Guides
Plain answersfor owners
Valuation, cash flow, pricing, systems and the paperwork South African businesses get asked for. Guides that touch a law list their sources.
Business valuation
3 guides- Why most contractor businesses can't be sold (and how to fix yours)If the business stops running the moment you take a week off, you don't own a business, you own a job. Here's the operational truth most contractors never hear.7 min read
- Thinking of buying a business? The due diligence checklistWhat to ask for, and what to check, before you buy a South African small business: the numbers, the people, the contracts and the compliance.7 min read
- Business valuation, explained: how a small business is valuedHow owner-run businesses are valued in South Africa: maintainable earnings, owner add-backs, what moves the price, what to ask a seller for, and the red flags in their records.5 min read
Financial training
3 guides- Cash flow vs profit: the mistake that kills profitable contractor businessesYour income statement says you're profitable. Your bank account tells a different story. Here's why, and what to track instead.5 min read
- Which of your jobs actually make money? A one-afternoon checkHow to group a year of invoices by job type and see margin for each, using records you already have and a spreadsheet.6 min read
- Reading your business finances: profit and loss, cash and the balance sheetA plain-language guide for owners: reading a profit and loss, why profit is not cash, the balance sheet, spotting risks early and a monthly review that sticks.4 min read
Pricing
5 guides- Pricing for profit, not just to win jobsWinning every quote is a warning sign, not a success metric. If your hit rate is very high, you're probably underpriced, and it's costing you.6 min read
- Markup is not margin, and the difference is costing youWhy adding 25% to cost does not give you a 25% margin, how to convert between the two, and the one formula every contractor should quote from.4 min read
- How to work out your overhead recovery rateThe cost per productive hour that every job has to carry before it makes a cent of profit, and how to calculate it from your own monthly figures.6 min read
- Why small callouts lose money, and how to set a minimum feeThe callout that feels like it fills a gap in the week is often funding it instead. How to cost a callout properly and set a minimum fee that covers it.5 min read
- How to build a pricing model on what the work really costsThe real cost of an hour of labour, overhead recovery, markup versus margin, minimum callout fees, pricing variations and keeping your prices current.4 min read
Systems
3 guides- What is an SOP, and why every contractor needs oneStandard operating procedures sound corporate and complicated. They're not. They're written-down ways of doing things, and they're the difference between a business that scales and one that stays stuck.5 min read
- Owner-dependent: what it costs you and how to fix itIf the business stops when you stop, it has a piece missing. How to find the processes that live only in your head and turn them into SOPs your team can run.5 min read
- Building systems and SOPs for an owner-run businessWhat owner-dependency costs, which processes to document first, what a good SOP looks like, how to test it on live work and train staff to run it.4 min read
Getting paid
1 guideCompliance
4 guides- The South African contractor's compliance checklistThe registrations, returns and certificates a South African contractor is usually asked for, what each one is, when it is due and where to get it.9 min read
- VAT registration for contractors: the 2026 threshold changeWhat the move from R1 million to R2.3 million means for South African contractors, when you must register, when it can still make sense to register voluntarily, and how VAT changes your quotes.6 min read
- CIDB grading explained: grades, classes of works and tender limitsWhat a CIDB grade like 4GB means, the current tender value limit for each grade, the classes of works, and when a contractor needs to register.6 min read
- Site safety paperwork for small contractors: what main contractors will ask forThe Construction Regulations documents that clients and principal contractors must check before you start, and how to have them ready.5 min read
Records
4 guides- SARS records checklist for South African small businessesThe categories of records a small business should keep organised for SARS, how long to keep them, and how to structure them so a request takes hours rather than weeks.6 min read
- Financial foundations every new South African business should set earlyThe operating habits and structures that move a new business from reactive admin to numbers you can make decisions with, without hiring a finance team.5 min read
- Cleaning up your business records, and what the numbers then showWhy messy records cost more than time, what a records cleanup involves, how margin by job type works, and a monthly reporting routine you can keep.3 min read
- Processing the accounts correctly: a guide for the people who do itCapturing invoices and slips, coding costs to the right job, VAT basics, bank reconciliations and month-end, following up debtors, and keeping records for SARS.3 min read
Woman In Business
2 guides- Women in business: building systems, not just businessesThe most resilient businesses run by women have one thing in common: the owner stopped doing everything herself. Here's what to build instead.8 min read
- Taking over a business: the first ninety days of the numbersFor women who have inherited, bought or stepped into a running business: what to look at first, in what order, and what can wait.6 min read