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Job profit and margin calculator

A job's margin is its price minus what it cost to do: the crew's paid time (including the drive), the chemicals and the materials. Take your overhead off that and you have the profit. Enter one job below to see its margin, its profit per crew hour, and the lowest price that still covers it.

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The job

Example numbers
$
hours
min

Paid time on the road counts.

$

Wage plus payroll taxes and comp.

$
$

Bought for this job.

%

Insurance, trucks, office, software.

%

Jobs under it get flagged.

What the job makes

Margin
$40462%
Labour
$1967 crew hours
Chemicals and materials
$50
Total job cost
$246
Overhead
$98
Profit after overhead
$30747%
Profit per crew hour
$44
Break-even price
$289.42
Price for a 25% margin
$328.00

Labour = people × (hours on site + drive time) × the cost of a crew hour. Margin = price − labour − chemicals − materials. Overhead comes off the margin to give the profit. The starting numbers are examples only.

See the margin on every job, worked out from the crew's own clock

How do I calculate the profit margin on a job?

Subtract the job's costs (labour, chemicals and materials) from its price, then divide what is left by the price. Labour is usually the biggest cost, and the drive is part of it: your crew is paid from the moment they leave for the job. The margin here uses the same rules as the margin Birdy shows on every job.

crew hours = people × (hours on site + drive time)
labour = crew hours × cost of one crew hour
job cost = labour + chemicals + materials
margin = price − job cost
margin % = margin ÷ price
overhead = price × overhead %
profit = margin − overhead
The price is before tax. Margin % is shown to the nearest whole percent.

The cost of a crew hour is more than the wage. Add payroll taxes, workers' comp and any paid breaks, divided over the hours worked.

What does a worked example look like?

The calculator starts with a $650 job, done by two people in 3 hours on site with a 30-minute drive. These are example numbers, not industry averages.

A $650 job: 2 people, 3 hours on site, 30 minutes of drive, $28 a crew hour, $50 of chemicals and materials, 15% overhead

Crew hours

Amount
7 (2 people × 3.5 hours)

Labour

Amount
$196

Chemicals and materials

Amount
$50

Job cost

Amount
$246

Margin

Amount
$404 (62%)

Overhead

Amount
$97.50

Profit after overhead

Amount
$306.50 (47%)

Profit per crew hour

Amount
$43.79

Break-even price

Amount
$289.42

Price for a 25% margin

Amount
$328.00

The drive is half an hour for each of the two people, so it adds a full crew hour ($28) to the job. On short, cheap jobs, the drive is often what turns a good job into a poor one.

What is the break-even price for a job?

The break-even price is the price where the profit is zero: it covers the job's cost and its share of overhead, and nothing more. Charge less and the job loses money even if the crew was busy all day.

break-even price = job cost ÷ (1 − overhead %)
price for a margin line = job cost ÷ (1 − margin line %)
Both are rounded up to the cent.

The margin line is a simple warning: a job under it needs a look. Birdy starts it at 25% and flags any job that comes in under it. Set yours from your overhead: if overhead takes 15% of every dollar, a 25% margin leaves you 10% profit.

What should I count as overhead?

Overhead is everything you pay for whether or not a job happens. Add up a year of it and divide by a year of revenue to get your overhead %.

Job costs and overhead, kept apart so nothing is counted twice

The crew's paid time, drive included

Overhead (the % of price)
Insurance and licences

Chemicals used on the job

Overhead (the % of price)
Truck payments, fuel and repairs

Materials bought for the job

Overhead (the % of price)
The office: staff, rent, phones, software

Callbacks to fix the job

Overhead (the % of price)
Marketing and the cost of leads

Keep each cost in one place only. If fuel is in overhead, do not add it to the job too.

How do I see the margin on every job?

Working out one job by hand is useful; working out every job is what shows you which services, trucks and customers make money. That takes the crew's real hours, not the scheduled ones.

In Birdy, labour comes from the crew's own taps in the crew app, chemicals from the mix log, and materials are typed on the job. Every job then shows its margin, and Reports shows margin by job, service and truck day. See job costing.

Quote and track every job in Birdy

Your price list, minimums and job costs, set up with you on your own data.

Get started How it works

Questions

How do you calculate profit on a service job?

Take the price before tax and subtract the job's costs: the crew's paid hours (drive included) times what an hour costs you, plus chemicals and materials. That is the margin. Subtract your overhead share and you have the profit.

What is a good profit margin for a home service job?

It depends on your overhead. A useful check is a margin line, for example 25%: any job under it needs a look. Your margin has to be higher than your overhead % for the job to make a profit.

Should drive time count in job costs?

Yes. If the crew is paid while driving, the drive is part of the job's labour. A 30-minute drive for two people adds a full crew hour to the job.

What is the difference between margin and profit here?

Margin is the price minus the job's own costs (labour, chemicals, materials). Profit is what is left after you also take off the job's share of overhead, like insurance, trucks and the office.

Are the starting numbers industry averages?

No. They are examples to show the math. Put in your own price, crew, rates and overhead.

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