Auto repair & detailing
Paint Correction Pricing Calculator
Set correction pricing by stage and vehicle so the hours are priced rather than absorbed.
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 AuditWhat moves the number
- Hours per stage per vehicle size, measured on your own work.
- Pad and compound consumption, which is significant on multi-stage work.
- Whether trim removal or masking is needed, which adds time before any polishing begins.
Where this one goes wrong
Quoting correction as a flat vehicle price. The same model can need three hours or fifteen depending on paint condition, and a flat price guarantees that the worst vehicles lose money.
Questions
About this calculator
Should correction be priced per hour or per vehicle?
Per stage with a condition assessment, which sits between the two. Pure hourly worries customers and pure flat rate exposes you on the vehicles that need the most work.
How do I price a vehicle I have not seen?
Give a range tied to stage and confirm after a test section. Anything firmer is a commitment made without the information that determines the hours.
Are pads and compounds worth costing separately?
On multi-stage work, yes. Pads wear quickly under heavy correction and compound consumption is real, and neither is captured by treating them as general overhead.
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 $180.
- Other direct costs ($). 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 | $240 |
| Materials cost | $180 |
| Other direct costs | $0 |
| Overhead rate | 22% |
| Target net margin | 15% |
What comes out
| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| Price to quote main result | $666.67 |
| Direct cost | $420 |
| Overhead recovered | $146.67 |
| Net profit | $100.00 |
| Gross margin | 37.0% |
| Markup on direct cost | 58.7% |
Quote $666.67 to cover $420 of direct cost, recover $146.67 of overhead and leave $100.00 of net profit. That is a 58.7% markup on cost.
How sensitive the answer is
Holding everything else steady and changing only labour cost, this is what happens to price to quote. It is worth knowing which of your inputs the answer actually hinges on, and which barely move it.
| Labour cost ($) | Price to quote |
|---|---|
| $120 | $476.19 |
| $180 | $571.43 |
| $240 example above | $666.67 |
| $360 | $857.14 |
| $480 | $1,048 |
Every other input is held at the example value while this one changes, which is not how a real job behaves. Treat it as a guide to which number matters most, not as five separate quotes.
What each figure means
- Labour cost ($)
- Burdened: wages plus tax, insurance and the vehicle, not the hourly wage.
- Materials cost ($)
- A money amount, starting at $180.
- Other direct costs ($)
- 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.