Revenue mix

Definition

The split between work that repeats and work you have to win again.

Why It Matters

Two businesses with the same revenue are not worth the same money if one of them starts every January at zero. Recurring work carries a contract or a route and renews unless somebody cancels, so the selling was done once. Project work has to be sold again every year, so the sales effort is a permanent cost and never a one-off at the start. Every trade names its own version of this split, which is why it is easy to miss when you move between them: a maintenance contract against enhancement work, a service tail against fabrication, repaint against new construction. Ask what share of last year's revenue would arrive again if nobody sold anything, and price the two halves differently.

In numbers: A landscaping company billing $1.2M with $900,000 on annual maintenance contracts starts the year 75% sold; one billing the same on project work starts at zero and sells it all again.