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Each one uses numbers you already have, off a bill, a statement or your register. We supply the rate and show where it comes from. Nothing you type leaves this page.
That calculator is retired. These use numbers you already have.
Contractors
Calls nobody picked up
Work that called you and didn’t get through.
Your phone bill or carrier app lists every incoming call.
Last year’s sales divided by the number of jobs.
Example numbers. Replace them with yours.
$12,000 to $21,000 a month in work that called and didn’t get through. About $140,000 to $250,000 a year.
The rate: 27% to 48% of calls to trade businesses never reach a person. Owners think it’s 3%.
Where these numbers come from
- Invoca, Home Services Lead Conversion Benchmarks, 2026. From a company that sells call tracking.
Across home services, 52% of calls are answered by a person.
Also on the page: "For calls over 30 seconds, it's 73%." So 48% of calls never reach a person, and 27% of calls longer than 30 seconds don't. - Service Direct, Home Service Call Performance, 2019. From a company that sells call tracking and ads.
business owners thought they had a call answer rate of 97%.
Second sentence on the same page: "In truth, only 66% of calls were answered on average." Abby attributes both to Service Direct's 2019 Home Service Call Performance report. Sample size not stated. - Invoca, Home Services Lead Conversion Benchmarks, 2026. From a company that sells call tracking.
Across home services, 38% of calls answered by a person are leads, and 45% of those leads convert on the call.
Line check, free: We read your call log and match each call to a job. Usually 1 to 7 days. How the call check works
Measure my real numberProfit lost between bid and finish
The margin you bid that never makes it to the end of the job, including extras done and never billed.
The top line of last year’s profit and loss, or your tax return.
Example numbers. Replace them with yours.
$60,000 to $84,000 a year in margin lost between the bid and the finished job.
The rate: margins erode about 5 points during the average job, and 7 or more on nearly a third of jobs.
Where these numbers come from
- Dodge Construction Network and Procore, specialty contractor study, 2022. From a company that sells construction management software (Procore). Firms with $2M+ in sales. The page blocks automated checks; quote not confirmed.
- Dodge Construction Network, Margin Minefields, 2023. From a company that sells construction data.
their margin on individual projects is eroded by an average of 5% during construction with nearly one third typically suffering 7% or more.
Surveyed firms had more than $2M in sales.
Line check, free: We rebuild each job’s real cost from QuickBooks, payroll hours and supplier bills. Usually 1 to 2 weeks. How the job cost check works
Measure my real numberPaid hours nobody billed
Field hours you pay for that never reach an invoice: drive time, shop time, supply runs, waiting.
From your payroll report.
From your payroll report.
From your payroll report, overtime included.
Example numbers. Replace them with yours.
About $16,000 a month in paid field hours that aren’t billed. Each 5 points you win back is worth about $2,300 a month.
The rate: about 35% of paid technician hours aren’t billable.
Where these numbers come from
- Field Promax data via ACHR News, 2026. From a company that sells field service software.
65% of technician paid time is actually billable
Field Promax report covering 300 HVAC companies; ACHR News, June 16, 2026.
Line check, free: We match your timesheets and payroll to your invoices, job by job. Usually 1 to 2 weeks. How the job cost check works
Measure my real numberWorkers’ comp overcharge
Premium paid on the wrong job codes, such as office or shop staff billed at field rates.
Example numbers. Replace them with yours.
$2,000 to $6,000 a year, when the codes are wrong. Past years can sometimes be refunded.
The rate: we use 5% to 15%. Brokers report wrong codes can inflate premiums 10% to 30%.
Where these numbers come from
- Tight Line, 2026. Our assumption. A conservative range, below what brokers report.
- USI Insurance Services, 2025. Insurance broker.
This can inflate costs by 10% to 30%.
Line check, free: We compare your policy and audit to payroll by job title. Usually 1 to 2 days. How the statement check works
Measure my real numberCard fees above fair
Two numbers off one statement.
What your card processor really charges, compared with what US merchants pay on average.
The total at the top of your processor statement.
Your statement’s fee total, everything included.
Example numbers. Replace them with yours.
You pay 3.20% on every card sale. That’s $900 to $1,600 a month above the US average, about $11,000 to $20,000 a year.
The comparison: US merchants paid about 2.30% on credit cards and 1.57% across all cards in 2024. Big merchants pull those averages down, so the real gap for your size is usually smaller than the high figure.
