Benchmark

The share of your revenue that comes from paint work. It moves when the job mix changes, not when anyone works harder.

Steps

1. Check it against Panel R&R and Parts. If paint's share is falling while parts rises, you are taking more heavy-hit work and less cosmetic work.
2. Look at where the work comes from. Insurer schedules push panel and parts; private and fleet work is usually paint-heavier and better margin.
3. If you want more paint share, chase the work that produces it: smart repair, bumper and panel refinish, fleet liveries.

Watch for: There is no good or bad number here on its own. Judge it only next to your paint gross profit -- a big paint share on thin margins is worse than a small one done well.

What you pay painters against everything the shop sells.

Steps

1. Do not attack this by cutting pay -- it is a ratio, and the top half is what you should move.
2. Get more sold hours through the same paint team: fix the booth cycle, cut waiting time, and make sure every process is on the job sheet.
3. Check the recovery figures on the group dashboard for each painter. A painter under 80% is usually waiting, not slow.

Watch for: Cutting paint hours without cutting paint work just pushes overtime or quality problems downstream.

Painter wages as a share of what the paint shop actually sells. This is the honest one for the paint department.

Steps

1. Make sure every paint process is being sold. Denib, polish, mix time and colour matching are real work -- if they are not on the estimate they are free.
2. Check the paint side of the Jobs losing labour money panel weekly and chase supplementaries while the car is on site.
3. Reduce redos. A redo is paid twice and sold once, and it hits this number harder than anything else.

Watch for: Do not fix it by refusing small jobs -- they carry the same fixed cost whether you do them or not.

Every $1 of painter wage returns this much in paint sales. The clearest single measure of the paint department.

Steps

1. Work out the gap in dollars: multiply your paint wages by the difference between your figure and the target. That is the prize.
2. Raise it by selling more hours per painter, not by paying less.
3. The two biggest levers are booth turnaround and prep quality -- a panel that comes back for rework destroys the ratio.

Watch for: It rises if you make a painter do prep work an apprentice should do, but your cost per hour rises with it. Check it against $ per painter per day.

Paint, thinners, hardener and clear as a share of everything you sell.

Steps

1. See the per-paint-sales version below -- that is the actionable one. This one moves with job mix as much as with waste.

Watch for: Judge liquid cost against paint sales, not total sales, or a good month of panel work will make your paint waste look like it improved.

How much paint you buy against how much paint work you sell. This is BWG's single biggest gap to the industry and it is a buying-and-mixing problem, not a labour one.

Steps

1. Weigh every mix. Mix to the panel, not to the pot. Most overspend is batches that were bigger than the job needed.
2. Record leftover in the mixing system so the next job draws it down instead of mixing fresh.
3. Cap gun cleaning to a set volume and log it. Cleaning solvent is invisible on the shop floor and very visible on the invoice.
4. Reconcile monthly: total litres purchased against total paint hours sold. Any month that moves more than 10% needs a reason.
5. Renegotiate on volume once you can prove consistent usage -- you cannot negotiate on numbers you do not measure.

Watch for: The fastest way to fake an improvement is to under-apply clear or skip a coat. That comes back as a redo, which costs far more than the paint.

Masking, abrasives, tack cloths, mixing cups, filters, suits.

Steps

1. Move to per-job kits so a job draws a known quantity instead of an open store.
2. Switch masking to pre-cut film and paper where the panel allows -- it cuts both material and prep minutes.
3. Track abrasive discs per job. It is the item that quietly runs away.
4. Put consumables in a locked store with a sign-out sheet if the number will not come down.

Watch for: Cheap abrasives cost more in prep hours than they save in material. Check any switch against average hours per job.

Average paint revenue per car through the shop.

Steps

1. Make sure blend panels are being claimed. An unclaimed blend is the most commonly missed line in refinish.
2. Check that colour-match and tint time is on the estimate for hard colours -- three-stage pearls and solid reds especially.
3. Review a sample of ten finished jobs a month against the estimate and list what was done but not sold.

Watch for: Chasing this by adding process to simple jobs will show up as an insurer audit. Sell what you actually do, and do it consistently.

What is left of paint sales after painter wages and paint materials.

Steps

1. Fix liquid cost first -- it is the largest and most controllable input.
2. Then fix sold hours: every unclaimed process comes straight off this line.
3. Review your paint labour rate annually against the market. Many shops carry a rate two years out of date.

Watch for: Gross profit can be lifted for one month by delaying material purchases. Look at a rolling three months, never a single one.

