Break-even calculator
How much work covers your costs and your own pay each month. Free, no sign-up.
Example Change any number and press Work it out.
About 121 jobs a month (28 a week) at $350 each.
| Overheads a month | $9,000 |
| Your pay a month | $8,000 |
| Gross margin on jobs | 40% |
| Revenue needed a year | $510,000 |
Gross margin here is what's left of a job's price after its labour and materials.
Every 5 points of margin lower means about $6,071 more revenue a month.
How break-even works
Each job leaves a margin after its own labour and materials. That margin has to cover the costs that don't belong to any one job, such as vehicles, insurance, software and admin, plus what you pay yourself.
Divide those monthly costs by your margin to get the revenue you need. Divide that by your average job to get the number of jobs. A small drop in margin needs a lot more work to make up, which is why pricing matters more than being busy.
Questions
Should my own pay be included?
Yes. Break-even without your pay means you can only afford to work for free.
Where do I get my margin?
From your profit and loss: revenue less job labour and materials, divided by revenue. Or price a typical job in the quote calculator.
Every job, worked out for you
Tradies Sidekick reads your Xero and ServiceM8 and works this out every night from your own numbers: for every customer, every member of the team, and the business as a whole.
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