Where these numbers come from
- The Nilson Report (via FinancialContent), 2025. Computed by us from The Nilson Report (via FinancialContent).
Merchants paid $148.52 billion in processing fees to accept those credit cards
$148.52B in fees ÷ $6.464T in credit card purchases = 2.30%. Includes large merchants. - The Nilson Report (via FinancialContent), 2025. Computed by us from The Nilson Report (via FinancialContent).
For every $100 in card payments merchants accepted in 2024, they paid $1.57 in fees
$187.20B in fees ÷ $11.903T in card purchases = 1.57%. Includes large merchants.
Line check, free: We read 3 to 12 months of statements and list every fee line. Usually 1 to 2 days. How the statement check works
Measure my real numberRestaurants
Food bought, never sold
Food that goes in the trash, the walk-in or an over-full plate before anyone pays for it.
Add up one normal week of supplier invoices.
Example numbers. Replace them with yours.
$17,000 to $42,000 a year in food thrown out before it’s served. Kitchens that measured it cut about a quarter: $4,300 to $11,000 a year.
The rate: kitchens throw out 4% to 10% of the food they buy. Kitchens that started measuring cut it 26%.
Where these numbers come from
- LeanPath, 2024. From a company that sells food waste tracking.
Most foodservice operations throw away between 4-10% of the food they purchase before it’s ever served to a guest.
- Champions 12.3, The Business Case for Reducing Food Loss and Waste: Restaurants, 2019. Nonprofit research group.
Within just one year, the restaurants had reduced food waste from their kitchens by 26 percent on average
114 restaurants.
Line check, free: We compare what your register sold with what your invoices bought, item by item, over four weekly counts. 30 days. How the food cost check works
Measure my real numberVoids, comps and refunds that walk out
Sales rung, then voided, comped or refunded after the customer paid.
Your register’s sales report for last year.
Example numbers. Replace them with yours.
$4,500 to $15,000 a year. One person doing it on purpose can cost far more.
The rate: 0.3% to 1% of sales. Staff cause about 29% of retail shrink, and the median small-business fraud runs 12 months before anyone notices.
Where these numbers come from
- National Retail Federation, National Retail Security Survey, 2023. Industry association.
Internal (employee) theft reported in at 29% of shrink loss.
Average shrink was 1.6% of sales (FY 2022); 29% of 1.6% is about 0.46%. Mostly chain data. - Pierce, Snow and McAfee, Management Science (via Washington University), 2015. Peer-reviewed study.
revenue per restaurant increased an average of $2,982 per week, about 7 percent.
392 restaurants in 39 states. Press release 2013; journal publication 2015. - ACFE Report to the Nations (via CSH), 2024. Industry association.
From start to finish, the median fraud scheme in the 2024 study took 12 months to uncover.
Also: "The median loss for organizations with fewer than 100 employees was $141,000."
Line check, free: We read your register’s void, comp, discount and refund history and show which shifts stand out. Usually 1 to 2 days. How the register check works
Measure my real numberSupplier price creep
Invoices billed above the price you agreed.
The purchases or cost-of-goods line in your accounting software.
Example numbers. Replace them with yours.
About $1,400 a year in overcharges, at minimum.
The rate: about a third of invoices carry an overcharge of about 1%.
Where these numbers come from
- Consolidated Concepts audit (via FSR Magazine), 2015. From a company that sells restaurant purchasing services.
found at least one overcharge 35 percent of the time.
"Typical overcharges amount to about 1 percent of the total dollar amount of each invoice." 35% × 1% = 0.35%. 11,000 invoices from 400 restaurants. - McShane et al. (via Kellogg Insight), 2015. Peer-reviewed study.
retail prices rose after 70 percent of wholesale price increases
One large chain. - Tight Line, 2026. Our assumption. Suppliers raise prices about 3% a year.
Line check, free: We read 90 days of supplier invoices line by line against your agreed prices and your shelf prices. Usually 2 to 3 days. How the invoice check works
Measure my real numberCard fees above fair
Two numbers off one statement.
What your card processor really charges, compared with what US merchants pay on average.
The total at the top of your processor statement.
Your statement’s fee total, everything included.
Example numbers. Replace them with yours.
You pay 3.20% on every card sale. That’s $900 to $1,600 a month above the US average, about $11,000 to $20,000 a year.