Remove and refit work as a share of total sales -- bolt-on, strip and rebuild rather than repair.

Steps

1. Make sure strip and rebuild time is estimated properly, including one-time-use clips and fasteners.
2. Photograph the strip. It is the cheapest evidence when a supplementary is questioned.
3. Check R&R against Parts: they should move together. R&R flat while parts rise means R&R time is being missed.

Watch for: R&R is where estimates most often get trimmed to win the job. Trimmed R&R is unpaid labour, not a discount.

Actual repair work -- straightening, filling, aligning -- as a share of sales.

Steps

1. Push repair over replace where it is safe and approved. Repair is usually better margin than fitting a bought part.
2. Invest in the tools that make repair viable: dent pulling, aluminium capability, decent measuring.
3. Check repair-versus-replace decisions on ten jobs a month. Techs default to replace when the tooling is poor or time pressure is high.

Watch for: Never push repair on a structural or safety component to make a ratio look better.

R&R and repair together, as a share of total sales.

Steps

1. Read it with Total Parts. Panel share falling while parts share rises means you are increasingly a fitting shop, which is lower margin.
2. If you want to move it, move the repair-versus-replace mix.

Watch for: This is a mix measure. It tells you what kind of shop you are becoming, not how well anyone worked.

Panel beater wages against everything the shop sells.

Steps

1. Lift the top of the ratio, not the bottom: more sold panel hours through the same team.
2. Check each beater's recovery on the group dashboard. Consistently below 80% usually means parts delays or job flow, not effort.
3. Look at unclocked hours per beater -- that is paid time producing nothing measurable.

Watch for: Panel wages that look good alongside a rising rework rate are not good.

Panel wages against panel sales. The honest measure for the panel shop.

Steps

1. Make sure every operation is on the job sheet before work starts. Anything added on the floor and not on the sheet is free labour.
2. Chase supplementaries the day they arise, while the car is still in the shop and the damage is visible.
3. Cut rework. Set up a two-minute check at the end of each stage rather than one inspection at the end of the job.

Watch for: It improves if you take only simple jobs, but simple jobs are the ones your competitors will also take.

Every $1 of panel wage returns this much in panel sales.

Steps

1. Multiply your panel wage bill by the gap to target to see the prize in dollars.
2. Fix job flow first: a beater waiting on parts is the single biggest drag, and it is a scheduling problem, not a tech problem.
3. Make sure the estimate matches the work. Under-estimated jobs punish this number and demoralise the person doing them.

Watch for: Do not raise it by loading one strong beater. Check it against per-beater recovery for a spread that is widening.

Welding wire and gas, abrasives, filler, sealer, clips and fasteners.

Steps

1. Clips and fasteners are the big one. Charge them -- most shops absorb hundreds of dollars a month in single-use clips.
2. Buy filler and sealer by the case on a standing order rather than topping up at retail prices.
3. Set an abrasives allowance per job and review the outliers.

Watch for: Absorbing small consumables to keep an insurer happy is a decision, not an accident. Make it deliberately and know what it costs.

Average panel revenue per car.

Steps

1. Check that all sublet-adjacent operations are being claimed: alignment checks, calibration, corrosion protection.
2. Make sure blend and mask time on the panel side is on the sheet.
3. Review ten finished jobs a month against their estimates and list what was done but never sold.

Watch for: This rises naturally with heavier work. Read it with Average Repair Cost before concluding anything improved.

Panel sales less panel wages and panel materials.

Steps

1. Attack unsold labour first -- see the Jobs losing labour money panel.
2. Then consumables, especially fasteners.
3. Then the labour rate itself, reviewed annually.

Watch for: A single big job can swing this in a short period. Use three months.

Parts revenue as a share of total sales.

Steps

1. Read it with Parts Gross Profit. High parts share on thin margin is the worst combination -- lots of cash through the business, little kept.
2. If parts share is climbing, check whether repair-versus-replace decisions have drifted toward replace.

Watch for: Growing parts revenue can look like growth while gross profit falls.

What parts cost you, against everything you sell.

Steps

1. Consolidate suppliers to get volume pricing, then hold them to it.
2. Use aftermarket and recycled parts where the insurer and the customer agree -- margin is usually better.
3. Check every credit is actually received. Unreturned cores and uncredited returns are pure loss and very common.

Watch for: Cheapest part is not cheapest job. A poor-fitting panel costs hours that never appear on the parts invoice.

