Chimney & fireplace
Chimney Profit Calculator
Works gross profit on a chimney job, where access and travel decide whether it was worth taking.
Result
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 AuditHow the calculation works
Revenue less direct costs gives gross profit and margin, with direct costs covering burdened labour, materials, equipment and access, and any subcontracted work. On a service visit the direct costs are mostly labour and travel. On a repair they add materials, staging and possibly a roofer. Separating the two kinds of job is what makes the figure useful, because a day of sweeping and a day of masonry repair have different cost structures entirely.
What moves the number
- Whether the job was a service visit or a repair.
- Access and staging cost, which varies hugely by property.
- Travel time, which is paid and does not appear on the invoice.
- Whether the scope grew on site without being repriced.
Where this one goes wrong
Scope growing on the roof without being repriced is the quiet profit leak in this trade, because a technician up there who notices a cracked crown or failed flashing will often just deal with it, which is good service and unpaid work. Quote it, get approval and then do it, even when you are already on the roof. The related point is that travel on a dispersed service area is a real direct cost: two hours of driving for a one hour sweep is a job that loses money at a standard rate, and tracking it per job is what reveals whether the service area is too wide.
Before you quote
- Reprice scope found on site before performing it.
- Include travel time as a direct cost per job.
- Separate service visits from repair jobs when measuring.
Questions
About this calculator
What loses money on chimney jobs?
Travel and unpriced scope. A short service visit a long drive away loses money at a standard rate, and work added on the roof because the technician noticed it and dealt with it is good service and unpaid labour. Both are avoidable with tracking and a quick approval habit.
Should extra work found on site be done immediately?
Quote it and get approval first, even while you are already up there. Customers generally approve, and doing it unquoted means doing it free. The access being already paid for is an argument for approving it quickly, not for performing it without asking.
Why measure service and repair jobs separately?
Because they have different cost structures. A sweep is labour and travel with almost no materials. A masonry repair carries materials, staging and sometimes a subcontractor. Blending them produces an average that describes neither and hides which one is actually profitable.
The formula
gross profit = revenue - direct costs
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How to use this calculator
- Revenue ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $24,000.
- Direct labour ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $16,000.
- Materials and equipment ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $11,000.
- Other direct costs ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $2,200.
The result updates as you type, so you can try a figure, see what it does to gross profit, 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 |
|---|---|
| Revenue | $24,000 |
| Direct labour | $16,000 |
| Materials and equipment | $11,000 |
| Other direct costs | $2,200 |
What comes out
| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| Gross profit main result | -$5,200 |
| Gross margin | -21.7% |
| Total direct cost | $29,200 |
| Profit per working day | -$236.36 |
That is -$5,200 at a -21.7% margin, about -$236.36 for every working day. Overhead still has to come out of it.
How sensitive the answer is
Holding everything else steady and changing only revenue, this is what happens to gross profit. It is worth knowing which of your inputs the answer actually hinges on, and which barely move it.
| Revenue ($) | Gross profit |
|---|---|
| $12,000 | -$17,200 |
| $18,000 | -$11,200 |
| $24,000 example above | -$5,200 |
| $36,000 | $6,800 |
| $48,000 | $18,800 |
Every other input is held at the example value while this one changes, which is not how a real job behaves. Treat it as a guide to which number matters most, not as five separate quotes.
What each figure means
- Revenue ($)
- A money amount, starting at $24,000.
- Direct labour ($)
- A money amount, starting at $16,000.
- Materials and equipment ($)
- A money amount, starting at $11,000.
- Other direct costs ($)
- A money amount, starting at $2,200.
What the results tell you
| Result | What it is |
|---|---|
| Gross profit | The headline result. A money figure. |
| Gross margin | A percentage. |
| Total direct cost | A money figure. |
| Profit per working day | 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.