The Level Index
2,200+ contractors benchmarked.
Where do you rank?
Benchmarks drawn from our team’s experience across 2,200+ contractor engagements in HVAC, plumbing, electrical, roofing, and general contracting. These are the numbers that separate the top performers from everyone else.
Compiled from financial reviews, industry interviews, PE due diligence, acquisition analysis, tax consulting engagements, and published industry research. All figures are anonymized and rounded.
2,200+
Contractors benchmarked
8+
Trades covered
50+
Metrics tracked
All 50
States represented
About the Data
Compiled from our team’s direct experience across 2,200+ contractors — operations analytics with PE-backed portfolios, financial reviews, due diligence, tax consulting, and published research.
Methodology
All metrics are anonymized, aggregated, and segmented by percentile. Figures are rounded and represent directional benchmarks. This analysis is observational and does not establish causality.
The Level CLEAR Framework
Five pillars of contractor financial health
Every metric in the Level Index maps to one of five pillars. Together they give you a complete picture of where money is made, lost, stuck, or at risk.
C
Cash
Is your cash flowing — or stuck in someone else's bank?
L
Labor
Is your workforce generating returns — or draining them?
E
Earnings
Are you pricing profitably and keeping what you earn?
A
Accounts
Are you winning new work — and keeping it?
R
Risk
Are you exposed to concentration, churn, or market shifts?
Your cash is tied up in receivables. The spread tells you how much.
Collection Rate (% of Billed Revenue Collected)
Not all outstanding AR is 'lost' — some is normal working capital. But the spread matters: at 8% cost of capital, every $1M in outstanding AR costs $80K/year. The contractors with the best cash positions turn invoices into cash fastest.
Most contractors wait a week to invoice. The best bill before the job closes.
Billing Speed (Days from Job Completion to Invoice)
*Typical = median among post-completion invoicers (excludes the ~25% who progress-bill). The raw median of 1 day is misleading — most contractors wait a week.
Of the hours your techs log on jobs, how many actually get billed?
Billing Capture Rate (% of Logged Hours Invoiced)
This is billing capture, not utilization. Industry 'utilization' (65-80%) includes drive time, admin, and training. Our 97% measures: of hours logged on a job, how many get invoiced. The bottom decile (67%) is where the real revenue leakage lives.
Industry research says 15–25% of T&M labor is never invoiced. Our data shows why.
Job Invoice Status (% of All Jobs)
46% of jobs are fully invoiced. ~34% are explainable (in progress or internal). But ~20% — partial and unclassified — represent likely missed revenue. A weekly "completed + no invoice" report recovers $75K–$180K/year.
A journeyman bills $145K/year. A trained lead tech: $350K+. Are you building that pipeline?
Estimated Annual Billable Revenue per Employee
The revenue gap between skill levels is the single best argument for investing in retention and training. Every journeyman who walks costs you $145K in billing capacity plus $12K+ to replace.
73% annual turnover. 46% of contractors hiring just to stand still.
Annual Turnover Rate by Role (%)
$4,500-$12,000+ per departure (WorkforceStabilizer 2026). 8-12 weeks to productivity. 15 departures per year on a 20-person crew. That's $200K-$310K+/year in turnover cost hiding in your P&L as 'training' and 'recruiting.'
Same trade, same market — wildly different margins. Why?
Service Agreement Gross Margin
Some contractors lose 30% on every service agreement. Others make 70%. Same trade, same market. The drivers: pricing, scope control, customer mix, and cost visibility.
You're probably undercharging. The data says so.
Average Bill Rate by Company ($/hr)
A $30/hr rate increase across 10 techs = $600K per year. Many contractors in our sample price based on what they've always charged, not what the market will bear. These rates are the labor component — your total customer charge will be higher after trip fees, materials, and overhead.
Only 523 of 2,200+ contractors track estimated vs. actual labor hours. Both over and under are costing you.
Labor Estimating Accuracy: Actual vs. Estimated Hours (% Difference)
This is internal labor resourcing accuracy. Over-estimating pads your bids and loses you work. Under-estimating wins jobs you can’t deliver profitably. The target is near zero. The median contractor over-estimates by 12%, and 554 companies don’t track it at all.
49% of revenue comes from 1% of jobs. But you track costs on none of them.
1% of jobs = 49% of revenue. But the other 99% is where your margin blindness lives. If you don't track costs on service calls, you don't know your real profitability.
You're closing most quotes. But are you closing the right ones?
Conversion rate is vanity. Conversion rate on profitable jobs is the real metric. The contractors who perform best pair conversion tracking with job-level margin data — they know which quotes to chase and which to let walk.
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See Where You RankGet the full report: The Level Index 2026
All 15 metrics, percentile tables, state-by-state bill rates, technician economics, and what top-quartile contractors do differently. Free PDF.
Based on operations data from 2,200+ contractor companies and PE-backed portfolio analysis. Primary metrics from operational/invoicing systems; some findings cite external labor, permit, and market sources.
Level Index by Job Type
Margins vary dramatically by service type. Drill into the numbers for your work mix.
Level Index by State
Bill rates vary significantly by state. Select yours to see state-specific data.
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Disclaimer
The Level Index represents the personal analysis and professional opinions of the Level team, compiled from a variety of sources including financial reviews, industry interviews, private equity due diligence, tax and insurance consulting engagements, acquisition analysis, and published industry research. All data is anonymized and aggregated. Specific figures are rounded and should be treated as directional benchmarks, not precise measurements. No proprietary or confidential information from any single company, client, or employer is disclosed. The Level Index does not constitute financial advice. Individual results vary based on trade, geography, company size, and operational maturity. © 2026 Level. All rights reserved.