Roofing
Roofing Sales Commission Calculator
Work out what a commission structure pays and what the job leaves after it.
Result
Paying on revenue rewards volume and quietly rewards discounting; paying on gross profit rewards the jobs that actually earn. The choice changes behaviour more than the rate does.
Get a Free Business AuditWhat moves the number
- Whether commission is on revenue or gross profit.
- Whether discounts given reduce the commission.
- Chargebacks on jobs that lose money or are not collected.
Where this one goes wrong
Paying commission on revenue in a trade where scope changes. A salesperson paid on the signed figure has no stake in whether the job ran over or whether the deck allowance was adequate.
Questions
About this calculator
Revenue or gross profit?
Gross profit aligns the salesperson with the business, particularly in roofing where the same signed price can be a good job or a bad one depending on what was allowed for.
Should commission be held until payment?
Many companies hold part of it until collection, which aligns the salesperson with getting paid as well as with selling. It has to be clear in advance to be fair.
How do discounts interact?
On a gross profit structure they self-correct, because a discount reduces the profit the commission is calculated on. On revenue they cost the company alone.
The formula
commission = (revenue or gross profit) x rate
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
- Sales in the period ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $42,000.
- Cost of that work ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $24,000.
- Commission is paid on. Enter your own figure; the page starts at Gross profit.
- Commission rate (%). Enter your own figure; the page starts at 10%.
- Base pay for the period ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $2,600.
The result updates as you type, so you can try a figure, see what it does to commission earned, 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 |
|---|---|
| Sales in the period | $42,000 |
| Cost of that work | $24,000 |
| Commission is paid on | Gross profit |
| Commission rate | 10% |
| Base pay for the period | $2,600 |
What comes out
| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| Commission earned main result | $1,800 |
| Total pay | $4,400 |
| Gross profit on the work | $18,000 |
| Left to the business | $13,600 |
| Pay as a share of sales | 10.5% |
Commission of $1,800 plus base pay makes $4,400, leaving $13,600 of the gross profit for the business.
How sensitive the answer is
Holding everything else steady and changing only sales in the period, this is what happens to commission earned. It is worth knowing which of your inputs the answer actually hinges on, and which barely move it.
| Sales in the period ($) | Commission earned |
|---|---|
| $21,000 | -$300 |
| $31,500 | $750 |
| $42,000 example above | $1,800 |
| $63,000 | $3,900 |
| $84,000 | $6,000 |
Every other input is held at the example value while this one changes, which is not how a real job behaves. Treat it as a guide to which number matters most, not as five separate quotes.
What each figure means
- Sales in the period ($)
- A money amount, starting at $42,000.
- Cost of that work ($)
- A money amount, starting at $24,000.
- Commission is paid on
- Choose from Revenue, Gross profit.
- Commission rate (%)
- A percentage, between 0 and 60, starting at 10%.
- Base pay for the period ($)
- A money amount, starting at $2,600.
What the results tell you
| Result | What it is |
|---|---|
| Commission earned | The headline result. A money figure. |
| Total pay | A money figure. |
| Gross profit on the work | A money figure. |
| Left to the business | A money figure. |
| Pay as a share of sales | A percentage. |
What this cannot see
Material quantities assume a clean rectangular plane and the waste factor you enter. Valleys, hips, dormers, penetrations and a steep pitch all raise real waste, and a tear-off frequently uncovers decking that was not in the quote.
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.