Pick the service by the symptom you see on Monday morning. Each of the six services below starts from a problem we hear from mechanical owners again and again, and each one ends with something you can use without us: a rate sheet, a costing report, a hiring calendar, an org chart or an exit timeline.
All six are business consulting. We do not provide engineering, mechanical design, inspection or code-compliance services, and nothing here involves touching equipment. Rates for every service are on the pricing page.
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Pricing and estimating discipline
Selling rates and bid prices built from your real labour cost, overhead and target margin, not from the shop down the road.
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Job costing and project margins
See which jobs made money while they are still running, and catch margin fade before the final invoice.
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Capacity and hiring plans
Match crew hours to backlog and season, so you hire on a plan instead of in a panic.
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Service-versus-construction mix
Decide how much of the business should be service, replacement and new construction, and what each one asks of your cash.
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Owner time and management structure
Move estimating, dispatch and project decisions off the owner's desk without losing control of margin.
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Exit planning
Build a mechanical business a buyer or successor can run, with sale and succession work through Sedighi.ca and BizSell.ca.
Pricing and estimating discipline
Choose this if you are busy, your prices match the competition, and the profit still disappears. It is the right first step for most firms under 25 people.
We rebuild your selling rate from burdened labour cost, billable efficiency and overhead, then test your flat-rate book or bid template against it. You leave with rates you can defend line by line. Read more on the pricing and estimating page, or try the arithmetic yourself with the burdened labour rate guide.
Job costing and project margins
Choose this if jobs look fine when you win them and disappointing when you close them. Fade between bid margin and final margin is the classic sign.
We set up cost codes that match how your estimators think, a weekly estimate-versus-actual review and a change-order routine that gets extras signed before they are installed. The job costing page explains the reports, and our WIP schedule guide shows how to read the one your accountant may already produce.
Capacity and hiring plans
Choose this if you either turn work away in January or have trucks parked in May. Both are planning problems, not labour-market problems.
We map crew hours against backlog by trade and month, and build a hiring and apprenticeship calendar that runs ahead of your season. Details are on the capacity and hiring page.
Service-versus-construction mix
Choose this if you are deciding whether to chase more new construction, build a service department, or add replacement and maintenance agreements. Each path changes your cash cycle and your crew structure.
We model the mix you have against two or three alternatives, using your own margins and payment terms. See the service-mix page. If you bid commercial work, the bid/no-bid scorecard is a useful place to start.
Owner time and management structure
Choose this if every estimate, every hard customer and every dispatch puzzle still lands on your phone. A firm that depends on one person cannot grow past that person's week.
We audit where your hours go, decide which decisions to hand off first, and set the reports that let you delegate without losing sight of margin. More on the owner time page.
Exit planning
Choose this if you plan to sell, hand over to family or managers, or simply step back within the next one to seven years. A buyer pays for a business that runs without its owner and shows clean job-level numbers.
We prepare the business; valuation, sale and succession work runs through Sedighi.ca and BizSell.ca, the group's exit brand. Read the exit planning page.
If two symptoms apply
It is common to recognise yourself in more than one section. In that case, start with whichever one is closest to the money. Pricing comes before capacity, because hiring to deliver underpriced work makes the problem bigger. Job costing comes before owner time, because you cannot safely delegate decisions you cannot measure. Exit planning sits on top of all of them and is easiest when the others are already in place.
How engagements are structured
Most first engagements are a defined project with milestone payments, because the deliverable is clear: a rate sheet, a costing system, a plan. Owners who want ongoing help reviewing jobs, rates and hiring each month move to a retainer afterwards. Short questions are handled by the hour. Our FAQ covers contracts, timelines and what you own at the end.
Frequently asked questions
Can we buy more than one service?
Yes, and many owners do, but usually in sequence. Pricing and job costing feed each other, so they are often run together as one project. Capacity and owner-time work go better once you trust your numbers.
Do you work alongside our accountant?
Yes. Your accountant prepares the statements and handles tax; we use those numbers, plus your job and payroll data, to make operating decisions. We often ask for a short call with them early on so the definitions match.
Which service suits a firm under ten people?
Pricing and estimating almost always. Small shops tend to copy competitors' rates, and fixing the selling rate pays for itself faster than anything else on this list.
Do you also do marketing?
Marketing advice is part of service-mix and capacity work, because there is no point filling a schedule with the wrong jobs. Done-for-you campaigns sit with other brands in our group.