Margin Consulting takes the numbers already sitting in your QuickBooks or Jobber and hands you a report that shows margin by job type, where cash is leaking, and what to change first, with a dollar figure on every item.
Answered from the data you already have. No new software, no re-entering numbers.
Most owner-operated trades businesses between $1M and $5M run on gut feel. The books get done, the taxes get filed, and the one question that decides profitability goes unanswered all year.
Revenue is up, the crew is booked solid, and yet the bank account does not reflect it. Without margin by job type or service line, the losing work hides inside the winning work.
Rates get set off what the shop down the road charges, not what the work costs you with labor burden and overhead loaded in. Costs inflate every year. Prices often do not.
Slow receivables and seasonal dips are predictable, but only if someone looks. Most owners discover a tight month when the account is already tight, not eight weeks before.
Everyone else records your numbers. We interrogate them.
Book a CallA fixed-fee, analyst-grade review of your business's profitability, built entirely from the data you already have. One report, one walkthrough call, and a prioritized plan with a dollar figure on every item.
The executive summary is written so that an owner who reads only that page still gets their money's worth: three findings with dollar figures, three actions with expected impact, one honest line on the state of the business.
A short, free call. You describe the business, we confirm the diagnostic fits, and you get the fixed price. No pitch deck, no pressure.
You get a simple data request list. Exports from your accounting or job software are enough. Messy books are normal; we scope around them honestly.
Ten business days from complete data. Margins by job type, pricing vs. costs, overhead, cash conversion. Every finding verified against your numbers.
You receive the written report and we spend 60 minutes going through it together, ending with a prioritized plan you can start within 30 days.
Payment: 50% deposit on signing, 50% on delivery. The 10 business day clock starts when your data is complete.
No hourly meters, no surprise invoices. You know the full cost before any work begins. All prices in CAD.
Summer pricing through August 31, 2026. Standard fee $2,250 after.
The full fixed-fee diagnostic: margins, pricing, overhead, cash flow, written report, and walkthrough call.
50% deposit on signing, 50% on delivery. Delivered in 10 business days from complete data.
For owners who want the analysis to continue after the diagnostic: a monthly read on the business, in plain language.
Billed on the 1st, due in 7 days. Either party can end it with 14 days written notice.
A specific decision that needs real analysis behind it, quoted as a fixed price before work starts.
Fixed quote provided up front. No work starts before the price is agreed.
Not sure which fits? Start with the discovery call. If the diagnostic is not the right tool for your situation, you will hear that directly.
The diagnostic is designed around how trades and home-service businesses actually run. That focus is why it works.
I analyze businesses for a living. Margin Consulting brings that toolkit to trades businesses in Canada.
I work in lower mid-market private equity, analyzing exactly the kind of companies this service is built for: real businesses with crews, trucks, and margins that live or die on job-level economics.
Through EVA Capital, my independent equity research practice, I maintain active coverage of 10+ public companies. Reading a P&L and finding where margin leaks is the specific thing I am trained to do, every day.
I am also a BCom student at Queen's University's Smith School of Business.
I am an analyst, not a CPA. Margin Consulting provides financial analysis to support your decisions. It does not provide tax advice, audit, review, assurance, or legal advice. For those, you need a qualified CPA or lawyer, and the report says so on every copy.
Your accountant does compliance: filing taxes correctly and keeping you onside with the CRA. That work looks backward and answers "what happened." The diagnostic answers "which jobs make money, is your pricing covering real costs, and what should you change first." Different job entirely, and it does not replace your accountant. You need both.
Exports from whatever you already use: QuickBooks, Jobber, ServiceTitan, or spreadsheets. You get a simple data request list after the discovery call, and most owners can pull everything in an hour or two.
Messy books are normal at this size and are not a dealbreaker. Where the data limits a cut of the analysis, the report says so plainly instead of guessing. If the data genuinely cannot support the diagnostic, you hear that before you pay, not after.
No. This is management analysis to support your own decision-making. Margin Consulting does not provide audit, review, assurance, tax advice, or legal advice, and decisions with tax or legal implications should be reviewed with a qualified CPA or lawyer before you act on them. That boundary is stated in every report.
You are not obligated to anything. Many owners take the report and action plan and run with it themselves, and that is a fine outcome. Owners who want the analysis to continue month to month can move to the retainer: monthly P&L commentary, a KPI dashboard, an 8-week cash flow forward look, and a monthly call at $750/month, cancellable with 14 days notice.
The diagnostic is a fixed fee: 50% deposit on signing, 50% on delivery. The 10 business day delivery clock starts when your data is complete, so the timeline is in your hands too. Retainers are billed on the 1st of each month, due within 7 days. All prices in CAD.
Yes. Client data is confidential, stored in a dedicated client folder, and never referenced in another client's materials or in marketing. Anything shared publicly, ever, would be anonymized pattern-level learning only, never your numbers.
The discovery call is free and takes about 20 minutes. You will leave knowing whether the diagnostic fits your business and exactly what it costs. No follow-up pressure either way.
Or write directly: contact@marginconsulting.ca