A Guide to Costs and Pricing in Service-Based Industries: A Practical Guide for Small Businesses, Freelancers, & Contractors

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Stop guessing what to charge. Start understanding what your work actually costs.Many service businesses know their revenue and expenses but still struggle to answer a deceptively simple question:“What does this job actually cost me?”A Guide to Costs and Pricing in Service-Based Industries gives small service-based business owners a practical framework for answering that question—and using the answer to make smarter pricing decisions.The concepts in this book are adapted from author Taylor Bailey’s years of experience in government contracting, where disciplined cost accounting and pricing practices are essential when supporting customers such as NASA, the U.S. Army, and the U.S. Navy. This guide takes many of those same foundational concepts and translates them into a practical, approachable framework for smaller service-based businesses.Through the easy-to-follow example of Clean Cuts LLC, you’ll learn how to identify direct and indirect expenses, organize costs into meaningful cost pools, calculate indirect rates, determine fully burdened project costs, and translate those costs into profitable prices.You’ll learn how to:Identify direct and indirect expensesBuild fringe, facility, overhead, and G&A cost poolsSelect appropriate allocation basesCalculate indirect rates and cost multipliersEstimate the fully burdened cost of a projectPrice work using a desired profit marginUnderstand bottom-up and top-down pricingCompare your calculated price with what the market will supportThis isn’t accounting theory for accountants. It’s a practical system for business owners who want to better understand where their money goes and what their work truly costs.Whether you provide landscaping, construction, consulting, professional services, freelance work, or another project-based service, this book will help you develop a repeatable approach to costing your work, protecting your margins, and pricing with confidence

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