Can an AS9100 consulting business scale beyond the owner?
Yes, AS9100 Certification Consulting can scale beyond the owner, but only if the recurring work grows faster than payroll. Here’s the quick math: payroll rises from $240,000 in year one to $840,000 in the mature year, while marketing rises from $48,000 to $144,000 and CAC falls from $4,800 to $3,600. That works only if the mix shifts toward internal auditing from 20% to 40%, QMS maintenance from 15% to 35%, and training from 10% to 30%.
What makes it scalable
Recurring work reduces owner dependence
Internal audits can reach 40%
QMS maintenance can reach 35%
Training can reach 30%
Main scale risks
Uneven lead flow hurts utilization
Long sales cycles slow cash
Certification delays push delivery back
Rework raises cost and owner load
What AS9100 consulting profit margin should I expect?
If you’re pricing AS9100 Certification Consulting, expect a gross margin of about 86% in year one, rising to 90% in a mature year; for cost detail, see What Are Operating Costs For AS9100 Certification Consulting?. That assumes 8% certification body fees plus 6% travel and client engagement costs at first, then 6% and 4% later, before payroll, rent, software, insurance, marketing, legal, and accounting. On $500,000 of revenue, every 10 margin points moves gross profit by $50,000.
Year one margin
86% gross margin
8% certification body fees
6% travel and client costs
Before fixed overhead
Mature year margin
90% gross margin
6% certification body fees
4% travel and client costs
Subcontractors can reduce margin
How many AS9100 clients do I need to replace my salary?
If you want $180,000 owner pay, plus $206,400 fixed overhead and $60,000 first-year senior consultant payroll, AS9100 Certification Consulting needs about $519,000 in revenue at 86% gross margin. At a $5,092 weighted first-year service bundle, that means about 102 client bundles. If you sell only $7,000 implementation work, that drops to about 74 projects, so close rate and CAC have to support that volume.
Revenue math
$519,000 revenue target
86% gross margin
102 weighted bundles
$5,092 per bundle
Pipeline test
74 implementation projects
Close rate must hold
CAC must stay low
Pipeline must support volume
Want the six AS9100 income drivers?
1
Project Volume
10 clients
More first-year projects spread the $206.4K fixed load and the $180K owner pay across more billable hours.
2
Ticket Size
$7K
A higher first-year implementation fee lifts revenue per client and adds to take-home on every close.
3
Utilization
86%
Keeping consultants billable protects the 86% first-year gross margin and slows the need to hire.
4
Subcontract Mix
10%-14%
Keeping outside fees and travel near 10%-14% of revenue leaves more cash after delivery.
5
Recurring Support
35%
A bigger maintenance and audit base adds repeat work and smooths cash after launch.
6
Lead Quality
$4.8K
Better-fit aerospace leads keep CAC near $4.8K, so more of each sale stays with the owner.
AS9100 Certification Consulting Core Six Income Drivers
Average Engagement Value
Average Engagement Value
Average Engagement Value is the average fee per AS9100 client job. For first-year implementation, the model values one engagement at 40 hours × $175 = $7,000; internal auditing is $2,400, QMS maintenance is $1,680, and training is $1,600. Bigger bundled scopes lift owner income fastest because each sale carries more margin before fixed overhead hits.
The risk is underpricing fixed-fee work when certification delays stretch the scope. If a project starts as gap assessment and documentation, then expands into implementation support, audit prep, and readiness work, the owner can lose pay even with full revenue on paper. One clean ticket beats a pile of unpaid extras.
Price the bundle, then protect scope
Track average fee per client by service mix: gap assessment, documentation, implementation support, internal audit prep, and readiness work. Use hours × rate to test every quote, then add a clear change-order trigger if delays or extra meetings push the work beyond the agreed scope. That keeps gross margin tied to real labor, not hope.
Watch which jobs stay near $7,000 and which drift lower after revisions. If training, internal audit, or maintenance work can be sold as a separate add-on, the owner gets steadier cash flow and less rework. If every project turns into custom rescue work, take-home income falls even when revenue looks busy.