The comparison: US merchants paid about 2.30% on credit cards and 1.57% across all cards in 2024. Big merchants pull those averages down, so the real gap for your size is usually smaller than the high figure.
Where these numbers come from
- The Nilson Report (via FinancialContent), 2025. Computed by us from The Nilson Report (via FinancialContent).
Merchants paid $148.52 billion in processing fees to accept those credit cards
$148.52B in fees ÷ $6.464T in credit card purchases = 2.30%. Includes large merchants. - The Nilson Report (via FinancialContent), 2025. Computed by us from The Nilson Report (via FinancialContent).
For every $100 in card payments merchants accepted in 2024, they paid $1.57 in fees
$187.20B in fees ÷ $11.903T in card purchases = 1.57%. Includes large merchants.
Line check, free: We read 3 to 12 months of statements and list every fee line. Usually 1 to 2 days. How the statement check works
Measure my real numberStores
Best sellers out of stock
Sales you never see: your register says it’s on the shelf, the shelf is empty, and the customer leaves.
Your register’s sales report.
Sales minus cost of goods, as a share of sales. Your register or accountant has it.
Example numbers. Replace them with yours.
$6,600 to $24,000 a year in profit from sales you never made ($17,000 to $60,000 in sales).
The rate: stores lose 1.1% to 4% of sales to empty shelves. About 65% of stock counts in registers are wrong, and that’s why the reorder never fires.
Where these numbers come from
- Gruen, Corsten and Bharadwaj (via FMI), 2002. Peer-reviewed study.
an average loss of four percent of sales
- DeHoratius and Raman, as summarized in arXiv 2506.05357, 2025. Peer-reviewed study.
Frozen SKUs caused lost sales equal to ~1.1% of the company’s annual sales
From the paper's table summarizing DeHoratius and Raman (2008); the paper's text puts it at "about 1%". - DeHoratius and Raman, Management Science, 2008. Peer-reviewed study.
Examining nearly 370,000 inventory records from 37 stores of one retailer, we find 65% to be inaccurate.
About 370,000 records across 37 stores. Replicated at 64.7% in 2025.
Line check, free: We find best sellers that suddenly stopped selling while your register still shows stock, then you count just those. About 10 days. How the shelf check works
Measure my real numberVoids, comps and refunds that walk out
Sales rung, then voided, comped or refunded after the customer paid.
Your register’s sales report for last year.
Example numbers. Replace them with yours.
$4,500 to $15,000 a year. One person doing it on purpose can cost far more.
The rate: 0.3% to 1% of sales. Staff cause about 29% of retail shrink, and the median small-business fraud runs 12 months before anyone notices.
Where these numbers come from
- National Retail Federation, National Retail Security Survey, 2023. Industry association.
Internal (employee) theft reported in at 29% of shrink loss.
Average shrink was 1.6% of sales (FY 2022); 29% of 1.6% is about 0.46%. Mostly chain data. - Pierce, Snow and McAfee, Management Science (via Washington University), 2015. Peer-reviewed study.
revenue per restaurant increased an average of $2,982 per week, about 7 percent.
392 restaurants in 39 states. Press release 2013; journal publication 2015. - ACFE Report to the Nations (via CSH), 2024. Industry association.
From start to finish, the median fraud scheme in the 2024 study took 12 months to uncover.
Also: "The median loss for organizations with fewer than 100 employees was $141,000."
Line check, free: We read your register’s void, comp, discount and refund history and show which shifts stand out. Usually 1 to 2 days. How the register check works
Measure my real numberSupplier price creep
Invoices billed above the price you agreed, and cost increases that never reached your shelf price.
The purchases or cost-of-goods line in your accounting software.
Example numbers. Replace them with yours.
$3,200 to $11,000 a year, and the shelf-price part grows every year it isn’t fixed.
The rate: about a third of invoices carry an overcharge of about 1%. Stores also miss about 30% of supplier price increases. We assume suppliers raise prices about 3% a year.
Where these numbers come from
- Consolidated Concepts audit (via FSR Magazine), 2015. From a company that sells restaurant purchasing services.
found at least one overcharge 35 percent of the time.
