Year End Review Checklist for Countertop Fabrication Shops
Quick Definition
A year-end review is a structured assessment of your fabrication shop's performance over the past 12 months. It covers financial results, production efficiency, material waste, customer satisfaction, equipment condition, and staffing - and feeds directly into your planning and goals for the coming year.
TL;DR
- Compare actual revenue and profit against your annual goals and prior year
- Calculate your true cost per square foot including all overhead
- Review material waste rates and identify the biggest improvement opportunities
- Assess equipment condition and plan capital expenditures for next year
- Analyze customer acquisition costs and retention rates
- Evaluate staffing levels against projected demand
- Set specific, measurable goals for the coming year based on real data
Why a Year-End Review Matters
Running a fabrication shop is consuming. Most days you're focused on the job in front of you - the kitchen going in Thursday, the slab order arriving Monday, the saw blade that needs replacing. Twelve months pass and you know you were busy, but were you profitable? Did the business actually improve?
A year-end review forces you to step back and look at the full picture. It's where you discover that your revenue grew 12% but your profit margin actually shrank. Or that one material category is generating 60% of your margin while another is barely breaking even. Or that your best installer is responsible for 40% of all completed jobs.
These aren't things you see in the daily grind. They emerge when you look at a full year of data.
Financial Review
Revenue Analysis
Pull your total revenue and break it down:
| Revenue Category | This Year | Last Year | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fabrication (material + labor) | |||
| Installation | |||
| Templating fees | |||
| Remnant sales | |||
| Repairs and service calls | |||
| Total Revenue |
Look at the mix. If installation revenue is growing faster than fabrication, that tells you something about your market. If remnant sales are flat, you might be throwing away material you could sell.
Profitability
Revenue is vanity. Profit is sanity.
- Gross profit margin: (Revenue - Direct Costs) ÷ Revenue. Target 40-55% for healthy fabrication shops.
- Net profit margin: After all overhead, admin, insurance, and financing. 10-20% is strong for this industry.
- Profit per job: Total profit ÷ Number of jobs completed. Know your average and your range.
Cost Per Square Foot
Calculate your fully loaded cost per square foot:
(Total annual costs) ÷ (Total square footage produced)
Include everything: materials, labor, equipment depreciation, rent, insurance, utilities, software, vehicles, marketing. This is the number you need to stay above when pricing work.
Cash Flow Review
- Months where cash ran tight
- Average accounts receivable aging
- Deposits collected vs. payment terms
- Any bad debt written off
Production Review
Output Metrics
- Total square footage fabricated
- Total square footage installed
- Average daily output per shift
- Peak month vs. slowest month
- Jobs completed on schedule vs. late
Waste and Efficiency
- Average material waste rate across all jobs
- Waste rate by material type (granite vs. quartz vs. marble)
- Waste rate by operator (if tracked)
- Remnants generated vs. remnants sold or used
- Rework and remake count
The industry average for material waste sits around 10-15%. If you're above that, there's significant money to recover. A shop processing 500 sq ft of granite per week at 15% waste vs. 8% waste loses roughly 35 extra sq ft weekly - at $30/sq ft, that's $1,050 per week or $54,600 per year.
Quality Metrics
- First-pass quality rate (jobs completed correctly the first time)
- Remake rate and total remake costs
- Customer complaints by category
- Warranty claims processed
Equipment Review
Current Equipment Assessment
For each major piece of equipment:
| Equipment | Age | Condition | Maintenance Cost This Year | Replacement Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bridge Saw 1 | ||||
| Bridge Saw 2 | ||||
| CNC | ||||
| Edge Polisher | ||||
| Crane/Lift | ||||
| Vehicles |
Maintenance Costs
Total maintenance and repair spending for the year. Compare against replacement costs. If you spent $15,000 keeping a 12-year-old saw running, a $75,000 replacement that runs reliably for 10 years might make more financial sense.
Capital Expenditure Planning
Based on equipment condition and business growth, list planned purchases for next year:
- Priority 1 (must have)
- Priority 2 (should have)
- Priority 3 (nice to have)
Customer Review
Acquisition
- Total new customers acquired
- Cost per acquisition (total marketing spend ÷ new customers)
- Top referral sources (contractors, designers, Google, word of mouth)
- Which marketing channels produced the highest-value customers
Retention and Satisfaction
- Repeat customer rate (builders and contractors who came back)
- Average Google review rating
- Net Promoter Score (if tracked)
- Most common customer complaints
- Average response time to inquiries
Customer Communication Efficiency
- Average inbound calls per day
- Percentage of calls that were status checks ("When is my countertop ready?")
