Landscaping
Landscaping Business Break-Even Calculator
Find the properties or revenue needed each month before the business makes money.
Result
Break-even, not a target. It is the point where the business stops losing money, which is a floor rather than a plan. Owner's pay only counts here if it is inside the fixed costs you entered.
Get a Free Business AuditWhat moves the number
- Fixed costs including equipment finance, vehicles and insurance.
- Contribution per property, which route density strongly affects.
- Seasonality, since break-even is monthly and revenue is not level.
Where this one goes wrong
Calculating an annual break-even in a seasonal business. The useful figure is which months fall short and by how much, because that is what the season has to cover.
Questions
About this calculator
What is fixed in landscaping?
Vehicles, trailers, equipment finance, insurance and any year-round staff. Most of it continues through the off season when little revenue arrives.
How do I cover the off season?
Reserve deliberately from the season, or find work that runs through it. Both are decisions to take in summer rather than in winter.
Does monthly billing help?
For cash flow, considerably, because it spreads income across the year. The annual total still has to be right or you are simply borrowing from your own summer.
The formula
break-even jobs = fixed costs / (average job value x gross margin%)
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How to use this calculator
- Monthly fixed costs ($). Rent, office wages, insurance, vehicle payments, software, advertising.
- Average job value ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $340.
- Gross margin per job (%). Enter your own figure; the page starts at 44%.
The result updates as you type, so you can try a figure, see what it does to jobs needed per month, 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 |
|---|---|
| Monthly fixed costs | $12,500 |
| Average job value | $340 |
| Gross margin per job | 44% |
What comes out
| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| Jobs needed per month main result | 84 |
| Revenue needed per month | $28,560 |
| Gross profit per job | $149.60 |
| Jobs per working day | 3.8 |
You need 84 jobs a month, about 3.8 a working day, to cover $12,500 of fixed cost. That is $28,560 of revenue before the business earns anything.
How sensitive the answer is
Holding everything else steady and changing only monthly fixed costs, this is what happens to jobs needed per month. It is worth knowing which of your inputs the answer actually hinges on, and which barely move it.
| Monthly fixed costs ($) | Jobs needed per month |
|---|---|
| $6,250 | 42 |
| $9,375 | 63 |
| $12,500 example above | 84 |
| $18,750 | 126 |
| $25,000 | 168 |
Every other input is held at the example value while this one changes, which is not how a real job behaves. Treat it as a guide to which number matters most, not as five separate quotes.
What each figure means
- Monthly fixed costs ($)
- Rent, office wages, insurance, vehicle payments, software, advertising.
- Average job value ($)
- A money amount, starting at $340.
- Gross margin per job (%)
- A percentage, between 0 and 95, starting at 44%.
What the results tell you
| Result | What it is |
|---|---|
| Jobs needed per month | The headline result. A number. |
| Revenue needed per month | A money figure. |
| Gross profit per job | A money figure. |
| Jobs per working day | A decimal figure. |
Seasonality is not in this
Coverage and material figures assume the area you enter. Slope, access for machinery, existing growth and the time of year all affect both quantity and labour, and none of them appear in a calculation like this.
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.