- Break-even jobs = monthly overhead ÷ what each job leaves after its own costs.
- Count your own pay as a target, not as whatever is left. Jobs to pay you = (overhead + your pay) ÷ what each job leaves.
- Raising the average job, or cutting what each job costs, lowers the number of jobs you need faster than cutting overhead.
How to calculate break-even for a service business
Break-even is the point where the money coming in from jobs pays for everything the business costs, with nothing left over and nothing lost. For a contractor it is easiest to count in jobs.
Every job brings in its price and costs something to do: materials, parts, the wages of whoever does it, dump fees, subs. What is left after those job costs is what the job adds toward the overhead. Accountants call it the contribution.
- Kept from each job = average job price − average job cost
- Break-even jobs a month = monthly overhead ÷ kept from each job
- Break-even sales a month = monthly overhead ÷ (kept from each job ÷ price)
- Jobs to pay yourself too = (monthly overhead + the pay you want) ÷ kept from each job
With the calculator's starting numbers, $6,500 of monthly overhead, a $650 average job that costs $260 to do, and $7,000 a month of take-home pay:
| Step | Math | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Kept from each job | $650 − $260 | $390 (60%) |
| Break-even jobs | $6,500 ÷ $390 = 16.7 | 17 jobs |
| Break-even sales | $6,500 ÷ 60% | $10,833 |
| Jobs to pay you | ($6,500 + $7,000) ÷ $390 = 34.6 | 35 jobs |
| Sales to pay you | 34.6 × $650 | $22,500 |
| Pace | 34.6 ÷ 4.33 weeks | 8 jobs a week |
Jobs are rounded up, because 16.7 jobs do not cover the overhead and the 17th does.
What counts as overhead and what counts as job cost
The answer is only as good as the split. Put each cost in one place, never both.
| Job cost (changes with each job) | Overhead (paid every month) |
|---|---|
| Materials and parts | Truck payment, fuel and upkeep |
| Wages for the hours on that job | Insurance: liability, vehicle, workers' comp minimums |
| Subcontractors | Phone, software, website |
| Dump fees, permits, equipment rental | Shop or office rent, utilities |
| Card fees on that job's payment | Office or dispatch pay, bookkeeping, accounting |
| Advertising, licences, tools that wear out |
Your own pay goes in neither. The calculator asks for it on its own line, so you can see the jobs that cover the business and the jobs that also cover you.
Card fees sit on the job side because they rise and fall with each payment. A software subscription sits on the overhead side because it costs the same whether you do 10 jobs or 50. When a cost is unclear, ask: if I did one more job this month, would this cost go up? If yes, it is a job cost.
Break-even is not the goal: paying yourself is
A business at break-even pays its bills and pays you nothing. That is why the calculator puts your take-home pay up front, as a target.
The table under the result shows where different job counts leave you each month, with the starting numbers:
| Jobs a month | Sales | Left after overhead | Where that leaves you |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | $5,200 | −$3,380 | Loss |
| 17 | $11,050 | $130 | Bills paid, you are not |
| 35 | $22,750 | $7,150 | Your pay met |
| 43 | $27,950 | $10,270 | Your pay met, with room for savings |
Use "take-home pay" for what you want to draw before income tax. Set money aside for taxes from that draw, and set a separate amount for savings and equipment if you want the business to grow.
Revisit the take-home number once a year. If it has not changed in three years while your costs have, the business is paying you less in real terms than it used to. Raise the target, then see what it does to the job count.
If you have a partner who also draws pay, add both draws together in the take-home line. If you pay yourself a wage through payroll, count the employer taxes on it as overhead and leave the take-home line as the net amount you want. Either way, every dollar you need has to show up once, and only once.
Three ways to need fewer jobs
Once you know the number, you can test what changes it. Here is each lever on its own, from the starting numbers (35 jobs a month to pay you):
| Change | Kept per job | Jobs to pay you |
|---|---|---|
| None | $390 | 35 |
| Average job up 10% to $715 | $455 | 30 |
| Job cost down 10% to $234 | $416 | 33 |
| Overhead down 10% to $5,850 | $390 | 33 |
A higher average job does the most here, because every dollar of price goes straight to what each job keeps. Ways to raise it: offer good, better and best options on every estimate, add a maintenance plan at the end of a service call, and check that your hourly rate covers your real costs with the labor rate calculator.
Lowering job cost works through better buying and a parts markup that fits each price tier (see the markup calculator). Overhead cuts help too, but most overhead is hard to cut without hurting the business.
Combine levers and the effect grows. A 10% higher average job and a 10% lower job cost together leave $481 per job, and the jobs needed to pay you fall from 35 to 29. That can be the difference between a full week and a sustainable one.
Break-even when you are just starting out
A new business has no history to pull averages from, so start with honest guesses and replace them as real jobs come in.
- Overhead. List every monthly bill you will have: truck payment, insurance, phone, software, licences, fuel, advertising. Add a line for the bills you forgot.
- Average job price. Price five typical jobs the way you would quote them, and average them.
- Average job cost. For the same five jobs, add up materials, any paid help, dump fees and permits.
- Take-home pay. What you need each month to cover your household. Start there, not at what feels polite.
Run the numbers again after your first 20 or 30 jobs, with real averages. New businesses often guess job costs low and job prices high, and the real numbers show it fast.
Break-even in a seasonal trade
Overhead comes every month. Work does not. Roofing, landscaping, pools, pressure washing and HVAC all have busy and slow seasons.
Work out break-even for the year, then see what the busy months have to carry:
- Multiply monthly overhead and monthly pay by 12.
- Divide by what each job keeps to get jobs for the year.
- Spread those jobs over the months you really work.
With the starting numbers, a year needs ($6,500 + $7,000) × 12 ÷ $390 = 415.4, so 416 jobs. Across 12 months that is 35 a month. Across 8 working months it is 52 a month. If 52 a month is more than you can do in season, the price has to rise, the cost has to fall, or you add off-season work like maintenance plans, gutter cleaning or snow removal.
Check the pace against your calendar
The calculator turns the monthly number into jobs a week and a working day. Put that next to how long an average job takes, plus driving.
At the starting numbers, 35 jobs over 21 working days is 1.65 jobs a day. If an average job takes three hours with the drive, that is about five hours of work a day, which leaves room for estimates and paperwork. If your jobs take a full day each, 35 a month is not possible for one person, and either the price, the cost or the crew has to change. The calculator warns when the pace passes four jobs a working day.
When the numbers work, the next step is filling the calendar. Koira sends estimates the customer can approve and pay a deposit on from their phone, and follows up on the ones that have not been answered. See pricing.
Also check the pace against how many jobs you can sell. Say you close one estimate in three. Then 35 jobs a month means about 105 estimates a month, or five every working day. If that is far more than your phone brings in, the gap is a marketing problem, not a pricing one, and the fix is more leads, a higher close rate, or bigger jobs.
Check the result every quarter with real numbers from your books: overhead from the last three months, and job price and cost from the jobs you finished. Averages move. A break-even worked out once and never again drifts away from the business.
Keep the three numbers that matter on one page: overhead a month, kept per job, and jobs needed. When one of them moves, the other two tell you what to do about it.
Last checked October 8, 2026.