Pool & spa
Pool Service Pricing Calculator
Prices pool service from cost upward, where route density decides profitability.
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
Direct cost divided by one minus overhead and margin together. In a route-based service business the critical variable is not the price per stop but the number of stops per day, because drive time between pools is paid and unbillable. A technician with twelve pools within a few miles and one with eight spread across a county have the same labour cost and very different revenue, which is why established operators buy routes by density rather than by customer count.
What moves the number
- Stops per day, which is set by route density more than by efficiency.
- Drive time between pools, which is paid and not billed.
- Whether chemicals are included, which changes both price and margin.
- Seasonality, since many markets have a long quiet period.
Where this one goes wrong
Accepting a pool outside your route is often a loss even at a good price, because the drive to it consumes the time of another stop. Pricing distant pools at a premium, or declining them, is how route businesses stay profitable, and the discipline is hard because the revenue looks positive in isolation. Seasonality is the other structural issue: in climates with a real off-season the fixed costs continue while revenue falls, so annual contracts that spread payment across twelve months are common and are worth more than the equivalent summer-only revenue.
Before you quote
- Price by route position, not just by pool.
- Count drive time as a cost of each stop.
- Consider annual contracts to smooth seasonal revenue.
Questions
About this calculator
What makes a pool route profitable?
Density. Drive time between pools is paid and unbillable, so stops per day is the variable that matters most, and it is determined by how close together the pools are. Two technicians with identical skills and prices can have very different margins purely from geography.
Should I take on a pool outside my route?
Only at a premium that covers the drive, or not at all. The revenue looks positive in isolation while the travel consumes the time of another stop you could have served. Declining distant work is one of the harder disciplines in a route business and one of the more profitable.
How do pool companies handle the off-season?
Commonly with annual contracts that spread payment across twelve months rather than billing only in season. Fixed costs continue when the pools close, so smoothing revenue matters. It also improves retention, since a customer on an annual agreement is less likely to shop each spring.
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 $48.
- Other direct costs ($). 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 | $95 |
| Materials cost | $48 |
| Other direct costs | $0 |
| Overhead rate | 22% |
| Target net margin | 15% |
What comes out
| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| Price to quote main result | $226.98 |
| Direct cost | $143 |
| Overhead recovered | $49.94 |
| Net profit | $34.05 |
| Gross margin | 37.0% |
| Markup on direct cost | 58.7% |
Quote $226.98 to cover $143 of direct cost, recover $49.94 of overhead and leave $34.05 of net profit. That is a 58.7% markup on cost.
How sensitive the answer is
Holding everything else steady and changing only labour cost, this is what happens to price to quote. It is worth knowing which of your inputs the answer actually hinges on, and which barely move it.
| Labour cost ($) | Price to quote |
|---|---|
| $48 | $152.38 |
| $71 | $188.89 |
| $95 example above | $226.98 |
| $143 | $303.17 |
| $190 | $377.78 |
Every other input is held at the example value while this one changes, which is not how a real job behaves. Treat it as a guide to which number matters most, not as five separate quotes.
What each figure means
- Labour cost ($)
- Burdened: wages plus tax, insurance and the vehicle, not the hourly wage.
- Materials cost ($)
- A money amount, starting at $48.
- Other direct costs ($)
- 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.