Break-even calculator for service businesses
Break-even is the number of jobs that pays for the month before any profit starts. Enter your fixed costs and what a typical job sells for and costs to deliver, and see where that line sits. Everything runs in your browser. Nothing you type is sent to us, and nothing is stored.
- Free, no sign-up
- About 2 minutes
- Nothing leaves your browser
Break-even calculator
How to use it.
- 1
Fixed costs
What the business spends each month whatever the workload: rent, salaries, insurance, software, vehicles.
- 2
A typical job
What it sells for, and what it costs to deliver: materials, subcontractors, card fees.
- 3
A profit target
Optional. How much profit you want each month, and the jobs it takes.
The arithmetic, in full.
No black box. This is exactly what the tool calculates, so you can check it by hand.
- Contribution per job = price - variable cost
- Break-even jobs = fixed costs / contribution per job, rounded up
- Break-even revenue = break-even jobs x price
- Jobs for a profit target = (fixed costs + target) / contribution, rounded up
A worked example
With $9,000 of fixed costs a month and jobs that sell for $1,200 with $500 of materials and subcontractors, each job contributes $700. You break even at 13 jobs a month, or $15,600 of revenue, and 18 jobs clear a $3,000 profit target.
Common questions.
What are fixed and variable costs?
Fixed costs stay the same however much work you do: rent, insurance, salaries, software and vehicle payments. Variable costs rise with each job: materials, subcontractors, card fees and fuel.
What if my jobs vary in size?
Use your average job, or run the calculator once for each kind of job you do.
How do I lower my break-even point?
Raise prices, cut the variable cost of each job, or reduce fixed costs. A price rise usually moves it most, because every extra dollar of price is contribution.
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