The £1,000 Mechanic
Your van will not start. The mechanic says £1,000 to fix it. Would you rather pay that £1,000 in cash, straight out of your bank account — or settle it with £1,000 of your own goods and services, at your usual selling price?
Most business owners pick the second answer instinctively, without being able to say why. The reason is cost to supply. Your rent, wages and insurance are already covered by your cash-paying customers, so filling genuinely spare capacity costs only the incremental bit — the materials, the consumables, the fuel to site. This story puts a number on that for your trade.
This is the same story a Capacity Consultant would walk you through on a suitability call. Figures are illustrative.
What this story shows
- Cost to supply varies enormously by sector — roughly 15% for an accountant’s unbilled hour, around 60% for a clothing shop’s stock.
- The lower your cost to supply, the more purchasing power an hour of spare capacity is worth.
- The advantage is funded by capacity that would otherwise have been wasted — it is not a discount off your prices.
- Figures are typical and illustrative. Your real advantage is your own cost to supply, and is always subject to your own VAT and tax.
More stories
Interactive story
Two-Pot World
Play a year in a restaurant and watch spare capacity cover the switchable bills.
Interactive model
Cashflow & Profit Model
Four steps: your position today, increased cashflow, increased profit, your results.
Interactive game
Cash vs Capacity
Two months, two ways to pay — move the counters and watch what changes.
Find out if Silvatree is right for your business.
Book a free suitability call. We run an expense analysis, share a capacity & profit report, and tell you honestly whether it's a fit — we'll be the first to say if it isn't.
Not ready to join? No pressure. Go on our standby list and we'll get in touch whenever there's business we can send your way.
Not sure yet? Take the 2-minute readiness test.
Short of time? Talk it through with our AI capacity adviser — available 24/7. It'll cover most of what we'd discuss on the call.