Build a budget.
You’re running a small plumbing round for one quarter. Here are your jobs and your costs — build a budget, work out whether you’ll make a profit, then stress-test it. This is exactly how a business decides what it can afford.
Watkins Finance · Project Brief
The budget brief
ScenarioYou’re running a small plumbing round on your own for one quarter (three months).
Your taskUse the figures on the left to build a simple budget: total income, total costs, and the profit or loss.
ThenStress-test it — what happens to your profit if the big install falls through?
OutputA one-page budget — income, costs and the bottom line. A spreadsheet or neat table is perfect.
Hand inTalk your buddy through it before the end of your placement.
TimeAround 45 minutes — ask your buddy if you’d like longer.
01 The numbers you’ve got
- Income
- 40 small jobs over the quarter, about £180 each
- One bigger installation worth £2,500
- Costs
- Materials: roughly 30% of your job income
- Van diesel: £220 a month
- Insurance: £90 a month
- Phone & admin: £60 a month
- Your own wage: £2,000 a month
02 Work it out
- Add up all the income for the quarter
- Add up all the costs (some are monthly — remember to ×3)
- Take costs away from income — that’s your profit or loss
- Now remove the £2,500 install — are you still in profit?
- Write one line: what would you change if not?
Why this matters
Businesses live or die on this.
Every big decision — hire someone, buy a van, take on a job — comes back to a budget like this one. Get it right and you grow with confidence; get it wrong and you run out of cash. This is the core skill of finance, in miniature.
Built your budget?
Once you’ve worked out the numbers and talked them through with your buddy, mark this complete to add the stamp to your punchcard. Keep your working — the thinking matters more than the exact figures.