Salon, spa & fitness
Gym Class Profit Calculator
Works class profit, where attendance against a fixed instructor cost decides it.
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 from attendees against the instructor cost and the space the class occupies. The instructor is paid for the class regardless of attendance, which makes the economics entirely about heads in the room: a class at a third full can lose money while the same class full is strongly profitable.
What moves the number
- Attendance against the room's capacity.
- Instructor cost, which is fixed per class.
- Whether the class is included in membership or charged separately.
- Time slot and its natural demand.
Where this one goes wrong
Classes included in membership have no direct revenue, which means their value is retention rather than margin and they should be judged that way: a well-attended included class that keeps members is worth running at an apparent loss. Judge separately charged classes on attendance against instructor cost, and cut or move the persistently empty slots rather than hoping. Attendance is also strongly time-slot dependent, so a failing class may simply be at the wrong hour.
Before you quote
- Judge included classes on retention, not direct margin.
- Compare attendance against instructor cost for charged classes.
- Try moving a failing class before cutting it.
Questions
About this calculator
What makes a class profitable?
Attendance, because the instructor is paid regardless. A class a third full can lose money while the same class full is strongly profitable, which makes heads in the room the only variable that matters.
How should classes included in membership be judged?
On retention rather than direct margin, since they produce no separate revenue. A well-attended included class that keeps members is worth running at an apparent loss, and that is a different test from a charged class.
Should an empty class be cut?
Try moving it first, since attendance is strongly time-slot dependent and a failing class may simply be at the wrong hour. If it stays empty after a move, cutting it frees the instructor cost and the space for something that works.
The formula
gross profit = revenue - direct costs
Put this calculator on your site
Free to embed. Paste this where you want it to appear. It stays up to date automatically because it loads from BDEVY.
Please keep the attribution line. It is the only thing we ask in return.
How to use this calculator
- Revenue ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $48,000.
- Direct labour ($). 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 | $48,000 |
| Direct labour | $16,000 |
| Product and equipment | $11,000 |
| Other direct costs | $2,200 |
What comes out
| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| Gross profit main result | $18,800 |
| Gross margin | 39.2% |
| Total direct cost | $29,200 |
| Profit per working day | $854.55 |
That is $18,800 at a 39.2% margin, about $854.55 for every working day. Overhead still has to come out of it.
How sensitive the answer is
Holding everything else steady and changing only revenue, this is what happens to gross profit. It is worth knowing which of your inputs the answer actually hinges on, and which barely move it.
| Revenue ($) | Gross profit |
|---|---|
| $24,000 | -$5,200 |
| $36,000 | $6,800 |
| $48,000 example above | $18,800 |
| $72,000 | $42,800 |
| $96,000 | $66,800 |
Every other input is held at the example value while this one changes, which is not how a real job behaves. Treat it as a guide to which number matters most, not as five separate quotes.
What each figure means
- Revenue ($)
- A money amount, starting at $48,000.
- Direct labour ($)
- 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.