While Industry Profits are Down, How Can You Grow Your Profits? | Projul

Construction profits are facing downward pressure due to economic factors such as high interest rates and inflation. Higher financing costs, material price volatility, and ongoing labor shortages are making it difficult for contractors to maintain profitability. For example, Moody’s Analytics* projects a 4.2% decline in corporate profits for 2024 industry-wide.

But here is the thing: when an entire industry dips, the contractors who tighten their operations are the ones who come out ahead. While your competitors are losing sleep over shrinking margins, you can take practical steps right now to protect and grow your profit. It is not about working harder. It is about plugging the holes where money is leaking out of your business every single week.

Projul provides a solution to help construction companies stay profitable, and even increase profit in challenging economic times. Projul helps contractors improve efficiency and capture all potential revenue, which can directly impact profitability. In this article, we are going to walk through four specific strategies that Projul users rely on to grow profits even when the broader industry is pulling back.

How can you grow your profits?

1. Change Orders: Turning Chaos into Cash
2. Estimate Selections: Make choices easier, while making more money
3. Geofenced Time Tracking: Payroll made easy
4. Lead Pipeline: Stop profit from slipping through the cracks

1. Change Orders: Turning Chaos into Cash

One of the biggest unnecessary areas for profit losses in the industry are change orders… or the lack thereof. Extra labor days and untracked material changes can easily lead to bleeding profit. Think about the last five projects you completed. How many times did a client ask for something extra mid-project? A different tile in the bathroom. An added outlet in the kitchen. A request to move a wall six inches. These are all change orders, and if you are not documenting every single one of them, you are working for free.

The problem is not that change orders happen. They are a normal part of construction. The problem is that most contractors handle them with a quick verbal agreement, a handshake, or a text message that gets buried in a thread with 200 other messages. When it comes time to invoice, you have no record, no approval, and no way to bill for the extra work. That is profit walking right out the door.

Using Projul’s 30-second change order process turns project chaos into increased revenue! It tracks every adjustment, big or small, so nothing slips through the cracks. No more working for free. Every change is documented, approved, and invoiced, ensuring you are compensated for your work. This quick process stops profit loss and fills pockets with cash.

Here is what that looks like in practice. Your crew is on site and the homeowner wants to swap out the countertop material for something more expensive. Instead of scribbling it on a napkin, your project manager opens Projul on their phone, creates the change order in about 30 seconds, and sends it to the client for approval right there on the spot. The client approves it digitally. The cost automatically updates in your project budget. When you send the final invoice, that extra charge is already included. No awkward conversations. No lost revenue.

Contractors who start tracking every change order consistently are often shocked at how much money they were leaving on the table. We are talking thousands of dollars per project on larger jobs. Multiply that across a dozen projects per year, and it becomes clear why this single habit can transform your bottom line.

The other benefit is that documented change orders protect you from disputes. If a client later argues that they never agreed to the extra cost, you have a digital paper trail showing the request, the price, and their approval. That kind of protection matters, especially when margins are tight and you cannot afford to eat costs.

If you want to learn more about managing projects profitably, check out our guide on construction project management software.

2. Estimate Selections: Make choices easier, while making more money

A lot of time is wasted in back-and-forth with clients over estimates. How many hours have you spent going back and forth with a client over email trying to nail down exactly which materials they want? You send an estimate with one set of options. They come back asking about a different countertop. You revise the estimate. They want to see what it would look like with upgraded flooring. Another revision. This cycle can eat up an entire day, and it is a day you are not spending on billable work.

Projul simplifies this by allowing contractors to present multiple estimate options in a clean, organized manner. Clients can easily compare options and make their selections without endless emails or calls. This not only speeds up the decision-making process and improves the client experience, but provides opportunities for driving extra revenue.

Here is where selections get really interesting from a profit standpoint. When you present a client with a standard option and a premium option side by side, a surprising number of them will choose the upgrade. It is basic psychology. People like having choices, and when the premium option is right there in front of them with a clear price difference, the upgrade feels accessible rather than extravagant.

