Pet services
Dog Walking Profit Calculator
Works walking profit, where profit per walker hour exposes the route.
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 walker cost including travel, mileage, insurance and overhead, expressed per walk and per walker hour. The per-hour figure includes the travel, which is what reveals whether a route is viable rather than merely busy.
What moves the number
- Walks per walker hour including travel.
- Group against solo mix.
- Mileage and vehicle cost.
- Client density within the route.
Where this one goes wrong
Measure profit per walker hour across the whole shift including travel, because a walker completing several walks in a tight area and one completing the same number across a city produce very different results from the same revenue. The remote client is usually the one losing money and nobody wants to say so. Reorganising routes, or declining geographically awkward clients, is the lever that works.
Before you quote
- Measure profit per walker hour including travel.
- Identify geographically awkward clients and reprice or decline them.
- Track mileage as a real cost.
Questions
About this calculator
Why is my walking business busy but not profitable?
Travel. A walker completing several walks in a tight area and the same number across a city produce very different results from identical revenue, and the remote clients are usually the ones losing money.
What should be done about a remote client?
Reprice to cover the travel or decline the work. Keeping them at a standard price means every one of their walks loses money, and the decision not to have that conversation is itself an expensive one.
Does mileage matter?
Yes, as a real cost rather than an afterthought. Vehicle wear, fuel and insurance on a high-mileage route are substantial, and a walking business that ignores them is understating its cost base meaningfully.
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 $33,000.
- Direct labour ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $16,000.
- Product and equipment ($). 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 | $33,000 |
| Direct labour | $16,000 |
| Product and equipment | $11,000 |
| Other direct costs | $2,200 |
What comes out
| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| Gross profit main result | $3,800 |
| Gross margin | 11.5% |
| Total direct cost | $29,200 |
| Profit per working day | $172.73 |
That is $3,800 at a 11.5% margin, about $172.73 for every working day. Overhead still has to come out of it.
How sensitive the answer is
Holding everything else steady and changing only revenue, this is what happens to gross profit. It is worth knowing which of your inputs the answer actually hinges on, and which barely move it.
| Revenue ($) | Gross profit |
|---|---|
| $16,500 | -$12,700 |
| $24,750 | -$4,450 |
| $33,000 example above | $3,800 |
| $49,500 | $20,300 |
| $66,000 | $36,800 |
Every other input is held at the example value while this one changes, which is not how a real job behaves. Treat it as a guide to which number matters most, not as five separate quotes.
What each figure means
- Revenue ($)
- A money amount, starting at $33,000.
- Direct labour ($)
- A money amount, starting at $16,000.
- Product and equipment ($)
- 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.