7 Steps to Write a Restoration and Renovation Business Plan;

How to Write a Business Plan for Restoration and Renovation

Follow 7 practical steps to create a Restoration and Renovation business plan in 10–15 pages, with a 5-year forecast, breakeven in 4 months (April 2026), and initial capital needs of $106,000+ clearly defined

How to Write a Business Plan for Restoration and Renovation in 7 Steps

#	Step Name	Plan Section	Key Focus	Main Output/Deliverable
1	Define Your Service Portfolio and Pricing Strategy	Concept	Setting billable rates and service mix	Rate card and 2026 customer allocation
2	Map Initial Staffing and Capacity Constraints	Operations/Team	Calculating total available billable hours	Realistic monthly revenue targets
3	Calculate Initial Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) Needs	Financials	Funding two work vehicles and specialized tools	Itemized $106,000 funding schedule
4	Establish Variable Cost and Contribution Margin	Financials	Verifying the 715% contribution margin target	Detailed variable cost structure model
5	Project Breakeven Point and Cash Flow Minimum	Financials	Confirming April 2026 breakeven date	Minimum required cash buffer of $810,000
6	Develop the Customer Acquisition Strategy and Budget	Marketing/Sales	Lowering the $500 CAC to $350 by 2030	CAC reduction roadmap and $25k budget
7	Forecast 5-Year Revenue and Profitability (EBITDA)	Financials	Modeling growth from $603k to $123M EBITDA	Five-year P&L trajectory, defintely aggressive

What specific service mix generates the highest profit contribution in my target market?

Kitchen/Bath renovation generates substantially higher revenue per engagement than Repair Consultations, making it the primary driver for profit contribution in your service mix; if you're planning this structure, Have You Considered The Best Strategies To Effectively Launch Restoration And Renovation Business? The difference in hourly rates and time commitment means one large project outweighs dozens of small consultations.

High-Value Renovation Impact

Kitchen/Bath projects yield $9,600 revenue per job (80 billable hours at $120/hr).
This service demands high upfront planning and material management.
Focus your Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) budget on leads ready for this scope.
This revenue stream covers fixed overhead much faster than smaller jobs.

Low-Value Consultation Reality

Repair Consultations bring in only $425 revenue per job (5 hours at $85/hr).
You need over 22 consultations to match the revenue of one Kitchen/Bath job.
Use consultations primarily as a low-cost funnel entry point.
Be careful that time spent on consultations doesn't pull resources from active renovation work.

How quickly can I cover the $7,000 monthly fixed overhead plus initial wage costs?

Covering the initial $7,000 fixed overhead and the hefty $183,000 starting wage bill requires the Restoration and Renovation business to hit significant revenue targets well before April 2026; understanding What Is The Primary Goal Of Restoration And Renovation Business? confirms that project volume and margin drive this timeline. This means immediate, high-margin project acquisition is non-negotiable for survival.

Breakeven Timeline Pressure

Monthly fixed overhead stands at $7,000 before accounting for payroll.
Wages alone start at a substantial $183,000 per month.
The required breakeven point must be achieved by April 2026.
This demands rapid scaling of billable hours to cover the $190,000+ monthly burn.

Margin and Acquisition Focus

Revenue success hinges on the price per hour and active project count.
Prioritize projects that allow integration of smart home technology for higher rates.
Keep Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) low to protect gross profit on each job.
If onboarding takes 14+ days, churn risk rises defintely.

What is the maximum project capacity based on the initial 20 FTE skilled labor team?

The maximum immediate project capacity for Restoration and Renovation is strictly limited by the initial 20 FTE skilled labor team, meaning any significant revenue growth hinges entirely on establishing scalable hiring and training infrastructure now, a key factor when assessing Is Restoration And Renovation Profitable In The Current Market?.

20 FTE Initial Output

Capacity is capped by the initial 20 FTE skilled team members.
Every project volume is tied to billable hours from this core group.
If utilization hits 85%, you have about 340 available billable hours weekly.
This labor ceiling dictates near-term project throughput.

Capacity Growth Requirement

Scaling requires moving from 10 technicians in 2026 to 50 by 2030.
That means adding 40 skilled roles over four years.
This growth defintely requires robust hiring and training pipelines now.
If onboarding takes 14+ days, project pipeline velocity slows down.

Is the $500 Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) sustainable given the high average project value?