Projul users can easily add material upgrades and project additions, increasing the value of every sale you make. With selections, Projul pays for itself 10x over!

Think about a kitchen remodel project. Your base estimate might include laminate countertops, stock cabinets, and basic fixtures. With Projul’s selections feature, you can add a second column showing quartz countertops, soft-close cabinets, and upgraded fixtures. The client sees both options clearly. They understand exactly what they are getting and what the price difference is. More often than not, they pick the upgrade, or at least upgrade a few individual items.

Curious what other contractors think? Check out Projul reviews from real users.

That upsell opportunity exists on every single project you bid. Fencing contractors can offer cedar versus pressure-treated. Roofers can present architectural shingles versus three-tab. Painters can offer one coat versus two, or standard paint versus premium. Every trade has natural upgrade opportunities, and selections make it dead simple to present them without feeling salesy.

The time savings alone are significant. Instead of going back and forth over multiple estimate revisions, you send one estimate with all the options baked in. The client picks what they want. You move forward. The whole process that used to take days now takes hours.

For more on creating faster estimates, check out our post on 5 steps to create estimates faster.

3. Geofenced Time Tracking: Payroll made easy

Tired of paying out inaccurate time logs or translating paper time cards? Labor is the single biggest expense for most construction companies. When your payroll is based on inaccurate data, you are either overpaying your crew or underpaying them. Overpaying eats your profit. Underpaying creates legal and morale problems. Neither outcome is good.

This is where Projul’s geofenced time tracking shines. It is like having eyes on the job site without having to be everywhere at once. Projul uses GPS technology to track when your crews clock in and out based on their physical location at the job site. You get accurate data, reducing payroll errors and keeping your labor costs in check. In the long run, that level of precision translates into significant savings.

Let us talk about the real-world problems that geofenced time tracking solves. First, there is buddy punching. One crew member clocks in for another who is running late. It happens all the time, and it costs you money every single pay period. With geofencing, a worker can only clock in when they are physically at the job site. No more punching in from the coffee shop down the street.

Second, there is the time card rounding problem. When crews fill out paper time cards at the end of the week, they are guessing. Was it 7:02 or 7:15? Did they leave at 3:30 or 3:45? Those small rounding errors add up fast. Over a year, you could be paying for hundreds of extra hours that were never actually worked. GPS-based time tracking records the exact clock-in and clock-out times automatically. No guessing, no rounding, no arguments.

Third, there is the issue of drive time and site transitions. If your crew is working on multiple sites in a day, geofenced tracking can tell you exactly how much time was spent at each location. That data feeds directly into your job costing, so you know the true labor cost per project rather than splitting it up based on estimates.

The payroll processing side gets easier too. Instead of collecting paper time cards from every crew member, deciphering handwriting, and manually entering hours into a spreadsheet, Projul’s time data flows directly into your system. You can export it to your accounting software or sync it with QuickBooks to keep your bookkeeper happy.

For contractors running multiple crews across multiple sites, this kind of visibility is worth its weight in gold. You can see at a glance who is on site, who has not shown up yet, and how labor hours are tracking against your budget. That information lets you make adjustments in real time instead of finding out about problems after the project is done and the money is spent.

Want to learn more about tracking time? Check out our full breakdown of time tracking software for contractors.

4. Lead Pipeline: Stop profit from slipping through the cracks

Managing leads without the proper tools can feel like a full-time job in itself. How many potential projects have you lost simply because you forgot to follow up? A homeowner calls to ask about a bathroom remodel. You are in the middle of a project, so you jot down their number on a scrap of paper. A week later, you find the scrap of paper in your truck and call back, only to find out they already hired someone else. That missed lead was worth $15,000, $30,000, maybe more.

Projul simplifies this by offering a lead pipeline feature that tracks every potential project from the first inquiry to the signed contract. No more missed opportunities because of lost notes or forgotten follow-ups. Projul helps keep your sales process organized, so you never miss out on a potential job. Use Projul to close extra sales that would have otherwise been missed.