- Time spent on customer communication vs. production
If your front office spends half the day on the phone answering the same questions, that's a sign your communication systems need an upgrade. Shops using SlabWise's Customer Portal report 70% fewer inbound calls because customers can check their own project status online.
Staffing Review
Headcount and Capacity
- Total employees at year start vs. year end
- Positions added or eliminated
- Unfilled positions and how long they've been open
- Total labor cost as a percentage of revenue
Performance
- Top performers by output and quality
- Employees who completed additional training or certifications
- Turnover rate and reasons for departure
- Training investments made
Staffing Plan for Next Year
Based on your projected volume and current capacity:
- Positions to add
- Skills gaps to address through training
- Compensation adjustments needed to retain key people
Technology and Systems Review
Current Tools
Evaluate what you're using for:
- Quoting and estimating
- Scheduling and job tracking
- Inventory management
- Customer communication
- Accounting and invoicing
- Templating
Gaps and Opportunities
Where are you still using paper, spreadsheets, or manual processes that could be automated? Calculate the time spent on manual tasks and the potential savings from automation.
For example, if quoting takes 20 minutes per estimate and you do 20 quotes per week, that's nearly 7 hours weekly. SlabWise's Quick Quote feature cuts that to about 3 minutes each - saving over 5 hours per week on quoting alone.
Setting Goals for Next Year
Base your goals on data from the review, not aspirations. Use the SMART framework:
Financial Goals
- Revenue target: $_____ (based on ___% growth)
- Gross margin target: ___%
- Net margin target: ___%
- Maximum acceptable remake cost: $_____ per year
Production Goals
- Average daily output: _____ sq ft
- Maximum waste rate: ___%
- First-pass quality rate: ___% or higher
- On-time completion rate: ___%
Customer Goals
- New customers: _____
- Customer acquisition cost target: $_____
- Google review average: _____ stars
- Maximum acceptable customer wait time: _____ days
Operational Goals
- Specific technology implementations
- Equipment purchases planned
- Hiring targets
- Training programs to launch
Frequently Asked Questions
When should I start my year-end review?
Begin in the first two weeks of January while the year is still fresh. Financial data may need until mid-January to finalize, but you can start production and operations reviews immediately.
How long does a thorough year-end review take?
Set aside 4-8 hours for data gathering and analysis. A half-day retreat with your management team to discuss findings and set goals adds significant value.
What if I don't have good data from the past year?
Start with what you have - even partial data reveals patterns. Use this year's review process to identify what data to capture going forward. That way next year's review will be much more complete.
Should I involve my team in the review process?
Yes. Department leads or senior employees bring insights that numbers alone miss. They know why waste spiked in June or why three installs went wrong in October. Include them in at least part of the process.
How do I benchmark against the industry?
Trade associations like the Natural Stone Institute and ISFA publish industry benchmarks. Your suppliers and equipment dealers also have informal insights into how similar-sized shops perform.
What's the most important number to focus on?
Net profit per square foot. It accounts for everything - material costs, labor efficiency, overhead, and pricing. If this number is improving year over year, your business is genuinely getting better.
How do I handle a year where the numbers look bad?
Honestly. A bad year reviewed carefully is more valuable than a good year ignored. Identify what went wrong, quantify the impact, and build specific corrective actions into next year's plan.
Should I share financial results with my team?
Share production metrics and quality scores openly. Financial details are your call - some owners share profit numbers to build accountability, others keep them private. At minimum, share enough for the team to understand how their work connects to business results.
Make Next Year Your Best Year
A thorough year-end review turns 12 months of work into actionable intelligence. Pair your insights with better tools, and the improvements compound.
SlabWise helps fabrication shops save $3-8K per month through better nesting, faster quoting, and automated customer communication. Start your 14-day free trial and build a data-driven foundation for your best year yet.
Start Your Free 14-Day Trial →
Sources
- Natural Stone Institute - Fabrication Shop Financial Benchmarks
- ISFA - Annual Industry Performance Survey
- SBA - Year-End Financial Review Guide for Small Businesses
- Stone World Magazine - State of the Industry Annual Report
- SCORE - Annual Business Planning Resources
- National Kitchen & Bath Association - Industry Market Data
Related Articles
- Monthly KPI Review - Don't wait until year-end to track performance
- Business Plan Template - Turn your review into next year's plan
- Quarterly Maintenance - Equipment assessment feeds into your review
- Daily Production Report - The daily data that drives yearly analysis
- Contractor Pricing Sheet - Update pricing based on cost analysis