1
Annual Project Volume
Annual Project Volume
Annual project volume is the number of AS9100 clients you can start and finish in a year. It only turns into owner income if delivery capacity holds. Here’s the quick math: $48,000 of first-year marketing at $4,800 CAC (customer acquisition cost) supports about 10 customers; $144,000 at $3,600 CAC supports about 40 customers.
More clients can raise revenue, but they can also cut profit if onboarding, client delays, internal audit timing, and certification readiness create unpaid rework. In this model, volume helps only when work stays billable and clean. If each extra client adds follow-up hours without new fees, owner pay drops even when sales look stronger.
Track Capacity Before Selling More
Measure projects by stage, not just by wins. Track onboarding days, hours to readiness, rework hours, and the share of projects waiting on client inputs. If a client needs repeated document cleanup or audit prep, that is margin leakage, not growth. The goal is steady throughput, not a crowded pipeline.
Use a simple capacity check before taking new work: available delivery hours, open client slots, and expected rework hours. If delivery time is tight, slow sales or raise pricing. That protects cash flow and keeps owner time available for billable work instead of unpaid chasing.
Count active projects each month.
Track days from kickoff to ready.
Record unpaid rework hours.
2
Owner Billable Utilization
Owner Billable Utilization
Owner take-home rises when more of the week is billable. In this AS9100 consulting model, training is about 8 hours, implementation can run 40 hours, and mature-year work can rise to 16 and 48 hours. At $175 per hour, a 40-hour implementation is $7,000 in revenue before delivery costs.
Admin, travel, documentation cleanup, and follow-up cut utilization fast. Don’t assume every workday is billable. The key inputs are billable days, non-billable hours, client delays, and rework from weak templates or poor audit prep. If the owner spends more time on those tasks, weekly revenue and cash available for owner pay fall even when total hours worked stay flat.
Track and protect billable hours
Measure billable time as a share of total work time. Split hours into sales, admin, travel, cleanup, and client follow-up, then compare that mix by project type. The goal is simple: know which work creates revenue and which work only supports delivery. A small drop in rework can protect take-home faster than a small rate increase.
Use templates, checklists, training modules, and audit prep workflows. These reduce repeat work and keep the owner on billable tasks longer. That matters most on implementation jobs, where scope can drift from 40 hours if records are messy or the client is slow. Less cleanup means higher utilization, better margin, and less strain on owner pay.
3
Subcontractor Delivery Margin
Subcontractor Delivery Margin
Subcontractors raise project capacity, but they can also shrink consulting gross margin. In this model, gross margin is already 86% to 90% after certification body fees and travel, before payroll, so any outsourced delivery has to earn its keep. If subcontractor cost, markup, and rework do not improve total profit, owner pay drops even when revenue rises.
This driver includes the subcontractor rate, markup, hours used, quality control time, and any rework. The key test is simple: if outsourced delivery saves owner time and still leaves more cash after direct delivery costs, it helps. If not, it is just higher cost pushed through the job.
Protect Margin Before You Add Help
Track each subcontracted task by hours, cost, markup, and rework. Separate direct delivery costs from fixed overhead, so you can see real project margin fast. One clean rule: don’t add subcontractors unless their work frees owner time for sales or higher-value delivery.
Use a simple checklist for inputs: subcontractor bill rate, client bill rate, project scope, defect rate, and turnaround time. If rework shows up, the leverage disappears quickly. The owner wins when outsourced work lowers delivery load and still protects cash flow and take-home income.
Subcontractor cost per hour
Client billing rate
Rework hours
Owner time saved
Project gross margin
4
Recurring Support Revenue
Recurring Retainers
Recurring support revenue fills the gaps between implementation projects. In AS9100 consulting, that usually means internal audits, management review prep, corrective action support, training refreshers, QMS maintenance, and surveillance audit readiness. The owner’s income depends on retainer count, monthly fee, hours per client, and renewal rate, because steady recurring work lifts cash flow and lowers the pressure to chase new projects.
