Proof 2 of 8

The Margin

Why a buyer cares

Revenue is not value; margin is. If your job-level margin cannot be reproduced from your records, the buyer will re-cut it lower.

How this proof is scored

Each piece of evidence below gets a score. The score for The Margin is the lowest of its four evidence items. A buyer looks for the weak spot, so the weak spot sets the score.

0. Not proven: You believe it, but cannot show it.
1. Partly: Evidence exists but is incomplete, late, or needs you to explain it.
2. Proven: A third party could verify it from documents alone.
3. Proven and tested: Verified and stress-tested: an outsider reviewed it, or it held up when it mattered.

The four pieces of evidence

Each piece starts with the question a buyer will ask. Then it shows what a good answer looks like, and what makes it hold up under pressure.

Evidence 1

Job costing agrees across systems

A buyer asks this to find out whether the numbers and claims hold up without you in the room.

The buyer's question

Show me gross margin by job. Do RMS and QuickBooks agree?

What Proven looks like

A third party could verify it from documents alone.

Job costs in RMS and QuickBooks are reconciled monthly and the difference is explained.

What Proven and tested adds

Verified and stress-tested: an outsider reviewed it, or it held up when it mattered.

The difference has stayed inside a tolerance you set for six straight months.

Evidence 2

Costs outside the estimate

A buyer asks this to find out whether the numbers and claims hold up without you in the room.

The buyer's question

Where are the costs that never made it into the estimate?

What Proven looks like

A third party could verify it from documents alone.

Non-estimated costs are coded to the job that caused them; supplements are tracked to collection.

What Proven and tested adds

Verified and stress-tested: an outsider reviewed it, or it held up when it mattered.

Ten closed jobs were audited: estimate, actual cost and final margin all tie out.

Evidence 3

Margin Guardrail on open jobs

A buyer asks this to find out whether the numbers and claims hold up without you in the room.

The buyer's question

When did you know this job was losing margin?

What Proven looks like

A third party could verify it from documents alone.

Estimated, forecast and final margin are reviewed weekly on every open job.

What Proven and tested adds

Verified and stress-tested: an outsider reviewed it, or it held up when it mattered.

You can show jobs where a margin slip was caught mid-job and corrected.

Evidence 4

Margin by service line, over time

A buyer asks this to find out whether the numbers and claims hold up without you in the room.

The buyer's question

Is your margin steady, improving or sliding?

What Proven looks like

A third party could verify it from documents alone.

Gross margin by line of work (mitigation, reconstruction, contents) for the last 36 months.

What Proven and tested adds

Verified and stress-tested: an outsider reviewed it, or it held up when it mattered.

The trend is flat or improving and you can explain every large swing.

Readiness documents

These are the documents that back up this proof. Keep each one current. A document that is a year out of date tells a buyer the business only gets organised when someone asks.

Document	What it is and why	Refresh
Job margin report tied to the P&L	Margin by job, totaling to the gross margin on the financial statements.	Monthly
RMS to QuickBooks reconciliation	Shows the two systems agree, or explains why they differ.	Monthly
Gross margin by service line, 36 months	Mitigation, reconstruction, contents and other lines shown separately.	Quarterly
Margin Guardrail log	Jobs flagged for margin slip and what was done.	Weekly

Score The Margin

Be honest. Score what you could show a buyer this week, not what you plan to fix.

Score this proof in the Scorecard

The Books The Team