Chimney & fireplace
Chimney Service Pricing Calculator
Prices chimney work from cost upward, where seasonality is extreme.
Result
Overhead and margin are taken as shares of the selling price, which is why the cost is divided rather than multiplied. Adding 15% to cost does not produce a 15% margin. 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
Direct cost divided by one minus overhead and margin together, so the price carries both. The overhead in this trade includes vehicles, vacuum and sweeping equipment, video inspection equipment, staging, insurance and certification, all of which accrue monthly. Direct cost is the burdened labour and materials. What makes the overhead rate hard to set is that the revenue is concentrated into a few months of the year while the costs are not.
What moves the number
- Seasonality, which is more pronounced in this trade than almost any other.
- Equipment including video inspection and staging, which is capital.
- Certification and training, which customers and insurers both value.
- Travel, since service areas are often dispersed.
Where this one goes wrong
Chimney work is intensely seasonal: demand concentrates from late summer through winter and collapses in spring, while the vehicles, equipment, insurance and any retained staff cost the same year round. Building an overhead rate on peak-season utilisation leaves the business short across the year, so it has to be calculated on realistic annual volume. The practical responses are pricing accordingly, offering off-season discounts to shift demand rather than discounting in peak, and carrying complementary work in the quiet months. A business priced off a busy October runs out of money in May.
Before you quote
- Build the overhead rate on annual volume, not the peak season.
- Discount in the off season to shift demand, not in peak.
- Carry certification and video equipment cost in the rate.
Questions
About this calculator
Why is chimney work so seasonal?
Because people think about their chimney when they want to use it, so demand concentrates from late summer through winter and collapses in spring. The vehicles, equipment, insurance and staff cost the same all year, which is the structural pressure behind how this trade prices.
Should I discount in the quiet season?
That is the right place for it, because it shifts demand into capacity that would otherwise be idle rather than reducing margin on work you would have had anyway. Discounting during peak gives away revenue on jobs that were coming regardless.
How should seasonality affect the overhead rate?
It has to be calculated on realistic annual volume rather than peak months, because the fixed costs continue through the quiet period. A rate set from a busy autumn looks healthy and leaves the business short by spring, which is the most common financial failure in this trade.
The formula
price = direct cost / (1 - overhead% - margin%)
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How to use this calculator
- Labour cost ($). Burdened: wages plus tax, insurance and the vehicle, not the hourly wage.
- Materials cost ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $65.
- Other direct costs ($). Permits, disposal, equipment hire, subcontractors.
- Overhead rate (%). Overhead as a share of revenue. Work it out from last year's accounts.
- Target net margin (%). Enter your own figure; the page starts at 15%.
The result updates as you type, so you can try a figure, see what it does to price to quote, 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 cost | $230 |
| Materials cost | $65 |
| Other direct costs | $0 |
| Overhead rate | 22% |
| Target net margin | 15% |
What comes out
| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| Price to quote main result | $468.25 |
| Direct cost | $295 |
| Overhead recovered | $103.02 |
| Net profit | $70.24 |
| Gross margin | 37.0% |
| Markup on direct cost | 58.7% |
Quote $468.25 to cover $295 of direct cost, recover $103.02 of overhead and leave $70.24 of net profit. That is a 58.7% markup on cost.
How sensitive the answer is
Holding everything else steady and changing only labour cost, this is what happens to price to quote. It is worth knowing which of your inputs the answer actually hinges on, and which barely move it.
| Labour cost ($) | Price to quote |
|---|---|
| $115 | $285.71 |
| $173 | $377.78 |
| $230 example above | $468.25 |
| $345 | $650.79 |
| $460 | $833.33 |
Every other input is held at the example value while this one changes, which is not how a real job behaves. Treat it as a guide to which number matters most, not as five separate quotes.
What each figure means
- Labour cost ($)
- Burdened: wages plus tax, insurance and the vehicle, not the hourly wage.
- Materials cost ($)
- A money amount, starting at $65.
- Other direct costs ($)
- Permits, disposal, equipment hire, subcontractors.
- Overhead rate (%)
- Overhead as a share of revenue. Work it out from last year's accounts.
- Target net margin (%)
- A percentage, between 0 and 80, starting at 15%.
What the results tell you
| Result | What it is |
|---|---|
| Price to quote | The headline result. A money figure. |
| Direct cost | A money figure. |
| Overhead recovered | A money figure. |
| Net profit | A money figure. |
| Gross margin | A percentage. |
| Markup on direct cost | A percentage. |
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.