Painting
Painting Business Revenue Calculator
Projects revenue, where interior and exterior work have different seasons.
Result
Service lines rarely carry the same margin. Splitting them is the only way to see which part of the business is paying for the rest, which is frequently not the part that looks busiest.
Get a Free Business AuditHow the calculation works
Jobs per month times average value gives monthly revenue, scaled annually with margin applied. The painting-specific point is that monthly figures are seasonal in a predictable rather than random way: exterior work has a weather window, interior work is available year round and picks up when exterior stops, and a business with both evens out while one with only exterior does not.
What moves the number
- Interior against exterior mix, which determines seasonality.
- Average job value, which differs substantially between the two.
- Residential against commercial, which have different cycles.
- Repeat and referral rate, which is strong in this trade.
Where this one goes wrong
Plan the year rather than the month, and plan the interior book before the exterior season ends rather than after. Marketing interior work in autumn, while exterior work is still running, is what fills the winter, and a business that waits until exterior stops is marketing into a gap it is already in. Commercial work is the other balance, since it is less weather-dependent and often scheduled further ahead, which makes it useful ballast even where the margin is thinner than residential.
Before you quote
- Market interior work before the exterior season ends.
- Track revenue by interior, exterior, residential and commercial.
- Use commercial work as less weather-dependent ballast.
Questions
About this calculator
How do painting businesses manage seasonality?
By building an interior book to fill the months when exterior work is impossible, and by marketing it before the exterior season ends rather than after. A business that waits until exterior stops is marketing into a gap it has already fallen into.
Is commercial painting worth pursuing?
As ballast, often. It is less weather-dependent, scheduled further ahead and provides predictable volume, even where the margin is thinner than residential. It also tends to repeat on a cycle, which makes it useful for planning rather than only for revenue.
What average job value should I expect?
It differs so much between a single interior room and a full exterior repaint that a blended figure is not useful for planning. Tracking it separately by work type is what lets you see which part of the business is growing and which is just busy.
The formula
revenue = jobs x average value; gross profit = revenue x margin
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How to use this calculator
- Repair jobs per month. Enter your own figure; the page starts at 28.
- Average value ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $2,900.
- Gross margin on this work (%). Enter your own figure; the page starts at 42%.
- Share of total revenue (%). Used to show what the whole business turns over.
The result updates as you type, so you can try a figure, see what it does to repair revenue 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 |
|---|---|
| Repair jobs per month | 28 |
| Average value | $2,900 |
| Gross margin on this work | 42% |
| Share of total revenue | 40% |
What comes out
| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| Repair revenue per month main result | $81,200 |
| Per year | $974,400 |
| Gross profit per year | $409,248 |
| Implied total business revenue | $2,436,000 |
The repair line brings in $974,400 a year and earns $409,248 of gross profit on it.
How sensitive the answer is
Holding everything else steady and changing only average value, this is what happens to repair revenue per month. It is worth knowing which of your inputs the answer actually hinges on, and which barely move it.
| Average value ($) | Repair revenue per month |
|---|---|
| $1,450 | $40,600 |
| $2,175 | $60,900 |
| $2,900 example above | $81,200 |
| $4,350 | $121,800 |
| $5,800 | $162,400 |
Every other input is held at the example value while this one changes, which is not how a real job behaves. Treat it as a guide to which number matters most, not as five separate quotes.
What each figure means
- Repair jobs per month
- A number, between 0 and 10000, starting at 28.
- Average value ($)
- A money amount, starting at $2,900.
- Gross margin on this work (%)
- A percentage, between 0 and 95, starting at 42%.
- Share of total revenue (%)
- Used to show what the whole business turns over.
What the results tell you
| Result | What it is |
|---|---|
| Repair revenue per month | The headline result. A money figure. |
| Per year | A money figure. |
| Gross profit per year | A money figure. |
| Implied total business revenue | 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.