Break-Even Calculator
Calculate the exact revenue you need to cover all your fixed and variable costs — your break-even point. Know the minimum you must turn over to keep the business alive and how many jobs that means.
🔨 Break-Even Calculator
📐 How It Works
The break-even point is where total revenue equals total costs — profit is zero. Above break-even you are profitable; below it you are losing money. Contribution margin is what's left from each dollar of revenue after variable costs — it's used to cover fixed costs and then generate profit.
📋 Worked Example
A plumber with $70,000 fixed costs (truck, insurance, admin) and 55% variable cost rate (materials, casual labour): Contribution = 45%. Break-even = $70,000 ÷ 0.45 = $155,556/year = $2,991/week. At an average job value of $3,000: needs 52 jobs/year to break even.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
Fixed costs stay the same regardless of how much work you do: vehicle registration and insurance, public liability insurance, tools insurance, accounting fees, phone and software subscriptions, any rent or storage costs, and any permanent staff wages. These must be paid whether you work or not.
Variable costs change with your revenue: materials, subcontractors, casual labour, job-specific equipment hire and freight. As a percentage of revenue, variable costs for most trade contractors run 50–70%.
Your break-even is the absolute minimum revenue target. Set your revenue goal at break-even plus your desired profit. Then work backward to set weekly and monthly revenue targets and minimum job sizes. Any revenue below break-even means you're losing money.
High variable costs (above 70%) leave little contribution margin to cover fixed costs and profit. This means you need very high revenue to be profitable. Focus on reducing materials costs (better supplier deals), reducing subcontractor reliance, and improving labour efficiency.