Auto repair & detailing
Auto Repair Job Cost Calculator
Total what one repair genuinely costs the shop once burdened labour, parts, supplies and bay time are all counted.
Result
Travel time is counted because it is paid and it occupies the day, whether or not the customer sees it on the invoice. Gross profit is what is left after the cost of doing the job. Overhead comes out of that: the building, the office wages, the vans, insurance, software and advertising. A healthy gross margin still loses money if overhead is larger.
Get a Free Business AuditWhat moves the number
- Burdened labour for every hour touched, including the diagnostic hour and the road test.
- Parts at cost, including freight and any core not returned.
- Consumables and disposal, which are small per job and material across a year.
Where this one goes wrong
Counting only the hours that were billed. Moving the vehicle, ordering the part, chasing the supplier and the second road test are all paid time that belongs to the job.
Questions
About this calculator
Do I need to cost every job?
No. Cost a representative sample across your usual mix and the pattern appears quickly. Costing everything becomes a project that gets abandoned.
Where does fluid disposal belong?
In the job that produced it. Rolled into general overhead it disappears; attached to oil and coolant work it shows which services are thinner than they look.
What do I do with the findings?
Look for what the unprofitable jobs share. It is usually a job type, a vehicle platform or a customer, and each has a different fix.
The formula
cost = (job hours + travel) x crew x wage x (1 + burden%) + materials + overhead per hour
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How to use this calculator
- Labour hours (h). Enter your own figure; the page starts at 2.2 h.
- People on the job. Enter your own figure; the page starts at 6.
- Hourly wage ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $27.
- Labour burden (%). Payroll tax, insurance, holiday, training. On top of the wage.
- Materials ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $180.
- Travel hours (h). Enter your own figure; the page starts at 0.75 h.
The result updates as you type, so you can try a figure, see what it does to true job cost, and change it back. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere or saved.
A worked example
These are the figures the calculator opens with. Every number in the results column below is produced by the same calculation the page runs, so you can follow it through before putting your own figures in.
What goes in
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Labour hours | 2.2 h |
| People on the job | 6 |
| Hourly wage | $27 |
| Labour burden | 28% |
| Materials | $180 |
| Travel hours | 0.75 h |
| Overhead per working hour | $22 |
What comes out
| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| True job cost main result | $1,181 |
| Labour including burden | $611.71 |
| Overhead absorbed | $389.40 |
| Cost per labour hour | $66.73 |
The job costs $1,181: $611.71 of burdened labour, $180 of materials and $389.40 of overhead. Anything you charge below that loses money.
How sensitive the answer is
Holding everything else steady and changing only hourly wage, this is what happens to true job cost. It is worth knowing which of your inputs the answer actually hinges on, and which barely move it.
| Hourly wage ($) | True job cost |
|---|---|
| $13.5 | $875.26 |
| $20.25 | $1,028 |
| $27 example above | $1,181 |
| $40.5 | $1,487 |
| $54 | $1,793 |
Every other input is held at the example value while this one changes, which is not how a real job behaves. Treat it as a guide to which number matters most, not as five separate quotes.
What each figure means
- Labour hours (h)
- Measured in h, starting at 2.2 h.
- People on the job
- A number, between 0 and 30, starting at 6.
- Hourly wage ($)
- A money amount, starting at $27.
- Labour burden (%)
- Payroll tax, insurance, holiday, training. On top of the wage.
- Materials ($)
- A money amount, starting at $180.
- Travel hours (h)
- Measured in h, starting at 0.75 h.
- Overhead per working hour ($)
- Annual overhead divided by billable hours.
What the results tell you
| Result | What it is |
|---|---|
| True job cost | The headline result. A money figure. |
| Labour including burden | A money figure. |
| Overhead absorbed | A money figure. |
| Cost per labour hour | A money figure. |
Estimating is the easy part
The jobs you never hear about cost more than the ones you mis-measure. BDEVY builds the marketing, systems and automation that bring them in.