtotals are automatically added to the job costing section so you can track what’s coming in.‍
• Material Orders: Material costs from your supplier orders are automatically subtracted from revenue.‍
• Labor & Other Costs: You can manually enter crew wages, subcontractor payments, and other job-related expenses to make sure nothing gets overlooked.

👉 Next Step: Once the job is complete, it’s time to see the final profit margin.

Step 3: Review profitability and make adjustments

Job cost reports calculate profitability. Once the job is completed, you’ll see a clear profit breakdown inside Roofr to know whether you’re hitting your targets:

• ‍Gross Profit: Total revenue – total job costs‍
• Profit Margin %: (Gross Profit ÷ Revenue) × 100‍
• Cost Trends: Are materials or labor consistently over budget?

Pro Tip: Check your profitability across multiple jobs to find trends—this helps you make smarter business decisions moving forward.

👉 Next Step: Use this data to optimize your pricing and operations.

Start tracking your profits today

You don’t need to overhaul your entire business overnight. Start simple:

• Track one area (materials, labor, or overhead).
• Use job costing insights to make small pricing adjustments.
• Look for trends—if one type of job is consistently low-margin, adjust accordingly.

Roofers who commit to job costing see profit increases within 6-12 months. It’s not about perfection—it’s about visibility. The sooner you start, the sooner you’ll keep more money in your pocket.

If you’re serious about making more money without working more hours, job costing isn’t optional—it’s essential.

📌 Login to check out job costing in Roofr