Trades business plan template
A contracting plan is a capacity plan. Revenue comes from billable hours and materials margin, so this outline starts with how many chargeable hours the crew can actually deliver after travel, quoting and admin.
The drivers this model runs on
Fill these in before you write prose. Every statement in the plan is derived from them.
- Billable hours per tradesperson per week and utilisation rate
- Charge-out rate by role and job type
- Materials margin on supplied parts
- Vehicles, tools, insurance and licensing costs
- Debtor days on commercial work and retentions
Trades and contracting plan outline
1. Executive summary
Trade, service area, crew size and the capital required for vehicles and tools.
- Services and licences held
- Service area and job mix
- Capital required and funding mix
2. Service mix and pricing
Separate call-out work from project work — they have different margins and cash cycles.
- Charge-out rates by role
- Call-out versus contract project split
- Materials markup policy
3. Capacity and crew
Model utilisation honestly: quoting, travel and warranty work are not billable.
- Crew roles and headcount plan
- Target utilisation rate
- Apprentice ratio and training cost
4. Plant, vehicles and compliance
Vehicles and insurance are the fixed cost base of a trade business.
- Vehicle purchase or lease schedule
- Tools and plant with depreciation
- Insurance, licensing and safety compliance
5. Pipeline and lead generation
Show where the next quarter's jobs come from.
- Referral, builder and platform lead sources
- Quote-to-win rate
- Repeat commercial maintenance contracts
6. Financial projections
Five years of statements with the debtor days that make trade cash flow difficult.
- Revenue from billable hours plus materials
- Debtor days and retention releases
- Break-even billable hours per week
7. Funding and risk
Equipment finance and a cash buffer for slow-paying clients.
- Equipment finance and loan repayments
- Working capital buffer
- Downside case on utilisation
Worked example figures
These are the assumptions inside the “Steady Flow Plumbing” demo plan shipped with Auziplan (United States · USD). They are illustrative starting points for a business of this shape, not market averages — replace them with your own figures.
- Headcount
- 6
- Average salary
- $64,000
- Monthly revenue
- $55,000
- Annualised revenue
- $660,000
- Monthly operating expenses
- $33,000
- Target net profit (year 1)
- $150,000
- Net margin
- 11%
- Founder cash
- $85,000
- Bank loan
- $60,000
- Investor capital
- $70,000
- Investor equity
- 15%
Questions
How do I forecast revenue for a trades business?
Billable hours multiplied by charge-out rate, plus materials margin. Auziplan converts that into monthly statements and shows the break-even hours per week.
Why does my trade business look profitable but run out of cash?
Debtor days. Commercial clients often pay 30 to 60 days after invoice while wages and materials are paid weekly — a plan needs the cash movement statement, not just the profit & loss.
Turn the outline into a real financial model
Auziplan takes your drivers and produces a five-year profit & loss, balance sheet and cash movement statement with the tax rules for Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada applied automatically — plus KPIs, an exit valuation and a printable investor dossier.
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