The Millionaire Contractor Coach™

Saturday Newsletter

March 28, 2026

Read on my website ⏱️ Read Time: 3 minutes 51 seconds

2 Questions Most Contractors Can't Answer

I don't teach accounting. Most contractors don't care about accounting, and I don't blame them.

But here's what they do care about: keeping more of what they earn.

So, when I sit down with a contractor, I skip the spreadsheets and ask two simple questions:

1: What does it cost you to create a dollar?

2: What does it cost you to keep a dollar?

If you can answer both, you're ahead of 90% of your competition. If you can't, you're leaving serious money on the table. Don't be embarrassed if you can't accurately answer this question; most can't. But after working with me for 30 days, they can, and then they are on a path to becoming a Millionaire Contractor.

Question 1: What Does It Cost to Create a Dollar?

This is your Gross Profit Margin — the money left over after you pay for materials and labor on a job.

Here's an example. Say you're a roofer and you land a $10,000 job.

→ Materials eat 30% ($3,000)

→ Labor eats another 30% ($3,000)

That means it cost you 60 cents to create one dollar. You keep 40 cents.

That 40 cents is your gross profit. It's what pays for everything else the trucks, the rent, the office staff, the insurance, the overhead.

Most contractors I work with have never thought about it this way. They look at the total job and think, "I made $10,000." No. You made $4,000. The rest was already spent before you cashed the check.

This is where fortunes are made or lost in contracting. A contractor running at 35% gross margin is in a completely different financial position than one running at 42%. For a $10M company, that 7% difference is $700,000 right to the bottom line, same revenue, radically different outcome.

Question 2: What Does It Cost to Keep a Dollar?

Creating a dollar is only half the battle. The second question is what happens after the job is done and the overhead kicks in.

This is your Net Profit Margin — what you actually keep after all the dust settles. Office salaries. Rent. Vehicles. Software. Insurance. The endless list of expenses that eat into your gross profit. But that number is not sufficient. I re-engineer that number for my clients into a true cash flow number so they know exactly how much they keep (after debt, taxes, and reinvestment).

Most contractors I meet are keeping somewhere between 5-10 cents on every dollar. They're grinding hard and still barely paying themselves.

• If you're keeping less than 10 cents, you're surviving.

• If you're keeping 15-20 cents, you're building wealth.

For a $10M contractor, that's the difference between $1M and $2M hitting the bottom line. Same jobs. Same crew. Same trucks. Very different life.

So how do you move from 10% to 15% to 20%?

→ Systems in the office — Are you tracking job costs in real time or finding out you lost money after the fact?

→ Efficiency in the field — Is labor leakage eating your margins? For many contractors, this number is 5%+

→ Knowing your numbers cold — You can't improve what you don't measure

The contractors who become Millionaire Contractors aren't chasing more revenue. They're keeping more of what they've already earned.

Revenue for show. Profit for dough. 💰

Finance Sets the Focus. The Field Makes It Happen.

That's exactly what Jerry Aliberti and I are going to teach in Tampa at 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝗖𝗘𝗢 on May 13-14.

If you don't know Jerry, you should. He's a former New York City contractor who has estimated over $12 billion in work and performed millions of dollars in contracts. The guy has seen it all. He knows what it takes to run jobs profitably, not just win them.

I bring the finance side. Jerry brings the field side. Together, we're teaching 30 contractors how to stop leaving money on the table.

No competitors in the room. Just colleagues learning how to answer these two questions and build real wealth doing it.

If you're ready to finally know your numbers, this is the room to be in.

👉 Click here

Do you know these two numbers? Drop me a note and let me know. I read every response.

Patrick Shurney, MBA | The Millionaire Contractor Coach™

Helping Contractors Become Bankable, Bondable, & Capital-Ready

P.S. - What's your biggest cash flow challenge right now? Hit reply and let me know. I read every response. Trust me, every contractor faces the same cash flow and capital struggles at one time or another in their business.

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About Me:

As a veteran in financial coaching with over 30 years of corporate banking experience, my mission is to help you become a Millionaire Contractor by mastering just 7 numbers so you can keep more of what you earn and build generational wealth.

Ready for More?

Here’s how I can help you:

1. Profit Blueprint Program: Get your finances sorted and build out a 3-year financial roadmap in the next 30 days.

2. Loan Consulting: Get Bank Ready. With 30+ years of banking experience, I’ll make sure you're ready to approach lenders with a winning loan package.