Day 1

Module 1: Foundation Reset — Your Numbers & Baseline

Today's Focus: Honest assessment of where your concrete business stands today.

Most concrete contractors operate with a dangerous blind spot: they know their calendar is full (or empty), they know roughly what they billed last month, but they cannot articulate the precise metrics that determine whether their business grows, stalls, or dies. Day 1 fixes that permanently.

The Four Numbers That Control Everything

Every concrete and masonry contractor — whether pouring a 400-square-foot driveway in Wichita or installing a stamped concrete patio in Scottsdale — is governed by four numbers:

1. Average Project Value (APV): The total revenue per completed job, including all change orders and upsells. Calculate this by dividing total revenue in the last 12 months by the number of projects completed.
2. Lead-to-Contract Close Rate: The percentage of qualified leads (people who requested an estimate) who signed a contract. Most concrete contractors sit between 25% and 45%.
3. Cost Per Lead (CPL): Every dollar spent to generate one qualified inquiry. This includes website costs, Google Ads, yard signs, referral fees, and door hangers — amortized across the total leads received.
4. Gross Margin Per Project Type: The profit left after direct costs (materials, labor, equipment rental, permits, disposal) for each service category — driveways, patios, foundations, decorative work.

These four numbers tell you exactly what is broken, what is working, and where the fastest revenue growth lives.

Today's Action Steps

Step 1: Calculate Your 12-Month APV Pull your records (QuickBooks, invoices, or bank deposits). Total revenue divided by total projects. If you completed 48 projects and billed $528,000, your APV is $11,000.

Step 2: Calculate Your Close Rate Count every qualified lead from the last 90 days — people who received an estimate or site visit. Count how many signed contracts. Divide contracts by leads.

Step 3: Estimate Your Cost Per Lead Add every marketing and sales expense from the last 12 months. Divide by total leads received. Do not skip "small" costs like yard signs, truck wraps, or Chamber dues.

Step 4: Calculate Gross Margin by Service Line For each service type (driveway, patio, foundation, decorative), subtract direct job costs from revenue. Divide by revenue to get margin percentage.

Key Takeaway

You cannot grow what you do not measure. The rest of this 90-day curriculum assumes you know these four numbers. Every strategy, every tactic, every script ties back to moving at least one of these four metrics in the right direction.

Deliverable

Complete the Financial Baseline Worksheet with all four metrics calculated.