Break-Even Calculator
Find out exactly how many jobs you need each month before your business starts making money — and how much cushion you really have. Most owners who feel "busy but broke" are hovering right at this number without knowing it.
Your numbers
What break-even actually tells you
Every month starts in the hole. Your rent, insurance, and truck payment are due whether the phone rings or not. Each job you complete digs you out a little — but only by its contribution: the price minus what that specific job cost you in materials, parts, fuel, and card fees. Break-even is the job count where you've dug all the way out. Every job after that is where your profit actually lives.
That's why break-even is the single most clarifying number in a small business. Revenue can look great while the business loses money; profit margin can look fine on paper while one slow week wipes it out. The break-even count converts your whole cost structure into one number you can compare against your calendar: am I booking more jobs than that, or fewer?
The formula is simple: monthly fixed costs ÷ contribution per job. If it takes $3,800 to open the doors each month and each job leaves $163 behind after its own costs, you need 24 jobs before dollar one of profit appears.
Getting the inputs right
Fixed costs are everything you owe in a month with zero jobs: rent, insurance, loan and truck payments, phone, software subscriptions, licenses — and your own base pay. If you need $3,000 a month to live, that is a cost of running the business, and leaving it out is the most common way owners convince themselves they're profitable while working for free.
Variable cost per job is only what disappears if the job doesn't happen: materials, parts, fuel for that trip, card processing on that payment, a helper paid per job. Don't put your own hourly time here if you already pay yourself a fixed salary above — that would double-count it.
Average price per job should come from real history, not your best day: last month's total revenue divided by last month's job count. If you run distinct service tiers with very different prices, run the calculator once per tier for a sharper picture.
Worked examples: two real businesses
Handyman. Fixed costs are $3,800/month including his own $2,500 base pay. His average job invoices at $249, and materials, fuel, and card fees run $86 per job. Each job contributes $163. $3,800 ÷ $163 = 23.3, so he needs 24 jobs a month — about 6 a week — before he earns a dime beyond his base pay. He's booking 32, so his last 8–9 jobs are producing roughly $1,400 of true monthly profit. One look at the meter tells him a price bump, not more volume, is his fastest path to a cushion.
House cleaning service. Fixed costs are $2,100/month (car payment, insurance, supplies stock, phone, software, owner base pay). The average clean is $145, with $28 of per-visit supplies, fuel, and card fees. Each visit contributes $117. $2,100 ÷ $117 = 18, so she breaks even at 18 cleans a month. With 26 recurring clients on a monthly schedule, she's comfortably above the line — and the calculator shows exactly how many clients she could lose before the business goes underwater: eight. That's her real safety margin, in units she can act on.
Common break-even mistakes
Leaving your own pay out of fixed costs. The business isn't breaking even if you aren't getting paid — that's the business breaking even while you subsidize it.
Mixing fixed and variable. Putting fuel or materials into fixed costs inflates the break-even count; putting insurance into per-job costs hides it. The test is always: does this cost vanish in a zero-job month?
Using your best month as "average." Break-even planning built on your record month guarantees a nasty surprise in an ordinary one. Use a typical month, or better, a 3-month average.
Treating break-even as the goal. Break-even is the floor, not the target. A business that hovers at break-even is one truck repair away from a loss. The health check above shows how much cushion you're really carrying — aim for the jobs above the line, because that's where all the profit is.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should my own pay count as a fixed cost?
Yes — if you need to take home $3,000/month to live, add it to fixed costs. Break-even that doesn't include paying yourself isn't really break-even; it's working for free.
What counts as fixed versus variable?
Fixed: anything you'd still owe in a month with zero jobs — rent, insurance, payments, phone, software, your base pay. Variable: anything that only happens because the job happened — materials, parts, fuel, card fees, per-job help.
What if my jobs vary a lot in price?
Use your average job: last month's revenue divided by the number of jobs, and the same for job costs. The break-even count is an honest approximation, not a decimal-perfect target.
My break-even number looks impossible to hit. Now what?
Three levers: raise prices, cut variable cost per job, or cut fixed costs. Raising price is usually the strongest — every added dollar is pure contribution, so it drops the break-even count fast.
Is this calculator really free?
Yes. No account, no email, no ads. It runs in your browser and the numbers you enter are never sent to us. We use basic traffic analytics, described in our privacy policy.
Estimates only: results are based on the numbers you enter. We work to keep the formulas accurate, but costs, taxes, and regulations vary by location — always verify your own numbers before making business decisions. MyPricingCalculator.com is not responsible for pricing or business decisions made with these tools.