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ONE PROBLEM, IN DETAIL

PLUMBING: JOURNEYMAN-APPRENTICE RATIOS ON PUBLIC WORK

QUICK ANSWER

Prevailing-wage jobs enforce ratio rules that constrain crew composition and blow up labor plans built on apprentice-heavy economics.

This page covers one problem. The full picture for this trade, including the other places margin leaks, is on the plumbing operating system page.

BY JOSH LUEBKERPublished 2026-08-06Updated 2026-08-06
WHAT BREAKS

WHERE THE MONEY GOES.

Journeyman-apprentice ratios on public work

Covered in full in the quick answer above. The sourced numbers and what controls it are below.

WHAT THIS TRADE SHOULD EARN

THE NUMBER TO MEASURE IT AGAINST.

Plumbing contractors run about % net profit at $1M to $5M, rising to roughly 11% at $5M to $10M. The CFOS target at $1M to $5M is11%, set at 10 percent before taxes or 3.5 points better than your trade's average at your revenue, whichever is higher. A problem like this one lives in the distance between those two figures rather than in a loss on any single job.

Gross margin over the same bands runs % to 26%, against a CFOS target of 11%.

Full plumbing benchmark bands by revenue

COMMON QUESTIONS

FREQUENTLY ASKED.

Three tiers, and which one you are in depends on how much of the work you want off your desk. Core is where you stop guessing: job costing built against the way you estimate, a 13 week cash forecast, monthly WIP, and a monthly meeting that ends in decisions, while your bookkeeper keeps doing the books. Executive is where you stop touching the books, because we run the bookkeeping and the controllership as well. Strategic is where every job shows its margin while it is still running, because the job costing and WIP platform is set up and managed for you. No payroll. No scope gaps.
Sixty days. We migrate your books back to the start of your last taxable year, set up ControlQore, and build your job costing structure from scratch. Fully operational in two months.
RELATED RESOURCES
CFOS Trade
Plumbing Operating System
Every place margin leaks in this trade, and the system that controls each one.
Plumbing Problem
The rough-in cash hole
Plumbing spends in two humps with a canyon between: underground and rough-in load the labor and pipe early, then the trade demobilizes while walls close and finishes run, then trim-out returns months later for fixtures and final.
Plumbing Problem
Fixture allowances and the back-charge trap
Fixture packages ride owner allowances, selections arrive late, substitutions arrive later..
WHAT THIS TIES INTO
THIS TRADE
Plumbing Operating SystemCFO for Plumbing Contractors
CFOS SPINE
Run on CFOS, Full System Index
DECIDE
Pricing by Revenue BandBook a Call
Josh Luebker, The Construction CFO
Josh Luebker
FRACTIONAL CFO · THE CONSTRUCTION CFO

Former commercial project manager and master electrician: 150+ projects worth $2.1B combined, from $50,000 to $300M. Now fractional CFO to commercial subcontractors.

About Josh  | LinkedIn

IS THIS COSTING YOU MORE THAN YOU THINK?

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