Right now, a $500 Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) for your Restoration and Renovation business is only sustainable if your average project value significantly outpaces this spend, but you must plan for a required efficiency gain, as detailed in this analysis on Are Your Operational Costs For Restoration And Renovation Business Sustainable?

2026 Budget Efficiency Check

The 2026 marketing budget is budgeted at $25,000.
This spend is planned to acquire exactly 50 new customers.
This means the target CAC for 2026 is exactly $500.
If your current spend matches $500, your near-term budget is aligned.

Long-Term CAC Target

Efficiency must improve significantly by the year 2030.
The required CAC reduction target is down to $350.
That’s a required cost drop of 30% from the current $500 benchmark.
Focus marketing channels now to lower cost-per-lead defintely.

Key Takeaways

The business plan emphasizes rapid financial recovery, specifically targeting breakeven within four months by April 2026.
Securing initial capital expenditure of $106,000+ is required early in 2026 to cover necessary assets like vehicles and specialized tools.
Profitability is driven by optimizing the service mix toward high-value jobs, such as Kitchen/Bath renovations, to attain a projected 715% contribution margin.
Scaling the operation requires a robust hiring pipeline, growing the skilled labor team to support the goal of reaching $123 million EBITDA by 2030.

Step 1 : Define Your Service Portfolio and Pricing Strategy

Service Pricing

Defining your service catalog and setting clear billable rates is the foundation of your financial model. This step dictates revenue potential and helps you manage client expectations about scope. If you don't define this now, project profitability will be guesswork later. We must map effort to realized value.

Rate Anchors

We structure the portfolio around four core service types, anchoring the pricing to two key rates. The entry point for initial Consultation work is set at $85 per hour. For high-value, complex jobs like Kitchen/Bath remodels, the rate jumps to $120 per hour. You'll defintely need to finalize the allocation percentages for 2026 based on expected job volume.

Step 2 : Map Initial Staffing and Capacity Constraints

Capacity Ceiling

You must link headcount directly to revenue potential, setting your realistic ceiling for 2026 projects. If you plan for 30 total personnel (20 skilled labor, 10 PMs) but don't map their time, revenue targets become guesses. The challenge here is accounting for non-billable time—training, admin, and overhead eat into productive hours. If onboarding takes 14+ days, churn risk rises defintely, slowing down your billable pipeline.

Hour Calculation

Here’s the quick math for setting targets based on your 30 FTE team. We start with 2,080 standard hours per person annually (52 weeks times 40 hours). For the 20 skilled labor roles, assume 80% utilization, yielding 1,664 billable hours each. For the 10 Founder PMs, assume 90% utilization, giving 1,872 hours each. That’s 33,280 hours from labor and 18,720 hours from management.

Total available capacity for 2026 clocks in at 51,000 hours. This number is your hard cap for project delivery unless you plan to hire expensive temporary staff or rely heavily on subcontractors, which immediately impacts your contribution margin.

Step 3 : Calculate Initial Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) Needs

Define Asset Spend

You need to nail down your fixed asset purchases early. This upfront Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) dictates how much non-operating cash you need secured before April 2026. If you skip this, job mobilization stalls right away. Honestly, these purchases define your physical capacity to deliver the promissed renovations.

This spend isn't flexible; it’s the cost of entry for mobilization. Securing these items ensures your 20 FTE skilled labor team has the necessary transport and specialized gear to start work immediately upon securing projects. It’s a hard funding hurdle.

Funding the Trucks

Map this total $106,000 spend directly against your initial funding requirement. This figure is fixed for early 2026 operations. It breaks down into two work vehicles costing $40,000 and $45,000, plus $15,000 for specialized tools needed for the scope of work.

If you finance the vehicles, your immediate cash outlay decreases, but debt servicing starts right away, impacting your initial cash flow runway. This $106k is a critical component of the $810,000 minimum cash requirement identified for February 2026.

Step 4 : Establish Variable Cost and Contribution Margin

Variable Cost Reality Check

You must nail down your direct costs fast. This step defines how much money you keep from every dollar of revenue before covering fixed overhead like salaries and rent. If your variable costs are set too high, profitability vanishes quickly, no matter how much you sell. For this Restoration and Renovation concept, the initial projection shows variable costs hitting 285% of revenue in 2026, covering materials, subcontractors, and variable marketing spend. That structure implies that for every dollar earned, you spend $2.85 on direct inputs.

