The Numbers Every Consultancy Owner Should Know — But Don't

We've spoken with hundreds of engineering and built environment consultancy owners over the years. 

And there's a pattern we see constantly. 

They know their revenue. 

But ask them their net profit margin last month? Blank. 

Their team utilisation rate? Blank. 

Profit per project? Blank. 

The business can look healthy on the surface while quietly bleeding profit underneath. 

We've seen it firsthand. Strong revenue, team flat out, everyone busy. But the profit isn't there. And nobody can figure out why. 

Here's why. 

Staff can be completely utilised — even over utilised — and projects are still making no money.  

When teams spend too much time on projects, margin disappears. The hours blow out, nobody catches it in time, and by the time the project closes, the damage is done. 

The frustrating thing? It's entirely preventable. 

But you can't fix what you're not tracking. 

Here's what we recommend every consultancy owner puts in place: 

A simple weekly dashboard. 

Every week, you need visibility on three things: 

1. Project profitability — every active project, every week. Is it on track or bleeding? 

1. Time spent per project — where are the hours actually going? 

1. Staff utilisation — who is under, who is over, and where are the risks? 

That weekly rhythm alone will catch the problems before they become expensive. 

And a monthly dashboard. 

Every month, you need to zoom out and look at three things: 

1. Overall business revenue — how are you tracking compared to budget. 

1. Net profit percentage — is the business genuinely healthy, or just busy? 

1. Forward pipeline — what's coming, and is there enough of it? 

These aren't complicated numbers. 

You don't need a CFO or a sophisticated finance team to track them. 

You just need a simple dashboard and the discipline to look at it consistently. 

The consultancy owners with this visibility make better decisions, catch margin bleed early, and stop confusing being busy with being profitable. 

The ones without it are flying blind. 

So the question is: 

Do you have real visibility — weekly and monthly — on what's driving profit in your business and what's quietly eroding it? 

If not, that's where I'd start 

To your success, 

Josh 

PS: If you’re interested, here are 4 ways I can help you right now: 

1.  Grab a copy of my new book | Profitable Engineering Consultant | 9 strategies to grow with confidence, get your time back & consistently hit 30% plus net profit margins – Click Here

2. Subscribe to our podcast | Learn how to run a more profitable consultancy and grow successfully – no fluff, just actionable and practical advice from someone who grew a consultancy to $30M and exited successfully – Watch Here or Listen Here + make sure you subscribe! 

3. Download our free Business Plan template | Map out your Business Plan & grow your consultancy with confidence – Click Here to download now 

4. Book a 20-minute Business Audit Call | We’ll do a full review & audit of your business, uncover the #1 bottleneck that's holding you back right now & develop a 3-step action plan together for how you can get results faster. You'll leave this call with a clear and actionable plan for what to do next in your business – Book Here