From Busy to Profitable: A Home Improvement Business Owner’s Journey from $300k to $17M

Most contractors want to grow. Too often, though, home improvement businesses can put revenue on a pedestal ahead of profit. That’s where businesses can turn into chaos and headaches, rather than giving you the life you want. 

Tim Brown’s story he shared on Build to Win is a perfect example. In the early 2000s, he and his dad were running a small rain gutter company. They were good at what they did and worked long hours every week. By 2007, they had pushed the company to $2.5 million in annual revenue, mostly due to taking on additional new construction work. 

You can guess what happened in 2008. The housing market crashed. New construction vanished overnight, unpaid invoices stacked up, and cash flow dried up. It took years to dig out of debt. The work was still there…but the profit wasn’t.

Tim’s story is more common than you might think. Many contractors keep themselves busy, but they’re not really building a stable, profitable business. If you’re wondering why so many contractors get stuck chasing top-line revenue instead of true profit, here’s what’s behind it – and what you can do differently.

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What Keeps Contractors from Focusing on the Bottom Line?

1. Not Knowing Any Better

Most of the contractors I know are naturally competitive people. You want to win the job, beat the competition, grow the business. But too many owners don’t really know what healthy growth looks like. It’s easy to get caught up in local and even national rankings like the Qualified Remodeler's “Top 500” list, and that next big milestone – $5 million, $10 million, $15 million.

Tim admits he got stuck in the same trap. “Everybody talks about their top line,” Tim says. “But the bottom line is what really matters.”

Many contractors don’t have the right systems to see where their money is going until it’s too late. They wait for the month-end P&L, only to find out that the “big job” they were proud to land actually cost them money at the end of the day. 

It’s been said, “Revenue is for vanity. Profit is for sanity.” Be clear on what you want your business to deliver for you, and make sure your business management software supports that goal. If your contractor CRM doesn’t give you the ability to track profit in real time, you’re setting yourself up for unpleasant surprises.

You may be doing a lot of work when you’re chasing top-line numbers without real profitability. But it’s often for someone else’s benefit. Builders, vendors, and customers win…while you become the bank. Stay on that path long enough, and you’ll find out the hard way: it’s possible to grow your business straight into the ground.

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2. Selling to the Wrong Market

This is a lesson Tim learned the hard way. In the early days, he grew fast by subbing gutter work for big builders. It seemed like a smart move; new construction meant steady work, high volume, and big invoices.

But here’s the problem: builders often work on tight margins themselves, and when the market shifts, they’re the first ones to stop paying you. In 2008, Tim found himself holding the bag for dozens of unpaid homes. The volume was there, but the profit evaporated.

The same problem shows up for smaller residential contractors, too. Maybe you’re targeting homeowners who don’t have the home values to support your pricing. Maybe you’re working in neighborhoods that can’t qualify for financing. Maybe you’re spending all your time chasing unqualified leads because you don’t really know who your best customer is.

Good reporting can solve that. Clear, easy-to-interpret data helps you focus on the homeowners who value your work and are willing to pay for it. That’s how Tim pivoted away from sub work to focus on siding and residential exteriors. It wasn’t easy, but it gave him control of his cash flow and the ability to charge what the work was worth.

The right home improvement CRM can help you see your best customers. That means you waste less time on work that doesn’t pay off.

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3. Not Tracking Profit in Real Time

My friend and co-host John Kolbaska says it simply: “The bottom line is the bottom line.” But you’d be surprised how many contractors don’t know their true bottom line until the month is already over.

Tim’s company stayed stuck at $2 million for years, not because they didn’t have work, but because they weren’t tracking the right numbers day-to-day. When you wait for financials until the end of the month, it’s too late to fix the profit leaks.

Your business management software should help you keep score in real time. You should know your gross profit on each job before the customer signs on the dotted line. 

That’s one reason why I designed Builder Prime to fix that gap for contractors. As an all-in-one business management software solution that covers the entire customer journey from lead to referral – it’s more than a place to store contact info or schedule jobs. It’s about knowing which projects are truly profitable, which crews stay on budget, and which lead sources actually deliver a positive return.

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Focus on Profit & Build Systems to Protect It

Tim will tell you he spent years “busy being busy.” He wore every hat: owner, estimator, installer, customer service rep. It worked for a while…until it didn’t.

The real turning point came when he stopped trying to do it alone. He hired the right people, put real systems in place, and got out of the day-to-day weeds. Today, he only steps into the office once a month. His business runs on clear processes, healthy margins, and predictable cash flow.

Whether you’re at $300K or $17 million, the principles are the same:

• Know what your business is really for. 
• Pick your market carefully.
• Track every dollar in real time.
• Use the right tools to keep your eyes on profit.
  
  

If you want that freedom, your systems need to grow with you. That starts with the right construction CRM software that ties together leads, sales, production, payments, and profitability.

To find out how Builder Prime can help you build a home improvement business that works for you, schedule a demo with our team today.