Service
A roofing CFO who checks the job made money before the crew leaves town
Finance help for roofing companies: margin by job and crew, real overhead and profit recovery, commission tied to margin, and cash that survives a slow winter.
The short answer
- A roofing CFO handles margin by job, overhead recovery, commission design, cash planning and financing decisions part time.
- Healthy residential roofers usually run 30 to 40 percent gross margin and 8 to 12 percent net profit.
- The two most common roofing profit leaks are commission paid on revenue and overhead recovered at an old rate.
- LedgerDude does the bookkeeping every day and starts at $149 a month for the first 25 customers.
Why roofing money is its own problem
Roofing revenue arrives in lumps — a storm, a season, a big commercial job — and material is bought before a dollar is collected. Averaging a whole year hides which crews and roof types actually paid.
- Material is paid weeks before the customer pays you
- Every crew and roof type earns a different margin
- Insurance work collects on a different clock than retail work
- Commission paid on revenue quietly rewards cheap selling
Margin by job, crew and roof type
We split labor, material, subcontractors, dumpsters and permits so you can see the real margin per job. Most owners find one crew or one product line is carrying the company while another only looks busy.
Overhead and profit, recovered at today's cost
Overhead recovery gets set once and then forgotten while insurance, trucks and advertising climb. We recalculate the rate from your last twelve months and put it in every bid, so the price covers the office as well as the crew.
Commission that pays for profit, not volume
When a salesperson is paid on revenue, discounting costs them almost nothing and costs you everything. We rebuild the plan on gross margin so a cheap sale earns less.
Cash for the slow stretch
One rolling forecast built on your real supplier terms, collection speed and payroll dates, with the low point marked, so a quiet January is routine instead of stressful.
Numbers worth watching
Each one is plain math you can check yourself.
| Number | How to figure it | Good range | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Job gross margin | (Job revenue − labor − material − subs) ÷ job revenue | 30% – 40% residential | This is the single number that says whether the work was worth doing. |
| Overhead recovery rate | Annual overhead ÷ annual revenue | Recalculated at least yearly | A stale rate means every bid under-collects for the office. |
| Material cost share | Material cost ÷ job revenue | 35% – 45% | Shingle and metal prices move fast; drift here shows up before margin does. |
| Close rate | Signed jobs ÷ inspections or estimates | Rising without discounting | A close rate bought with price cuts is a margin problem, not a sales win. |
| Weeks of cash | Cash on hand ÷ average weekly cash out | 8 – 13 weeks going into winter | Roofing cash gaps are seasonal and predictable, so they can be planned for. |
Illustration: where a $3.2M roofing company's profit comes from
- Residential retail
- $1,850,000 at 34% gross margin
- Insurance and storm work
- $980,000 at 29% gross margin
- Repairs and service
- $370,000 at 52% gross margin
- Overhead
- $780,000
- Net profit
- $294,000 (about 9.2%)
What this tells you: Example numbers, not a client's books. Repairs are the highest-margin work in the company and usually the most under-sold.
What you see inside LedgerDude
What you see when the work is done: one page with your money on it.
How to get your roofing numbers under control
- 1
Connect QuickBooks
We read the books you already keep — no software switch.
- 2
Split your revenue
Separate retail, insurance and repair work so margins stop hiding in one bucket.
- 3
Load your true labor cost
Wages plus taxes, insurance, trucks and unbillable hours.
- 4
Reset overhead recovery
Recalculate the rate from the last twelve months and put it in the bid.
- 5
Fix the commission plan
Pay on gross margin so discounting costs the seller too.
- 6
Review monthly
One short meeting, one page, one to three decisions.
What is included
- Gross margin by job, crew and roof type
- Overhead and profit recovery checked on every bid
- Commission plans paid on margin, not revenue
- Cash plan for storm months and slow months
- Material price change tracking between bid and buy
- Numbers ready for a line of credit or equipment financing
Founding plans: $149, $249, $499 or $899 a month. Bookkeeping is included in every plan.
Related answers
Straight answers to the other questions roofing owners ask us.
How do you price a roofing job?
Add up squares of material, crew labor, dumpster, permit and subs to get job cost, add your overhead recovery rate, then divide by one minus your target margin.
What is a good profit margin for a roofing company?
Residential roofing should run 30 to 40 percent gross margin and 8 to 12 percent net profit; repair work carries higher margins than full replacements.
How do you calculate overhead and profit in roofing?
Overhead is last year's operating costs divided by revenue, added to job cost. Profit is applied by dividing that total by one minus your target margin.
What KPIs should a roofing company track?
Track gross margin by job, material cost share, close rate, average job size, weeks of cash and days to get paid. Six numbers, once a month.
What is a good profit margin for a contractor?
Most trade contractors should run 25 to 45 percent gross margin depending on how material-heavy the work is, and 8 to 12 percent net profit.
What is labor burden rate and how do you calculate it?
Labor burden is everything an employee costs beyond wages — taxes, insurance, benefits, vehicle and tools — and it usually adds 25 to 60 percent on top of the hourly wage.
Run a different trade?
Questions people ask
What does a roofing CFO do that my bookkeeper does not?
A bookkeeper records the past. A roofing CFO checks that your overhead and profit recovery still covers today's costs, shows which crews and roof types make money, and plans cash for the slow months.
How do you calculate overhead and profit for a roofing bid?
Take your last twelve months of overhead, divide by revenue for the recovery rate, add that to job cost, then divide by one minus your target profit margin. Adding a flat ten and ten is where most roofers lose money.
Can you help with insurance and storm work?
Yes. Insurance jobs collect on a slower and less predictable clock, so we track them separately and forecast their cash on their own timeline.
Do I need job costing software?
Not to start. If you use a roofing CRM we can work with its numbers, but we can also split margins from QuickBooks alone.
What does this cost?
One flat monthly price. No hourly bills, no surprises. Founding plans start at $149 a month, and your rate stays locked.
Keep reading
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Roofing job pricing calculator
Free calculator. Nothing to sign up for.
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