The margin you keep on parts. BWG's Johnsonville figure is very low against the industry and is worth a specific look.

Steps

1. Check your markup schedule is actually being applied at estimate stage, not just written down somewhere.
2. Find out whether discounts negotiated with suppliers are reaching the invoice or being absorbed.
3. Audit ten recent jobs: compare parts purchase price against parts sold price line by line. This usually finds the problem in one sitting.
4. Make sure freight is either charged or built into the markup.

Watch for: Do not fix it by inflating prices on insurer schedules you have agreed. Fix the buying side and the discount capture first.

Work sent out -- alignment, calibration, glass, trimming, towing.

Steps

1. Track what you sublet most. Anything you send out weekly is a candidate to bring in-house.
2. ADAS calibration is the one to watch -- volume is rising fast and the margin on subletting it is thin.

Watch for: Bringing work in-house only pays if you will do enough volume to cover the equipment and training.

What sublet work costs you.

Steps

1. Negotiate standing rates with your regular sublet suppliers rather than job-by-job pricing.
2. Batch jobs going to the same supplier to cut transport and handling.

Watch for: Cheaper sublet that comes back late costs you cycle time, which is more expensive than the saving.

Margin kept on work you send out. BWG does well here.

Steps

1. Keep applying a consistent handling markup -- you carry the risk, the transport and the warranty conversation.
2. Make sure sublet is on the estimate before the work is sent, not added afterwards.

Watch for: An unusually high figure can mean sublet is being under-recorded as a cost. Check the volumes look right.

Revenue divided by the people who actually produce. BWG sits well below the industry on this and it is largely a throughput problem.

Steps

1. Fix flow before hiring. Most shops below this line have people waiting, not people idling.
2. Check unclocked hours per technician on the group dashboard -- it shows exactly where paid time is not reaching a job.
3. Get parts on site before the car comes in. Parts delay is the most common cause of a low figure.
4. Review the non-productive-to-productive ratio below; carrying extra support staff drags this without anyone underperforming.

Watch for: Raising it by running people harder shows up as rework and turnover within two quarters.

Revenue against everyone not on the tools -- estimators, admin, management.

Steps

1. Count the roles honestly first. Most shops are surprised by the answer.
2. Automate the repetitive admin: reporting, invoicing, status updates.
3. Estimators are the highest-leverage non-charge role. A good estimator raises every labour number in this table; do not cut there.

Watch for: Cutting admin usually moves the work onto technicians, where it costs more and is done worse.

Gross profit earned per hour a productive person is on the clock. The best single productivity measure in this table.

Steps

1. Raise sold hours per clocked hour -- that is recovery, and it is on every shop dashboard.
2. Cut unclocked time. Look at the Where the paid hours went panel: any technician over 25% unclocked is the first place to look.
3. Then work on gross profit per job through materials and parts margin.

Watch for: It rises if people stop clocking on. Always read it next to unclocked hours.

Total labour hours divided by jobs.

Steps

1. Read it with Average Repair Cost. Hours up and cost up together is a heavier job mix, which is fine.
2. Hours up with cost flat means jobs are taking longer for the same money -- that is the one to chase.
3. Break it down by stage to find where the time goes.

Watch for: Our figure and PPG's are calculated differently, so compare our own trend over time rather than against their line.

Estimating, authorising, ordering, invoicing and chasing, per car.

Steps

1. Cut re-work in the office: chasing an authorisation twice is the most common hidden cost.
2. Get the estimate right first time -- every supplementary carries admin as well as labour.
3. Automate status updates to customers and insurers.

Watch for: Admin hours are real hours. Moving them onto a foreman does not remove them, it just hides them in production.

How many panel staff you carry per painter.

Steps

1. Compare against your actual work mix. A heavy-repair shop legitimately runs more panel staff.
2. If panel staff are waiting on the booth, you need booth capacity or another shift, not fewer beaters.
3. If painters are waiting on panel, the ratio is wrong the other way.

Watch for: There is no universal right number. The test is whether either trade is regularly waiting on the other.

Productive staff carried per non-chargeable person. BWG is below the industry, meaning proportionally more overhead.

Steps

1. List every non-chargeable role and what it produces.
2. Look for admin that could be automated or absorbed.
3. Before adding any non-chargeable role, work out how many extra sold hours it must generate to pay for itself.

Watch for: Estimators and parts staff often pay for themselves several times over. Do not treat all non-chargeable roles as equal overhead.

Cars invoiced out in the year.