Here’s the quick shift: the model mix moves internal auditing from 20% to 40% and QMS maintenance from 15% to 35%. That can smooth profit, but only if scope stays tight. If client delays or audit findings add unpaid work, recurring revenue stops behaving like clean margin and starts looking like hidden labor.
Scope and Renewals
Track retainer hours used versus hours sold, plus renewal rate and response time on corrective actions. Price by the work inside the box, not by vague access. A good retainer should cover defined deliverables, like one internal audit cycle, one management review prep, and scheduled QMS maintenance, with extra work billed separately.
Protect owner pay by setting a renewal date, a service list, and a cap on revisions. If support work becomes the default fix for every gap, margin drops fast. The best signal is simple: if recurring clients use more than the agreed hours, either raise the fee or narrow the scope before the next cycle.
5
Aerospace Lead Quality
Aerospace Lead Quality
Bad leads burn cash fast. In this model, CAC drops from $4,800 to $3,600 as marketing spend rises from $48,000 to $144,000, a 25% lower CAC. That only helps if the leads are real buyers: aerospace manufacturers, machine shops, defense suppliers, and aviation service providers with urgent certification needs.
Here’s the key point: traffic alone does not pay the owner. Qualified sales conversations do, because they improve close rate, support larger projects, and shorten the sales cycle. Track lead source, close rate, average project size, and sales cycle length, or you’ll confuse busy marketing with actual profit.
Track Qualified Conversations, Not Clicks
Measure how many leads become qualified sales conversations, then compare that to CAC and booked project value. If spend rises from $48,000 to $144,000 but the calls are still unfit, owner income falls because sales time, follow-up, and proposal work rise without enough closeable work.
Count qualified calls by niche.
Track close rate by lead source.
Watch average project size.
Measure days from lead to close.
Drop sources with weak fit.
6
Compare low, base, and high AS9100 owner-income scenarios
Owner income scenarios
Owner income shifts fast in the first years because revenue ramps slowly while payroll and overhead rise first. Later years can support salary and, if cash holds, non-guaranteed distributions.
Low, base, and high owner pay paths for the five-year model.
Scenario
Low CaseCash Tight
Base CaseModeled Plan
High CaseCash Backed Upside
Launch model
This is the lower earnings path, where early losses leave no reliable owner distributions.
This is the modeled middle case, where owner salary is planned but extra distributions are limited.
This is the stronger earnings path, where the planned $180,000 owner pay can be supported and distributions may follow.
Typical setup
Year 1 uses about 10 customers, $48,000 of marketing, a $4,800 CAC, 86% gross margin, and $206,400 of overhead, while payroll already runs $240,000.
Mid-model pricing and lower CAC support the Year 3 run rate of $1.199 million revenue and $71,000 EBITDA, but the payroll step-up keeps owner income tight.
By Year 5, revenue reaches $2.668 million with $959,000 EBITDA, about 40 customers, $144,000 of marketing, a $3,600 CAC, and 90% gross margin, so salary plus possible distributions can fit if cash holds.
Cost drivers
10 customers
$48,000 marketing
$4,800 CAC
$206,400 overhead
$240,000 payroll
Mid-model pricing
lower CAC
payroll step-up
$1.199 million revenue
$71,000 EBITDA
40 customers
$144,000 marketing
$3,600 CAC
90% gross margin
$959,000 EBITDA
Owner income rangeBefore owner reserves
$0No draw room
$180,000Salary only
$180,000+Salary plus upside
Best fit
Use this to stress-test the first-year cash gap and founder pay risk.
Use this as the working case for budget, headcount, and founder pay planning.
Use this to test upside, owner draws, and whether cash can fund extra payouts.
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Planning note: These scenario ranges are researched planning assumptions, not guaranteed earnings, salary promises, tax advice, or distributions.