A lead pipeline gives you a visual overview of every opportunity in your funnel. You can see at a glance which leads are brand new, which ones have received estimates, which ones are waiting on a decision, and which ones need a follow-up. That visibility alone can transform your close rate.

Here is a common scenario. You send an estimate to a potential client on Monday. By Friday, you have gotten busy with other things and forgotten all about it. The client was interested but waiting for you to check in. They never hear from you, so they call another contractor. With a lead pipeline, you would see that lead sitting in the “Estimate Sent” column and know it is time for a follow-up call.

The numbers back this up. Studies consistently show that contractors who follow up within 24 hours are significantly more likely to win the job compared to those who wait longer. Having a system that reminds you to follow up is not a luxury. It is a revenue generator.

Beyond follow-ups, a pipeline helps you understand your conversion rates. If you send 20 estimates per month and only close 4, that is a 20% close rate. Knowing that number lets you work backward. Need more revenue? Either send more estimates or improve your close rate. Both are actionable, but only if you have the data.

Projul’s lead pipeline also integrates with the rest of the platform. When a lead converts, it flows right into project management, scheduling, and invoicing. There is no re-entering data or switching between apps. The transition from lead to active project is smooth.

If you want to see how other contractors are growing their businesses, our guide on how to scale a construction business covers additional strategies worth exploring.

Why These Four Strategies Matter More During a Downturn

When the economy is humming along and there is more work than you can handle, you can afford to be a little sloppy with change orders, time tracking, and lead follow-up. Projects come in faster than you can bid them, so a few missed opportunities do not sting as much.

But during a downturn? Every dollar counts. Every lead matters. Every hour your crew works needs to be billed accurately. The contractors who survive downturns are not necessarily the ones with the biggest backlogs. They are the ones running the tightest operations.

These four strategies work together. Change orders capture revenue you are already earning but not billing. Selections increase the average value of every project you bid. Time tracking cuts payroll waste. And a lead pipeline makes sure you are converting the maximum number of opportunities into signed contracts.

None of these require you to work longer hours. None of them require you to take on riskier projects or cut your prices to win bids. They simply require you to be more organized and intentional about the business processes you already have.

That is the real advantage of using a tool like Projul. It does not ask you to change how you do construction. It just makes the business side of construction less chaotic and more profitable.

The ROI of Projul: This is how to grow your profits in construction.

Projul delivers a real, measurable return on investment. Contractors using Projul report a 32% profit increase and save 2+ hours daily on admin tasks. In an industry where margin and overhead matter, you need tools that increase revenue, make your team more efficient, and add profit to your bottom line.

Let us put some rough numbers on that. If your company does $1 million in annual revenue at a 10% profit margin, that is $100,000 in profit. A 32% increase puts you at $132,000. That extra $32,000 came from capturing change orders you were missing, upselling through selections, cutting payroll waste, and closing leads that would have slipped away. All for a software that costs a fraction of that amount per year.

The time savings matter just as much. Two hours a day is ten hours a week. That is over 500 hours per year you get back. What would you do with 500 extra hours? Bid more projects? Spend time on the job site instead of behind a desk? Actually take a weekend off? The choice is yours.

Run your operations from one app, improve your cash flow, and keep projects running smoothly. Projul’s all-in-one construction management solution with 26+ features is built by contractors, for contractors. With a 9.8/10 G2 rating and over 5,000+ users, the results speak for themselves.

If you are still relying on spreadsheets, text messages, and paper time cards to run your business, you are leaving money on the table. Not a little bit of money. A significant chunk of your profit. The industry may be down, but your profits do not have to follow. The contractors who take action now are the ones who will come out of this downturn stronger and more profitable than before.

Curious how this looks in practice? Schedule a demo and we will show you.

Get started with a live demo and see how Projul can work for you. Searching for how to grow your profits in construction? Look no further than Projul’s all in one construction management software! *Doran, Kathryn. “Construction Industry Outlook 2024: 7 Key Emerging and Continuing Trends.” NASBPDISCLAIMERWe make no warranty of accuracy, timeliness, and completeness of the information presented on this website. Posts are subject to change without notice and cannot be considered financial advice.