Hi Tina-

Thanks for your comments. Did you mean that if we aren't making money in the 5th year then we ARE doing something wrong?

It sure seems that way.

I've heard about the line of credit, but I don't really understand what it is. I will check into it though. It sounds like a good idea.

We charge customers a service charge plus labor and parts. But not a separate charge for travel. The service charge helps with covering that. But, he (feels) that he can't charge customers for time spent on paperwork, or time spent running down parts. And, estimates are free.
He doesn't want to price gouge his customers.

Up until now, we've run a word of mouth kind of business. Looking at this numbers and adding the service charge (he began this in 2007) I think he would have done a lot better in the early years when we were busy. His percentages are improving as well, suggesting an improvement in efficiency. We do have an accountant/business consultant who is great and trustworthy and he keeps telling us that we are doing great.
He has few plumbers as clients and he assures us that they do make money.

The biggest problem right now is the fact that we are slow, due to the economy. I think that never having done any advertising in the past has hurt us as well;no one knows were are out there.

I really do appreciate the advice from both you and Denny. Thanks again.


Jeannie