Why contractors choose LaraKeyBlog
Run a better construction business.
Practical guides on pricing, sales, billing and job costing, from people who run jobs.
Markup ≠ Margin
Pricing · October 13, 2026 · 6 min read
Markup vs. margin: the “10 and 10” mistake that costs contractors thousands
Why a 20% markup doesn’t give you 10% overhead and 10% profit, and how to work out the markup you actually need.
Progress Billing 101
Billing · October 11, 2026 · 7 min read
Progress billing with a schedule of values: a plain-English guide for remodelers
How to bill by percent complete, credit the deposit, handle change orders, and never bill the same work twice.
Vet Every Lead
Sales · October 9, 2026 · 6 min read
How to vet remodeling leads on the first call (and stop doing free estimates for browsers)
Seven questions that tell you whether a lead is ready to build, and what to do with the ones that aren’t.
Cost to Finish
Job costing · October 7, 2026 · 5 min read
Job costing that tells you the future: why “cost to finish” matters more than “cost to date”
Spent-to-date tells you what happened. Cost to finish tells you whether the job will make money, while you can still fix it.