Repair Shop KPIs: The Numbers Worth Tracking Weekly

Most repair shops track takings and nothing else. Takings tell you what happened; they do not tell you why, or what to change next week.

A small set of numbers, reviewed weekly, turns a feeling about how busy the shop is into a decision about what to buy, price or stop doing.

Which numbers matter weekly?

Seven, and no more.

Repairs completed, first-time fix rate, average repair value, parts margin, comeback rate, quote conversion and stock turn. Each one answers a different question about the business.

More than seven and nobody reviews them. The point is a short list that the shop actually looks at every week.

How do you measure throughput?

Repairs completed per technician per day.

Count the jobs that were finished and handed back, not the jobs that were started. A bench full of open devices is not throughput.

Track it for four weeks before drawing a conclusion. A single quiet week is noise; a trend is a signal.

What is first-time fix rate?

The share of repairs completed without a return.

Divide the jobs that did not come back by the jobs completed in the period. A rate below 90 per cent usually points at diagnosis, parts or testing rather than at technician skill.

It is the single best indicator of whether the bench is working properly.

How do you measure parts margin?

Parts revenue minus parts cost, as a percentage.

Track it by category: screens, batteries, ports and accessories. A blended figure hides the category that is losing money.

Use the price actually paid, not the list price. The calculation is described in the shop’s own pricing method.

What does comeback rate tell you?

How often the shop has to redo work.

Count every device that returns for the same fault within the warranty period. Sort the reasons: part failure, installation fault, misdiagnosis or customer damage.

The categories matter more than the total. A high installation rate is a training issue; a high part failure rate is a supplier issue.

Metric	What it answers	Review
Repairs completed	Is the bench productive?	Weekly
First-time fix	Is the diagnosis right?	Weekly
Average repair value	Is the mix profitable?	Weekly
Parts margin	Is buying priced correctly?	Weekly
Comeback rate	Is the work reliable?	Weekly
Quote conversion	Is the price accepted?	Monthly
Stock turn	Is cash tied up in parts?	Monthly

How do you track quote conversion?

Quotes accepted divided by quotes given.

Record every quote, including the ones that are declined. A shop that only records the accepted jobs has no idea how many customers walked away.

Split the result by repair type. A low conversion on screens and a high one on batteries points at price, not at the sales conversation.

What about stock turn?

How many times the parts stock is sold in a period.

Divide the cost of parts used by the average stock value. A low turn means cash is sitting on the shelf, which is the problem described in planning stock by the numbers.

Track it by category as well. Screens and batteries turn at different rates, and a blended figure hides the slow line.

How do you review the numbers?

Once a week, for twenty minutes, with one action.

Look at the seven figures, compare them with the previous four weeks and pick one thing to change. A review that produces no action is a report, not a review.

Write the action down and check it the following week. That loop is what turns measurement into improvement.

What should you ignore?

Vanity numbers and daily noise.

Social media followers, website visits and daily takings feel important and rarely change a decision. They are also noisy enough to distract from the trend.

Ignore any number you cannot act on. If a figure does not lead to a change in buying, pricing or process, it does not belong on the weekly sheet.

How do you record the data?

In the same system as the job sheet.

The job sheet already holds the model, the part, the price and the date. Adding a completion status and a comeback flag turns it into the source for every metric.

The bookkeeping routine is described in invoices, VAT and records, and the same data supports both.

What is the one rule for KPIs?

Measure what you will act on.

A short list, reviewed weekly, with one change each time, is worth more than a dashboard nobody reads. The numbers exist to change a decision.

Around it sit the ordinary disciplines: count finished jobs, sort comebacks by cause, track margin by category and review with an action. Consumer contracts sit under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, customer records under ICO guidance for organisations, disposal under the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations 2013, product safety with the Office for Product Safety and Standards, and bench safety under risk assessment at work.

The first week of measurement is always messy. Records are incomplete, some jobs are not closed and the categories are new. Do not wait for perfect data; start with what the job sheets already show.

Define each metric in one sentence and write it down. If two people calculate first-time fix differently, the number is useless.

Keep the definitions stable for at least a quarter. Changing the method resets the trend and makes every comparison invalid.

Review the numbers with the team, not at them. A high comeback rate is usually a process problem, and the people doing the work often know where it is.

Pick one action per week and give it an owner. “Improve first-time fix” is not an action; “test every screen before sealing” is.

Check the action the following week. If it did not move the number, change the action rather than adding another metric.

Compare the figures with the same period last year where possible. Seasonality is real, and a quiet January is not a failure of the shop.

Keep a short note of what changed and why. Over a year, that note becomes the shop’s own operating manual.

Stop tracking anything that has not led to a decision in three months. The list should earn its place every quarter.

Metric	Definition	Owner
Repairs completed	Devices handed back in the week	Workshop
First-time fix	Jobs with no return divided by jobs completed	Workshop
Average value	Revenue divided by repairs completed	Counter
Parts margin	Parts revenue minus parts cost, by category	Buyer
Comeback rate	Returns divided by jobs completed	Workshop
Quote conversion	Accepted quotes divided by quotes given	Counter
Stock turn	Parts used divided by average stock value	Buyer

Write the definitions down and keep them fixed. A metric that changes meaning between weeks cannot show a trend.

Give each number an owner. A metric without an owner is a number nobody changes.

Review the list in the same order every week, so the comparison is consistent.

If a number is stable for a quarter, it can move to monthly. The weekly sheet should only hold what needs attention.

Action	Metric it moves	Owner
Test every screen before sealing	First-time fix	Technician
Quote from confirmed stock	Comeback rate	Counter
Review slow lines monthly	Stock turn	Buyer
Price by category	Parts margin	Owner
Follow up declined quotes	Quote conversion	Counter

The table links each action to the number it should move, which is what makes the review useful.

An action without a metric is a hope, and a metric without an action is a report.

Start with one row per week. That is enough to change the business over a quarter.

Keep the table on the wall where the team can see it.

A weekly review should take about twenty minutes. If it takes longer, the list is too long or the data is too hard to collect.

Start with throughput and first-time fix. Those two tell you whether the shop is working; the rest tell you whether it is earning.

Add margin and comebacks once the first two are stable. A shop that is fast but unreliable is not improving.

Keep the numbers in the same place each week, and compare like with like. A changing definition resets the trend.

Review the list at the end of the quarter and remove anything that has not changed a decision.

A shop with more than one technician should track first-time fix by technician as well as overall.

That split shows whether a problem is a process issue or a training issue.

Use the result for coaching, not for blame. The number is a signal, not a verdict on a person.

Keep the individual figures private and the process changes public.

That balance is what makes the team willing to engage with the numbers.

A shop with a single technician can still track the same figures, just without the individual split.

The trend matters more than the absolute number in the first quarter.

Set a baseline, then aim for a small improvement each month.

A five-point gain in first-time fix is worth more than a large jump in revenue that comes with a rise in comebacks. Review the pair together, never one without the other, and write down what changed.

That written note is what turns a weekly review into a record of decisions the shop can learn from. Keep it close by, and review it quarterly so nobody is working from an old version of the plan for the whole team.