Greg Jones

If you’re on cost plus, you’re setting yourself up to fail.
There’s no incentive to make more money. In fact, it’s the opposite. The client spending more is what earns you more, and even then it’s barely anything.
Sounds fine on paper until you compare it to what the job should’ve actually paid you.

Quote it properly. Set a real margin from the start. Capture every variation as it comes up. By the end of the job you’ve earned what you were actually owed.
Same job. Same client. Completely different outcome.
Builders choose cost plus because quoting feels risky. Prices move, materials jump, and cost plus means never wearing it.

But that safety net is the same thing capping your upside on every job you take on.
The fix was never avoiding the risk. It’s a contract that lets you charge for it properly, so the risk stops being the reason you’re settling for les

If you’re a builder making this mistake, you may as well open up a charity.

How many times has this happened. Client says the budget’s maxed out. No room to move. So you let the variation slide, don’t want to be the bad guy over it.

Then the job wraps up and somehow there’s money for the upgraded stone benchtops. Money for the two-pack joinery. Money for the extras that weren’t in budget five minutes ago.

They had the money the whole time. They just didn’t want to spend it on you.

That’s not a tight budget. That’s a builder who didn’t charge what he was owed.

Average builder does this every job, not just once. $70K a year handed back, and it never even shows up as a loss. It just never gets invoiced.

No signature, no work. Every variation, every time. Not because you’re difficult. Because you already did the job

Builder, have you ever bought into the lie?

The client tells you they’re maxed out. Right at the top of their budget. Can’t stretch another dollar.

So you don’t charge the extras. You don’t put in the change orders. You keep the pencil sharp and do a bit for free, because you’re a nice bloke and you don’t want to be that guy.

Then you get to the end of the job.

And in wheels the beautiful lounge suite. The upgraded pendant lights. The stone benchtops. The custom joinery.

This is the client who had no money, remember.

They weren’t maxed out. They just spent their budget on the things they actually wanted, and you funded the difference.

Stop funding their fit-out. Start making money in your business.

Charge your variations. Every single one.

Most builders rush into spec homes before they’re ready.

They’ve had enough of clients, tile colours, chasing final payments. So the plan becomes buy the land, build it themselves, sell it, keep the profit. Simple.

Except now the business still has wages to pay, still has jobs to run, and none of that money coming back until the development sells.

So the pressure doesn’t ease. It doubles.

Cash flow gets tighter. The stress finds its way into everything else.

The business was never the thing holding builders back from developing. Rushing it before the business could carry the weight that’s what did the damage.

Get your business into a comfortable, predictable position first, and developing stops being a gamble.

The cash flow is there. The pressure isn’t. You get to actually enjoy the project instead of surviving it.

That’s the difference between a development that builds your wealth and one that nearly breaks you.

You price jobs based on what you’d charge doing it yourself. That pricing doesn’t leave room for staff. So you can’t hire. So you stay on the tools.

The only way out? Make the decision FIRST. Then back it with the right moves.

1. Stop pricing jobs like you’re doing the labour.
Rebuild your pricing. Build in margin for labour, overheads, profit. Price like a business, not a tradie.

2. Build margin into every job so you can afford staff.
Increase prices. Protect margin. Create space to pay people properly.

3. Hire before you feel ready.
Stop waiting to “afford” someone. Hire anyway. Adjust pricing to cover them. Force yourself to grow.

4. Let go of control and back your team.
Stop thinking “if I don’t do it, it won’t get done right.” Train them. Trust them. The business only scales when you stop being the bottleneck.

5. Work on the business, not just in it.
Stop doing every job. Start running the business. Pricing. Systems. Strategy. The stuff that actually scales.

Here’s what most tradies get wrong:
They think getting off the tools is a result of growth.
It’s not. It’s a decision that creates growth.
You don’t wait until you can afford it. You make the decision. Then you adjust everything to make it work.
Those decisions are uncomfortable. But they’re the only way off the tools.

Getting off the tools isn’t luck. It’s not timing. It’s a decision backed by the right moves.
Stop waiting. Make the decision.

➡️ If you’re ready to build structure in your business comment the word ‘STRUCTURE’

You price jobs based on what you’d charge doing it yourself. That pricing doesn’t leave room for staff. So you can’t hire. So you stay on the tools.

The only way out? Make the decision FIRST. Then back it with the right moves.

1. Stop pricing jobs like you’re doing the labour.
Rebuild your pricing. Build in margin for labour, overheads, profit. Price like a business, not a tradie.

2. Build margin into every job so you can afford staff.
Increase prices. Protect margin. Create space to pay people properly.

3. Hire before you feel ready.
Stop waiting to “afford” someone. Hire anyway. Adjust pricing to cover them. Force yourself to grow.

4. Let go of control and back your team.
Stop thinking “if I don’t do it, it won’t get done right.” Train them. Trust them. The business only scales when you stop being the bottleneck.

5. Work on the business, not just in it.
Stop doing every job. Start running the business. Pricing. Systems. Strategy. The stuff that actually scales.

Here’s what most tradies get wrong:
They think getting off the tools is a result of growth.
It’s not. It’s a decision that creates growth.
You don’t wait until you can afford it. You make the decision. Then you adjust everything to make it work.
Those decisions are uncomfortable. But they’re the only way off the tools.

Getting off the tools isn’t luck. It’s not timing. It’s a decision backed by the right moves.
Stop waiting. Make the decision.

Most builders get into business wanting to build a successful business.

So they push. They grow. They hit $1M, $2M, $3M.

And they want to quit.

Not because they’re lazy. But because $3M feels worse than $500K.

More revenue. Less profit. More stress. No time. Everything’s on them.

So they scale back down.

They think: “This isn’t worth it. I’d rather be smaller and sane.”

And they’re right. At their current setup, it’s not worth it.

But here’s what they’re missing: $3M-$5M is actually the dream.

The ones who have the foundation dialed in at $3M? They’re making real money. They’ve got time. They’re not drowning.

They built systems so the business runs without them. They built teams so they’re not the bottleneck.

At $3M with a real foundation, you’re rewarded for all that work. You’ve actually made it.

Most builders quit right before that happens.

They think they failed. They didn’t. They just built wrong.

The answer isn’t to scale down. It’s to fix the foundation now.

Then $3M-$5M becomes what you actually wanted when you started