This high initial cost baseline forces an extremely aggressive target: a 715% contribution margin (CM). A CM target this high is mathematically impossible under standard definitions, as CM cannot exceed 100% of revenue. This discrepancy signals a major flaw in the initial cost modeling that must be fixed before projecting cash flow.

Reconciling Cost Percentages

Honestly, a 285% variable cost ratio means you are losing 185% on every job before fixed costs even enter the picture. If the 715% target is a typo and actually means a 71.5% CM, then variable costs must be 28.5% (100% - 71.5%). You need to defintely audit subcontractor agreements and material procurement right now to see if you can hit that lower cost structure.

The lever here is controlling the cost of goods sold (COGS) components. Since you rely on subcontractors for specialized work, negotiate fixed-bid contracts instead of time-and-materials where possible. If you can drive variable costs down to 55%, your actual CM jumps to 45%, which is a realistic starting point for a service business like this.

Step 5 : Project Breakeven Point and Cash Flow Minimum

Runway Confirmation

This step confirms when the business stops burning cash based on your operating model. If the cost structure doesn't support the projected April 2026 breakeven date, your runway is shorter than planned. We must validate fixed costs against expected contribution margin to ensure survival until that point.

Honesty here prevents surprises down the line. If variable costs, like materials and subcontractors at 285% (Step 4), eat too much margin, the breakeven date shifts right, demanding more initial capital.

Cash Trough Planning

The analysis pins the minimum cash requirement at $810,000 needed in hand by February 2026. This figure covers cumulative operating losses leading up to the April 2026 breakeven point, plus initial CAPEX needs ($106,000). You need to secure this funding well before the dip.

Cash flow timing beats profitability timing, always. Secure capital for this trough at least three months early, maybe sooner if onboarding delays impact revenue realization. Don't wait until February 2026 to realize you are short.

Step 6 : Develop the Customer Acquisition Strategy and Budget

Budget Mandate

You must treat this initial marketing spend as an investment in data collection, not just lead generation. We have $25,000 earmarked for customer acquisition efforts throughout 2026. This budget is critical because your current Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) is sitting high at $500 per new renovation client. If you cannot prove efficiency gains quickly, that initial spend won't translate into sustainable growth. The real test comes later: you need a clear path to reduce that $500 CAC down to $350 by 2030.

This step connects directly to your cash runway. With a minimum cash requirement of $810,000 needed in February 2026, inefficient marketing spend is a direct threat to making it to your April 2026 breakeven date. You need to know exactly which channels drive qualified homeowners needing 20-year-old property updates. Honestly, you defintely can’t afford broad, untargeted campaigns right now.

Efficiency Levers

Your $25,000 allocation needs tight controls. Split this budget: maybe 60% toward highly targeted digital outreach to homeowners in specific zip codes matching your target demographic, and 40% reserved for testing offline channels, like partnerships with local real estate brokers. Every dollar must be tracked against the resulting project value, not just the lead count. You need to start gathering data immediately to see if your CAC is closer to $400 or $600 in the first quarter.

To achieve the $350 CAC target by 2030, referrals are your cheapest path. Design a formal program now. For example, offer a significant, tangible incentive—say, $1,000 off a future service or a cash bonus—to any existing client who sends a completed, signed project. This leverages high customer satisfaction from your restoration work into a predictable, low-cost acquisition channel. That’s how you systematically chip away at the initial $500 acquisition hurdle.

Step 7 : Forecast 5-Year Revenue and Profitability (EBITDA)

Five-Year Profit Path

Projecting five years of profitability proves the model works beyond the initial funding runway. This is where founders see if their unit economics scale into enterprise value. The main risk is assuming linear growth when operational friction always slows things down.

This projection hinges on absorbing fixed overhead costs, like the $810,000 minimum cash needed early on. We must see job volume increase consistently year-over-year to hit the 2030 target. It's defintely a test of execution speed.

Scaling EBITDA Levers

The model forecasts strong operating leverage kicking in post-2026. EBITDA starts at a healthy $603,000 that first year. By 2030, driven by volume and better customer acquisition, EBITDA is projected to hit $123 million.

Efficiency gains are critical to this massive leap. Lowering the CAC from $500 down to $350 by 2030 directly boosts the margin on every new project secured. This scaling path shows how operational improvements translate directly to the bottom line.