Point

Most shop owners stare at today’s chaos and hope it somehow turns into better numbers.

That’s backwards.

To get higher profit, calmer days, and a shop that runs without constant micromanaging, the plan has to start from the end and work back to today. Working backwards forces clarity. It turns vague wishes into concrete decisions. It highlights exactly what to fix—and what can be safely ignored.

This article walks through a real shop that stopped guessing and used a backwards plan instead. Then it breaks down how any owner can use the same approach to make smarter decisions this week, not “someday.”

Story

A European repair shop owner was convinced the solution was simple: “I just need more cars.”

On paper, that sounded reasonable. Revenue was flat. Stress was high. The shop felt busy, but the bank account told a different story.

Instead of running to marketing, the coaching process worked backwards.

First question: What should this shop actually produce?

His answer: $120,000 per month, without working Saturdays.

Now there was a clear end point.

Next question: How many technician hours would that take?

At a $120 ARO and 50% gross profit, the shop needed roughly 1,000 billed hours per month. With four technicians, that worked out to about 250 hours per tech per month, or around 31 billed hours per week.

There was the problem: the team was averaging 22.

So the issue wasn’t “not enough cars.”
It was underutilization.

Working backwards one more step revealed the real bottlenecks:

• Parts delays

• Incomplete inspections

• Advisors writing soft estimates

• No daily production target

More marketing would not have fixed any of that. It would have just made the chaos louder.

So the focus shifted to:

• Clear daily billed-hour targets

• Faster inspection approval

• Pre-ordering common European parts

• Blocking schedule time by job type

Within 60 days, technicians were averaging 30+ billed hours per week. Revenue climbed. Stress dropped. Same car count. Same staff. Different thinking.

That is the power of working backwards. Guessing stops. Copying other shops’ tactics stops. The plan starts to actually fit that shop instead of some generic idea of what a “busy shop” should look like.

Lesson

Working backwards is straightforward—but only if the numbers are honest.

Use this 5-step approach:

1. Define the finish line
   Choose one clear outcome: monthly revenue, owner hours, or profit. Pick a single target so decisions line up behind it.

2. Translate dollars into hours
   Revenue is created by billed hours. Always convert the target into total billed hours, then into hours per tech, per week. That number becomes the real scoreboard.

3. Identify the constraint
   Ask, “What is actually stopping those hours from happening today?” Look for one main bottleneck, not a list of ten. It might be inspection quality, parts availability, estimating, or bay capacity.

4. Fix upstream, not downstream
   If tech hours are low, more cars are not automatically the answer. Fix inspections, parts flow, scheduling, or advisor confidence before pouring money into marketing.

5. Decide what not to do
   Working backwards makes it clear what doesn’t matter right now. Ignore the distractions—new tools, new ad ideas, fancy reports—until the main constraint is fixed.

5-Minute Checklist

• Is there a clear monthly revenue or profit target?

• Are required billed hours to hit that target known?

• Is last week’s average billed hours per tech tracked and visible?

• Is there one clearly named bottleneck blocking more hours right now?

If any of these questions can’t be answered, that is the starting point.

Want help working backwards through your own shop’s numbers and bottlenecks? Join gofuelcoaching.com and build a calmer, more profitable operation.