Company-wide margin tells you if the year worked. Net profit per job tells you if Tuesday worked. For HVAC, plumbing, and electrical shops, the job-level number is what should drive pricing, dispatch, and which services you promote.
Here are realistic targets, how they differ by job type, and a fast way to check your last ticket against them.
Net margin vs gross margin on a single job
Gross margin on a job is revenue minus direct costs (labor and materials) before overhead. Net margin on a job also allocates overhead, travel, vehicle cost, and often marketing — closer to what the business actually keeps. Aim for net margin targets when you job-cost; gross margin alone is too optimistic.
Typical net margin targets per job
Ranges vary by market and cost structure. Use these as planning bands, not laws:
| Job type | Healthy net margin target | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Service / repair | 25–40% | Travel-heavy; watch small tickets |
| Maintenance / tune-up | 30–45% | Efficient when routed in zones |
| Install (equipment-heavy) | 15–28% | Materials compress %; watch dollars |
| Emergency / after-hours | 35–50%+ | Premium should cover disruption |
A 22% net margin on a $4,200 install is $924 in profit. A 35% margin on a $240 service call is $84. Both can be good — but only if you measure dollars and profit per hour, not percentage alone.
Profit per hour matters more than margin %
Two jobs with the same 30% net margin are not equal if one took 5.5 hours and the other took 1.8. Profit per hour (net profit divided by total labor hours including travel) shows which jobs fund growth and which fill the calendar.
Many profitable shops target something like $80–$150+ net profit per billable hour on service work, higher on specialized or emergency lines. Your floor depends on overhead and market rates — calculate yours, do not copy a forum post.
When a job is below target
- Reprice the service line or add minimum charges.
- Improve routing to cut travel on low-ticket work.
- Reduce callbacks that eat margin after the invoice.
- Shift mix toward higher profit-per-hour job types.
- Cut acquisition cost on services that cannot absorb leads.
Benchmark your last job in five minutes
Pull up a recent invoice and enter revenue, onsite and travel hours, burdened labor rate, miles, materials, overhead per hour, and any lead fee in the job profitability calculator. Compare net margin and profit per hour to the bands above.
If you are consistently under target on a service you run every week, that is a pricing problem worth fixing before you buy more leads or hire another tech.
Check net profit on your last ticket
Use the free job profitability calculator to see net margin and profit per hour for any job.