Guides
Flooring contractor service packages: review them after a season
Review flooring contractor service packages after a season: compare crew days, count preparation lines, match complaints to exclusions, then decide.
What to take away
- A package is judged by what the crew days did, not by how well it sold.
- Three records answer most review questionsquoted against actual crew days, jobs that added a preparation line, and complaints.
- A package that always overruns is mispriced rather than unlucky.
- A package that never adds a preparation line is either being absorbed by the crew or being sold only on new construction.
- Every review ends in one action per packagekeep it, reprice it, split it or retire it.
Gather three records before the review
Pull quoted crew days, actual crew days and the complaint log for every job sold under each package. Without those three, the review becomes an argument about which package felt busy. The unit is a season of jobs, because one job proves little about a package.
Job costs have to land somewhere you can compare later. The IRS says any recordkeeping system suited to your business will do if it clearly shows income and expenses, and the software and KPI guide lists the records worth checking.
Tag each job with its package name when it is booked, not afterwards. A job that cannot be traced to a package cannot be reviewed against one.
Compare quoted crew days against actual
Line up quoted crew days beside actual crew days, package by package. A package that always overruns is mispriced rather than unlucky. Luck changes from job to job, while a pricing error repeats.
Work out the bundle's contribution per crew day, not per square foot, because the crew day is the thing you actually sell. A package that looks sound per square foot can still lose money on the days it consumes.
Then check the quote against live inputs. Every scope in the bundle should carry a cost in crew hours, consumables and material at a live supplier price. If the overrun sits in one scope, reprice that scope rather than the whole package.
Count the jobs that added a preparation line
Count how many jobs under each package added a preparation line after tear-out. The count shows whether the headline price survived contact with the old floor. Preparation is quoted at a unit rate, because the area is only visible after removal.
Read both ends of the count. A package that never adds a preparation line is either being absorbed by the crew or being sold only on new construction. Neither is a result to celebrate.
If every job adds a line, the customer was misled by the headline. The line belongs in the package now, either as included work or as a named exclusion.
Test the downside as well. Cost a preparation-heavy version of the same package, so you know what the worst job under that name does to the crew day.
Match each complaint to an exclusion
For each complaint, find the exclusion that should have prevented it. If the exclusion exists but the customer never saw it, the fault is placement. Exclusions that live only in the terms are exclusions nobody read.
Advertising claims must be truthful and supported. The Federal Trade Commission tells advertisers to place qualifying information close to the claim it qualifies and to avoid small type. A whole-room price that quietly excludes old floor removal fails that standard, and the customer's reaction.
Put exclusions beside the price, in the same size type. Anything you could not see before tear-out belongs in the quote as a unit rate, not as an assumption.
Complaints about moisture or flatness trace back to the readings behind the condition clause. The quality assurance checklist covers how those readings are taken.
Re-cost what survives the first three checks
Re-cost a package only once its overruns, preparation lines and complaints are explained. Use actual crew days where the review produced them, and a live supplier price rather than last season's.
- Every scope in the bundle has a cost in crew hours, consumables and material.
- Contribution per crew day is recalculated from actual days, not quoted days.
- A preparation-heavy version of the package has been costed.
- The tools each scope needs are owned and maintained, which a review of the shop and van setup confirms.
- Consumables for the bundle are stocked.
- The package appears in the offer section of your plan, one of the rows in the business plan outline.
Decide what to change
| What the review showed | Likely cause | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Actual days above quoted, job after job | A scope priced too low | Reprice the scope that overran |
| Preparation line added on every job | A hidden quantity | Move it to a unit-rate line or name it as an exclusion |
| No preparation line ever added | Crew absorbing it, or new construction only | Check crew hours and the job mix |
| Complaints about an exclusion nobody saw | Exclusion placed only in the terms | Move it beside the price |
| Tiers differing in effort, not product | Tiers that are not really tiers | Rebuild them on product and warranty |
Which scopes to keep is a separate question with its own arithmetic, worked through in the review of which flooring work pays best. The catalog those packages come from sits in the services and packages guide.
Common questions
Does a good, better, best structure survive a review?
It works when the tiers differ in product and warranty rather than in effort. Tiers that differ in how carefully the crew works are not tiers, and customers eventually notice.
How do I review a package sold to a builder?
Builders buy repeatable units: a unit type, a plan number, a per-square-foot rate against their own measure. The package becomes a schedule of rates, and the review asks who owns the measure and who pays for their errors.
What if a competitor advertises an all-in price I cannot match?
Read what their price includes. Very often it excludes removal, preparation and transitions, which is not a lower price but a different scope. Compete on the clarity of the boundary rather than on the headline.
Can I keep a maintenance visit in the package?
Yes, and it is one of the few genuinely useful add-ons, because it puts you back in the house and gives you a chance to see how the floor is performing. Define the visit's scope so it does not become free repair work.
