The 80/20 Rule of Restoration: Why Only 17% of Jobs Produce 66% of Your Revenue

In restoration, job volume and job revenue often tell two very different stories. A single month can bring dozens of small water losses, a handful of moderate jobs, and only a few large projects. But when we look across a dataset of 30,000+ anonymized jobs, a clear pattern emerges: a small share of jobs is responsible for a substantial share of total revenue.

According to the analysis, jobs over $10,000 represent only 17% of activity, yet they generate 65.6% of revenue. These numbers highlight a reality that is easy to overlook in the day-to-day push to answer phones and get crews out the door. The jobs that shape the financial health of a restoration company are the ones that break the $10K threshold.

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A Closer Look at Revenue Concentration

The distribution becomes even clearer when you break jobs into value tiers. Only 2.2% of jobs exceed $50,000, but they account for 33.3% of revenue. Jobs between $25,000 and $50,000 add another 12.7%. Together, these upper tiers represent a small slice of total volume but a massive share of financial output.

On the other end of the spectrum, nearly half of all jobs fall under $2,500. These low-value jobs keep crews busy, but they contribute little to overall revenue.

This concentration is not a fluke. It is structural. Restoration work is inherently uneven. A small number of large losses determine the shape of the year, while the majority of jobs deliver smaller, more transactional value.

What High-Value Jobs Have in Common

The dataset also sheds light on what kinds of work tend to exceed the $10,000 mark.

• Reconstruction accounts for 32% of all $10K+ jobs

• Water losses account for 16.4%

• Fire accounts for 5.9%

• Mold accounts for 5.6%

These jobs often share similar characteristics. They are multi-room, multi-phase, or multi-trade. They frequently involve a combination of mitigation and repairs. They require coordination across carriers, property managers, or commercial site contacts. And their timelines last long enough that a company’s operational discipline begins to compound.

High-value jobs are not accidental. They follow patterns, and companies that understand those patterns can position themselves to capture more of them.

Where Restoration Companies Lose High-Value Jobs

If the largest jobs have the greatest impact, the obvious question becomes: why do companies lose them?

The most common reasons are operational, not technical.

Missed after-hours calls. High-value jobs often start with an urgent phone call outside normal business hours. If that call goes unanswered, the job goes elsewhere.

Slow or incomplete intake. Large jobs often involve a level of complexity that requires good early discovery. Incomplete questions at the first touchpoint lead to poor categorization and slower response times.

Lack of visibility into past customers. Customers who use a company for multiple job types are dramatically more valuable, yet many teams do not recognize repeat callers. According to the analysis, customers with three different job types average $29,308 in total value, while those with four job types average $53,428.

Failure to identify commercial opportunities quickly. Commercial jobs have higher average values, but they require a different level of urgency and communication. Without immediate recognition, those leads are easy to lose.

At every step, friction creates risk. High-value jobs are less forgiving of delays, uncertainty, or missing information.

How to Capture More of the Jobs That Matter

Improving conversion on large jobs starts with improving the earliest moments of the customer experience. The companies that consistently win the upper tier of jobs do a few things well.

Respond immediately. Speed is the strongest predictor of who secures the job. The first company to answer has a clear advantage.

Use structured intake. Large jobs reveal themselves early. Asking the right questions surfaces indicators like square footage, multiple affected rooms, commercial occupancy, or additional service needs.

Make past customer information instantly available. If a caller has had water, mold, and reconstruction in the past, that context should be visible within seconds. It changes how the team communicates and prioritizes.

Follow up with discipline. High-value jobs often come from customers who need reassurance or coordination. Consistent follow-up keeps the job from drifting to another provider.

When these practices become part of daily operations, the number of high-value jobs captured tends to rise.

Turning the 80/20 Insight Into a Competitive Strategy

The takeaway from the data is straightforward. Restoration companies grow by capturing more of the small number of jobs that drive most of their revenue. Doing that requires a sharper focus on the first two minutes of every call, tighter intake processes, and better visibility into customer history.

The 80/20 rule is not an abstract idea. It is a practical roadmap. When your operation is optimized to win the 17% of jobs that matter most, the entire business becomes more stable, more predictable, and more profitable.

How Breesy Helps Teams Increase Restoration Revenue By Winning More High-Value Jobs

When callers reach out, they care about one thing: how fast they can get help. Breesy helps companies respond instantly, gather accurate intake information, recognize past customers, and identify high-value signals the moment the phone rings to increase restoration revenue.

The result is simple. More large jobs get captured, fewer opportunities slip away, and companies gain an edge where it matters most. Schedule a demo today to see how.