---
title: "Owner hours not stated: how much work comes with the business?"
url: https://firstpassmemo.com/flags/owner-hours-not-stated/
updated: 2026-10-07
publisher: FirstPass Memo (hello@firstpassmemo.com)
---

Red flag explained · Verification, age and operations

# Owner hours not stated: how much work comes with the business?

Short answer: A listing that does not say how many hours the owner works leaves out a cost. That time either becomes your job or a cost you pay someone else, and it is rarely in the profit figure. Ask how many hours a week the seller and any contractors spend, and on which tasks.

Updated 7 October 2026 · Checker rule NO_HOURS

## When the checker raises it

Raised as medium severity when the listing gives no hours per week.

## Why it matters

Ten hours a week at $25 an hour is about $1,080 a month. On a business making $1,500 a month, that is most of the profit.

Hours also tell you what kind of business it is. Three hours a week is an asset; thirty is a job.

## A worked example

Composite example, not a real listing

Affiliate site about indoor plants, Amazon Associates Asking price: $34,000 Average monthly revenue: $1,500 Average monthly profit: $1,250 Business age: 4 years

Traffic or revenue sources typed in: Organic search 75%, Pinterest 15%, Direct 10%.

What the red-flag checker (https://firstpassmemo.com/checker/) returns: payback of 27.2 months on average monthly profit, and this flag:

Medium Owner hours not stated

You need to know how much work comes with the business, and whether it is in the P&L.

Ask: How many hours a week do you and any contractors spend, and on which tasks?

The same example also raises: Depends on Amazon (https://firstpassmemo.com/flags/depends-on-a-platform/), Organic search is about 75% of traffic (https://firstpassmemo.com/flags/organic-search-over-half-of-traffic/), No connected data source mentioned (https://firstpassmemo.com/flags/no-connected-data-source/), Concentration not disclosed (https://firstpassmemo.com/flags/concentration-not-disclosed/).

## What to check

- Ask how many hours a week the seller and any contractors spend, and on which tasks.

- Ask which tasks could be handed to a contractor, and at what cost.

- Put the cost of that time into the true payback calculator.

## Questions to send the seller

- How many hours a week do you and any contractors spend, and on which tasks?

- Does the P&L include any pay for your own time? If not, what would it cost to replace you?

- How much handover support do you offer after the sale, for how long, and in what form?

- How much of the content do you write personally, and would readers notice a change of author?

## Related flags

- More than 10 hours a week (https://firstpassmemo.com/flags/owner-works-over-10-hours-a-week/)

- Margin above 90% (https://firstpassmemo.com/flags/very-high-margin/)

- Passive, but staffed (https://firstpassmemo.com/flags/called-passive-but-relies-on-staff/)

- All red flags explained (https://firstpassmemo.com/flags/)

## Useful next

- True payback calculator (https://firstpassmemo.com/tools/payback-calculator/)

- Free red-flag checker (https://firstpassmemo.com/checker/): paste a listing and see which flags it raises.

The checker is a set of plain rules, not an AI model, and its flags are prompts for questions, not verdicts. Composite examples are invented. Informational screening only, not investment, legal or tax advice.

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FirstPass Memo is informational screening, not investment, legal, tax, accounting or valuation advice, and not an audit. Seller figures are not independently verified. HTML version: https://firstpassmemo.com/flags/owner-hours-not-stated/