“138x ROI… But Still Not Profitable?”
I was catching up with a hardscaper buddy of mine not long ago. He found out I did marketing and immediately wanted to chat.
He was frustrated—like, ready-to-fire-his-marketing-team frustrated.
“I’m dumping money into ads and not seeing a return,” he told me.
I said, “Let’s jump on a call. I’ll help you run the numbers and see what’s really going on.”
We got on a Zoom call and I started asking him some basics:
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What’s your average job price?
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What are you spending monthly on marketing?
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What’s your close rate from those leads?
Nothing crazy. Just basic math.
By the time we finished crunching numbers, here’s what came out:
He was generating $830,000 in revenue from about $6,000 in ad spend.
That’s a 138x return.
He paused for a second and asked me:
“Wait… is that good?”
And here’s where it got interesting.
ROI Is Not the Whole Story
I told him what I’ll tell you:
ROI is a nice number.
But if your bank account’s still empty at the end of the month… what does it really matter?
Marketing is offense. It brings in the revenue.
But if you’ve got no defense—if you don’t understand your costs, your subs, your expenses—you’re building a house with no foundation.
So I asked him a different question:
“Are you profitable?”
His answer:
“No.”
And that’s when we dug into the real issue.
His COGS Were Killing Him
I showed him a simple breakdown of how a profitable hardscape company should run:
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COGS (subs/labor): 60–65%
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Operating expenses: ~10%
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Profit before marketing: 25–30%
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Marketing spend: 3–5%
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Net profit: 20–27%
If you’re keeping your COGS lean and your overhead in check, you’ll walk away with solid margins—even after marketing.
But when he ran his numbers?
His COGS alone were 90%.
That means before he even factored in admin, tools, equipment, or marketing, he was already losing.
Even crazier—he was still out there managing subs and helping finish installs… and barely taking home anything.
The Big Aha: It Wasn’t Marketing
Right then, he realized:
He didn’t have a lead problem.
He had a COGS problem.
He wasn’t managing his margins.
He was bleeding money while telling himself more leads would fix it.
The Fix: Restructure for Profit
That call changed everything for him.
He started renegotiating sub-deals.
Started tracking costs more intentionally.
Set profit-first goals.
Now? He’s not just stacking more jobs—he’s keeping more of the money from each one.
That’s how you build a business that works for you—not one that buries you.
What About You?
I see this all the time—guys who are incredible at the work, passionate about what they do, but stuck in a cycle where the business never gives back.
They’re grinding nonstop, chasing revenue, but never feeling ahead.
And most of the time?
It’s not a marketing issue—it’s the structure behind the business that’s broken.
If that sounds familiar, maybe it’s time to pause and ask:
Is my business actually profitable… or just busy?
Sometimes it’s not about getting more leads.
Sometimes it’s about what you keep.
Need help breaking it down?
I’m happy to walk through your numbers—just like I did with my buddy.
Shoot me a message or head over to HardscapeMarketingCrew.com and let’s make sure your business is set up to win.
