Business Training for Renovation & General Contractors in British Columbia
BC-specific business training for renovation contractors and small general contractors running their own operation. Built for owner-operators managing multi-trade projects, not large construction companies with project coordinators and estimating departments.
You know the job cold. The business is a different story.
Years building and renovating. Customers who call you because the work is done right, the project finishes on schedule, and the change orders don't show up as surprises. But the money doesn't match the hours. Your pricing was set by per-square-foot rules of thumb and what other reno guys in the area charge, not what it actually costs to run a project with your crew, your subs, your insurance, your overhead, and your time. You don't know your real break-even rate. You've quoted ten projects in the last six months and won three, with no way to recover the estimating hours on the seven you lost. You have homeowners and builders paying progress draws on 30 to 60-day terms while you're paying subs in 14 days and carrying material on your credit card. You've eaten allowance over-runs, change orders, and "while we're at it" requests this year and never billed for them. The 10% Builders Lien holdback sits at the end of every project. Your draw is whatever is left after payroll, subs, suppliers, and equipment payments come out. You're running a real operation on gut feel, and the gap between what you gross and what you keep is getting harder to ignore.
The Problems That Cost You Money
Do any of these problems sound familiar? We have specific fixes for your specific problems.
No Real Break-Even Rate
Rate set by per-square-foot rules of thumb and what other reno guys charge, not built from your actual costs. Every project you take may be subsidizing the customer.
Mobilization Time Eaten
Driving between job sites, supplier pickups, and client meetings. An hour-plus across every day absorbed as dead overhead. Never billed, never discussed.
Estimating Time Given Away Free
Twelve hours building a quote for a kitchen reno. Three more hours on the follow-up call and the revised scope. The customer goes with someone $4,000 cheaper. That fifteen hours is on your books at zero.
Materials Markup Not Calculated
Lumber, drywall, fixtures, hardware, and finishes sold at supplier cost plus a guess. Freight, pickup time, returns, and carrying cost all absorbed invisibly.
No Emergency Rate Premium
A weekend leak that requires opening up walls and emergency drywall work gets billed at the same rate as a scheduled reno day. That is not a pricing decision, it is a habit.
Overhead Not Built Into Quotes
Truck payments, tool financing, insurance, BC Home Warranty fees, WorkSafeBC premiums, software subscriptions, office time — none of it formally calculated and included in the quote structure.
Billable Hours Overestimated
Pricing assumes 8 productive site hours a day. Reality for a working GC is 4 to 5 once you account for client calls, sub coordination, permit chasing, supplier runs, and quoting other jobs.
Scope Creep With No Change Order Habit
Homeowner asks to add a pot light, move an outlet, upgrade a fixture, or "while you're at it" finish the entry closet. You say yes to keep the project moving. Never written up, never billed. Five times a project, every project.
Homeowner And Builder Accounts Paying Progress Draws In 30 To 60 Days
You're paying subs in 14 days. Materials are on the credit card. The customer's draw arrives a month after the work is done. The 10% Builders Lien holdback sits another forty-five days after substantial completion. Interest is a cost of doing business that was never priced in.
No Deposit on Large Jobs
Start a $120,000 reno with a $5,000 deposit. Demolition and rough-in materials delivered on your credit. First progress draw doesn't arrive until week six. No leverage left.
Disputed Hours, No Defense
Customer questions twenty crew hours on a finishing week. No signed daily time records, no documented authorization on changes. The dispute wins by default.
GST Sitting in the Operating Account
Tax season bill wipes out the balance that looked healthy all year. The 5% was never separated and now it's already spent.
Lien Provisions Never Used
Completed work, supplied materials, invoice still unpaid on a reno or build. You had forty-five days from substantial completion to file a lien. Nobody ever told you. Worse: your subs may file liens on the project before you've been paid.
Draw Is Whatever Is Left
CRA, suppliers, and fuel cards get paid first. The owner's pay is whatever survived. That is not a business model.
One Or Two Accounts Carry Everything
Lose one repeat client, one builder you sub for, or one designer who feeds you projects and 60% of revenue disappears. The risk is known. The fix has never been built.
Sub-Trade Markup Not Calculated
Subs hired for plumbing, electrical, tile, and finishing. Their invoices are passed through to the customer at cost or with a guessed-at markup. The coordination time, the schedule chasing, the WorkSafeBC clearance verification, and the warranty liability are all absorbed.
Allowance Over-Runs And Selection Delays Eaten
Customer picks $8,000 worth of tile against a $4,000 allowance and pays the difference, but the extra labor to install the more complex pattern is absorbed. They take six weeks to pick fixtures while your subs sit idle. None of it on the invoice.
Site Supervision Time Absorbed
Hours on site walking the work, answering questions, redirecting subs, dealing with the homeowner, and reviewing the day's progress. The quote priced the carpentry. The supervision is free.
​Start with a free call. Choose the program that fits. Move at the pace your operation can handle.
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Step 1: Book a Free Discovery Call
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A 30-minute call. Bring the problems, not a list of questions. We figure out what's actually hurting your operation and which program is the right place to start.
No cost. No pitch. If we're not a fit, you'll know on the call.
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Step 2: Start With the Right Foundation
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Where you begin depends on where your business actually sits.
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The Tradesman Blueprint
is the foundation for new operations. 60 days. We build your real break-even rate from your actual costs, rebuild your quote structure so mobilization, diagnostic time, parts markup, and overhead are priced into every job, and set your deposit policy, account terms, collection protocol, and GST discipline. By the end, the operation runs on systems instead of gut feel. ​
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Journeyman Pathway
is the flagship for established operators, whether your financial fundamentals are broken or your base systems are solid and you're trying to scale without creating problems you don't have time to fix. Every membership opens with the Recalibrated diagnostic. We put your real numbers on the table and fix what's broken before building anything on top. If your foundation is already solid, you confirm it fast and move on. From there you work the tracks that matter most: Advanced Sales, Expanded Marketing, Operations & Structure, People & Growth, and Business Protection & Sustainability. Month to month, at the pace you choose.
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MasterKraft Consulting
is for operators whose situation doesn't fit a fixed program: multi-trade operations, partnership or family structures, business transitions, or specialty regulatory work. Hourly or retainer, scoped on the call. Quote-based pricing.
The discovery call confirms which one fits, and how fast you should move.
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