The 8 KPIs That Actually Matter
Most field service businesses track revenue and that is it. Revenue alone tells you almost nothing useful — it does not tell you whether you are profitable, whether your technicians are productive, or whether customers are staying.
Here are the eight metrics that, tracked together, give you a complete picture of business health:
1. Revenue per technician per day. Total daily revenue divided by billable technicians working that day. Target: $600-1,200+ depending on trade and market. This metric reveals scheduling efficiency and pricing adequacy better than total revenue.
2. Gross margin percentage. Revenue minus direct costs (labor, parts, vehicle fuel) divided by revenue. Target: 55-70% for most service businesses. Below 50% means your pricing does not cover your direct service costs.
3. First-time fix rate. Percentage of jobs completed without a callback for the same issue within 30 days. Target: 85-90%+. Low first-time fix rate signals parts availability issues, technician skill gaps, or rushed diagnostics.
4. Callback rate. Percentage of completed jobs that generate a callback within 30 days. Target: under 8%. Track by technician to identify training needs.
5. Average job value. Total revenue divided by number of completed jobs. Track this over time — a declining average job value often signals price pressure or a shift toward lower-value job types.
6. Schedule utilization. Billable hours as a percentage of available technician hours. Target: 75-85%. Below 70% indicates a scheduling or lead generation problem; above 90% indicates you need more capacity.
7. Days sales outstanding (DSO). Average number of days between invoice date and payment receipt. Target: under 10 days for residential (most should pay within 3-5 days); under 30 days for commercial. Rising DSO is an early warning of cash flow problems.
8. Maintenance plan renewal rate. Percentage of maintenance agreements that renew at their annual date. Target: 85%+. A declining renewal rate is the earliest signal of customer satisfaction issues — before negative reviews appear.
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Get Started FreeBuilding the Dashboard
You do not need a sophisticated BI tool. A well-structured spreadsheet updated weekly is sufficient for most service businesses under $2M.
Column headers: Week | Revenue | Jobs Completed | Revenue/Job | Technician Days | Revenue/Tech/Day | Callbacks | Callback Rate | Outstanding Invoices | DSO | New Plan Members | Plan Renewals Due | Plan Renewal Rate.
Review this weekly — 20 minutes on Monday morning. Look for trends, not just absolute numbers. A metric that is declining week-over-week for 3 weeks deserves investigation regardless of whether the current value is still "acceptable."
The Monthly Business Review
Once per month, review the trailing 12 months of data to identify seasonal patterns, year-over-year trends, and emerging problems. This is where you make strategic decisions: raise prices, add capacity, adjust service mix, address retention issues.
The monthly review should take 60-90 minutes and should involve any managers or key staff whose areas are reflected in the metrics.
[Track all your field service KPIs in Fixlify AI — start free → hub.fixlify.app/auth?ref=blog-field-service-kpi-dashboard-guide]