Salon, spa & fitness
Fitness Studio Pricing Calculator
Prices studio sessions, where the capacity per class sets the arithmetic.
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
The cost of running a class, meaning instructor, space and overhead, divided by the attendance expected, gives the cost per attendee that the price has to clear. A studio sells class places rather than access, which makes the per-class economics the whole business.
What moves the number
- Expected attendance per class against capacity.
- Instructor cost per class.
- Overhead per class hour.
- Whether pricing is per class, pack or unlimited.
Where this one goes wrong
An unlimited pricing option is attractive to sell and it transfers the attendance risk to the studio, because the heavy attenders consume capacity that paying per-class customers would have filled, and in a capacity-constrained studio that is a real cost. Model the heavy user rather than the average. Class packs sit between the two and are the usual compromise, with the unredeemed balance being a liability rather than revenue.
Before you quote
- Model unlimited pricing against heavy users, not averages.
- Treat unredeemed class pack value as a liability.
- Build the price from cost per expected attendee.
Questions
About this calculator
Is unlimited pricing a good idea for a studio?
It sells well and transfers attendance risk to the studio, since heavy attenders consume capacity that per-class customers would have filled. In a capacity-constrained studio that is a real cost, so model the heavy user rather than the average.
How should class packs be accounted for?
Unredeemed value is a liability rather than revenue, recognised as classes are taken. A studio treating pack sales as income on receipt looks profitable while carrying an obligation it has already spent the money for.
What does a class place cost to provide?
Instructor cost plus space and overhead for the hour, divided by expected attendance. That per-attendee figure is what the price has to clear, and it rises sharply as attendance falls since the instructor cost is fixed.
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 $11.
- Other direct costs ($). 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 | $34 |
| Materials cost | $11 |
| Other direct costs | $0 |
| Overhead rate | 22% |
| Target net margin | 15% |
What comes out
| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| Price to quote main result | $71.43 |
| Direct cost | $45 |
| Overhead recovered | $15.71 |
| Net profit | $10.71 |
| Gross margin | 37.0% |
| Markup on direct cost | 58.7% |
Quote $71.43 to cover $45 of direct cost, recover $15.71 of overhead and leave $10.71 of net profit. That is a 58.7% markup on cost.
How sensitive the answer is
Holding everything else steady and changing only labour cost, this is what happens to price to quote. It is worth knowing which of your inputs the answer actually hinges on, and which barely move it.
| Labour cost ($) | Price to quote |
|---|---|
| $17 | $44.44 |
| $26 | $58.73 |
| $34 example above | $71.43 |
| $51 | $98.41 |
| $68 | $125.40 |
Every other input is held at the example value while this one changes, which is not how a real job behaves. Treat it as a guide to which number matters most, not as five separate quotes.
What each figure means
- Labour cost ($)
- Burdened: wages plus tax, insurance and the vehicle, not the hourly wage.
- Materials cost ($)
- A money amount, starting at $11.
- Other direct costs ($)
- 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.