"Typical overcharges amount to about 1 percent of the total dollar amount of each invoice." 35% × 1% = 0.35%. 11,000 invoices from 400 restaurants. - McShane et al. (via Kellogg Insight), 2015. Peer-reviewed study.
retail prices rose after 70 percent of wholesale price increases
One large chain. - Tight Line, 2026. Our assumption. Suppliers raise prices about 3% a year.
Line check, free: We read 90 days of supplier invoices line by line against your agreed prices and your shelf prices. Usually 2 to 3 days. How the invoice check works
Measure my real numberCard fees above fair
Two numbers off one statement.
What your card processor really charges, compared with what US merchants pay on average.
The total at the top of your processor statement.
Your statement’s fee total, everything included.
Example numbers. Replace them with yours.
You pay 3.20% on every card sale. That’s $900 to $1,600 a month above the US average, about $11,000 to $20,000 a year.
The comparison: US merchants paid about 2.30% on credit cards and 1.57% across all cards in 2024. Big merchants pull those averages down, so the real gap for your size is usually smaller than the high figure.
Where these numbers come from
- The Nilson Report (via FinancialContent), 2025. Computed by us from The Nilson Report (via FinancialContent).
Merchants paid $148.52 billion in processing fees to accept those credit cards
$148.52B in fees ÷ $6.464T in credit card purchases = 2.30%. Includes large merchants. - The Nilson Report (via FinancialContent), 2025. Computed by us from The Nilson Report (via FinancialContent).
For every $100 in card payments merchants accepted in 2024, they paid $1.57 in fees
$187.20B in fees ÷ $11.903T in card purchases = 1.57%. Includes large merchants.
Line check, free: We read 3 to 12 months of statements and list every fee line. Usually 1 to 2 days. How the statement check works
Measure my real numberEveryone else
Card fees above fair
Two numbers off one statement.
What your card processor really charges, compared with what US merchants pay on average.
The total at the top of your processor statement.
Your statement’s fee total, everything included.
Example numbers. Replace them with yours.
You pay 3.20% on every card sale. That’s $900 to $1,600 a month above the US average, about $11,000 to $20,000 a year.
The comparison: US merchants paid about 2.30% on credit cards and 1.57% across all cards in 2024. Big merchants pull those averages down, so the real gap for your size is usually smaller than the high figure.
Where these numbers come from
- The Nilson Report (via FinancialContent), 2025. Computed by us from The Nilson Report (via FinancialContent).
Merchants paid $148.52 billion in processing fees to accept those credit cards
$148.52B in fees ÷ $6.464T in credit card purchases = 2.30%. Includes large merchants. - The Nilson Report (via FinancialContent), 2025. Computed by us from The Nilson Report (via FinancialContent).
For every $100 in card payments merchants accepted in 2024, they paid $1.57 in fees
$187.20B in fees ÷ $11.903T in card purchases = 1.57%. Includes large merchants.
Line check, free: We read 3 to 12 months of statements and list every fee line. Usually 1 to 2 days. How the statement check works
Measure my real numberCalls nobody picked up
Work that called you and didn’t get through.
Your phone bill or carrier app lists every incoming call.
Last year’s sales divided by the number of jobs.
Example numbers. Replace them with yours.
$12,000 to $21,000 a month in work that called and didn’t get through. About $140,000 to $250,000 a year.
The rate: 27% to 48% of calls to trade businesses never reach a person. Owners think it’s 3%.
Where these numbers come from
- Invoca, Home Services Lead Conversion Benchmarks, 2026. From a company that sells call tracking.
Across home services, 52% of calls are answered by a person.
Also on the page: "For calls over 30 seconds, it's 73%." So 48% of calls never reach a person, and 27% of calls longer than 30 seconds don't. - Service Direct, Home Service Call Performance, 2019. From a company that sells call tracking and ads.
business owners thought they had a call answer rate of 97%.
Second sentence on the same page: "In truth, only 66% of calls were answered on average." Abby attributes both to Service Direct's 2019 Home Service Call Performance report. Sample size not stated. - Invoca, Home Services Lead Conversion Benchmarks, 2026. From a company that sells call tracking.
Across home services, 38% of calls answered by a person are leads, and 45% of those leads convert on the call.
Line check, free: We read your call log and match each call to a job. Usually 1 to 7 days. How the call check works
Measure my real numberThese are typical rates for businesses like yours. Your real number comes from a line check, and a line check is free.
Rates checked October 13, 2026.