Steps

1. More jobs through the same fixed cost is the cheapest growth available.
2. The constraint is almost always the booth -- see jobs per booth per day.
3. Check the estimate-to-job conversion rate before chasing more enquiries; you may already have the demand.

Watch for: Volume with poor recovery just loses money faster.

Cars out per working day.

Steps

1. Work the bottleneck, which is usually the booth or parts availability.
2. Stage jobs so the booth is never empty and never blocked.
3. Pre-order parts against the booking date, not the arrival date.

Watch for: Do not count part-finished cars. This is jobs actually invoiced out.

The weekly version, useful for planning.

Steps

1. Use it to size the booking diary. Book to capacity, not to hope.
2. Track it weekly against the target on the group dashboard.

Watch for: A big week followed by an empty one is worse than two steady ones -- the peak costs overtime and the trough costs wages anyway.

The real capacity measure in a panel shop. Everything else is limited by this.

Steps

1. Time your actual booth cycle: in, bake, out, cool, next car. Most shops have never measured it.
2. Take prep and de-nib out of the booth. The booth should paint and bake only.
3. Batch same-colour jobs to cut cleaning and mixing between cars.
4. Consider a faster bake cycle or a bake schedule that matches the product, rather than always the longest setting.
5. Make sure the next car is masked and ready before the current one comes out.

Watch for: Pushing cycle time without prep discipline produces redos, and a redo occupies the booth twice.

Hours of booth time each job consumes. The same measure upside down, so LOWER is better.

Steps

1. Everything under jobs per booth per day applies here.
2. Start with prep outside the booth -- it is usually the single biggest win and costs nothing.
3. Measure for one week before changing anything, so you can prove the change worked.

Watch for: Do not chase the number by cutting flash-off or bake time below the paint system spec.

Average invoice value per job.

Steps

1. It moves with job mix more than with anything you do.
2. Rising average with steady hours usually means better claiming, which is good.
3. Rising average with rising hours is just heavier work.

Watch for: A high average is not automatically good. Check it against gross profit -- big parts-heavy jobs lift the average and dilute margin.

Cars each full-time-equivalent painter completes daily.

Steps

1. Keep painters painting. Every minute of masking, sanding or moving cars done by a painter is a minute of the most expensive labour in the building spent on the cheapest task.
2. Add a prepper before adding a painter -- it is cheaper and usually lifts output more.
3. Batch by colour to cut mixing and cleaning time.

Watch for: Read against Paint Shop Gross Profit. More cars at worse quality is not an improvement.

Paint revenue each FTE painter generates daily.

Steps

1. Both levers matter: more cars per day, and more revenue per car.
2. Make sure every paint process is sold -- see Paint $ per job.
3. Check the paint labour rate is current.

Watch for: Raising it by pushing bigger jobs onto one painter creates a single point of failure when they take leave.

Cars each FTE beater completes daily.

Steps

1. Parts on site before the car arrives is the biggest single lever.
2. Give beaters a clear next job so there is no hunting between cars.
3. Keep strip-and-rebuild work off your most skilled repairers where an apprentice can do it.

Watch for: Beware pushing beaters onto easy jobs only -- the hard ones still have to be done by someone.

Panel revenue each FTE beater generates daily.

Steps

1. More cars per day, and more properly claimed work per car.
2. Chase supplementaries the day the extra damage is found.
3. Check the panel labour rate annually.

Watch for: Read it with rework. Fast and wrong is expensive.

What is left after the direct cost of doing the work -- wages, paint, parts, sublet.

Steps

1. Work the biggest gaps in this table first. For BWG that is paint liquid cost and parts gross profit.
2. Then unsold labour: the Jobs losing labour money panel puts a dollar figure on it every week.
3. Then throughput, because fixed costs are spread over more jobs.

Watch for: Gross profit can be moved a month by timing purchases. Judge it on a rolling quarter.

What is actually left. BWG sits at roughly half the industry average and a third of the high performers.

Steps

1. Do not attack net profit directly -- it is the result of everything above it.
2. Take the three largest gaps in this table, put a dollar value on each, and work them in order. For BWG: paint liquid cost, parts gross profit, and sales per production employee.
3. Set one measure per department that the team sees weekly. The shop dashboards already do this -- recovery for the floor, contribution for the managers.
4. Review overheads annually, but expect the money to be in the lines above, not here.

Watch for: Cost-cutting that removes capacity lifts net profit for a quarter and caps it for years.