Free break-even rate calculator

What does an hour have to earn?

Spread your monthly overhead across the hours your crew actually bills, add the wage, and you have the hourly rate below which every job loses money. Add a margin to see the rate to charge.

Your rates show up here

Fill in the numbers and press Calculate. The page address keeps your numbers, so you can bookmark it or send it to your business partner.

Getting the numbers right

The answer is only as good as what goes in.

Monthly overhead

Everything you pay whether or not a truck rolls: rent, insurance, software, the office, the owner's salary if the owner doesn't bill hours. Leave out wages and materials for the jobs themselves.

Billable hours per tech

Hours a week each tech actually bills to a customer, not hours worked. Drive time, shop time and callbacks aren't billed. 25–32 is common for a full-time field tech.

Burdened wage

The hourly cost of a tech: wage plus payroll taxes, workers' comp, benefits and paid time off. The labor rate calculator walks through it.

Labor rate calculator Find the burdened hourly cost of a worker to use as the wage.Job profit calculator Check what a single job actually earned after materials and labor.Break-even rate What the term means and why it is the floor for every quote.Overhead recovery How overhead gets paid for out of the jobs you bill.Flat rate vs. time and materials When each pricing style fits, and how to choose.

Know the number, then quote above it

Keep your costs in a Prycebook price book and set your target margin once in Settings. Every quote you build shows its margin as you go, and warns you when a job slips under your target.

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