Security & low voltage
Security Revenue Calculator
Projects security revenue, where the recurring half is worth more than the installed half.
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 installation revenue, scaled to annual with margin applied. The figure that matters alongside it is recurring monthly revenue, because a security business has two revenue streams with very different characteristics: installation is transactional and has to be won again each time, while monitoring accumulates and persists. A business reporting only installation revenue is describing the volatile half.
What moves the number
- Installation volume and average job value.
- Recurring monthly revenue added per installation.
- Attrition, which erodes the recurring base.
- Mix of residential and commercial, which differ in both values.
Where this one goes wrong
Recurring monthly revenue is what gives a security business its value, both in cash flow and on sale, because a predictable monthly book is worth a multiple that one-off installation revenue is not. That means the question on every installation is not only what it earns but whether it adds to the recurring base, and an install sold without monitoring is a transaction rather than an asset. The related number is net recurring growth: new accounts added less accounts lost, which can be negative in a business that is busy installing while quietly losing its book.
Before you quote
- Report recurring monthly revenue alongside installation revenue.
- Track net recurring growth, not just accounts added.
- Measure what share of installs convert to monitoring.
Questions
About this calculator
Why does recurring revenue matter so much in security?
Because it is predictable, it compounds, and it gives the business value on sale that one-off installation revenue does not. An installation sold without monitoring is a transaction; one that adds to the recurring base is an asset. That difference shapes how the whole business is run.
What is net recurring growth?
New monthly revenue added less monthly revenue lost to cancellation. It can be negative in a business that looks busy installing while quietly losing its existing book, which is a situation installation revenue alone completely hides. It is the number worth reporting monthly.
Is commercial or residential security better business?
They differ in both job value and recurring value, with commercial typically larger on both and longer sales cycles. Commercial accounts also tend to persist longer, which matters given how much of the value sits in retention. Most businesses end up with a mix rather than choosing.
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 $2,400.
- Gross margin on this work (%). Enter your own figure; the page starts at 44%.
- 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 | $2,400 |
| Gross margin on this work | 44% |
| Share of total revenue | 40% |
What comes out
| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| Repair revenue per month main result | $67,200 |
| Per year | $806,400 |
| Gross profit per year | $354,816 |
| Implied total business revenue | $2,016,000 |
The repair line brings in $806,400 a year and earns $354,816 of gross profit on it.
How sensitive the answer is
Holding everything else steady and changing only average value, this is what happens to repair revenue per month. It is worth knowing which of your inputs the answer actually hinges on, and which barely move it.
| Average value ($) | Repair revenue per month |
|---|---|
| $1,200 | $33,600 |
| $1,800 | $50,400 |
| $2,400 example above | $67,200 |
| $3,600 | $100,800 |
| $4,800 | $134,400 |
Every other input is held at the example value while this one changes, which is not how a real job behaves. Treat it as a guide to which number matters most, not as five separate quotes.
What each figure means
- Repair jobs per month
- A number, between 0 and 10000, starting at 28.
- Average value ($)
- A money amount, starting at $2,400.
- Gross margin on this work (%)
- A percentage, between 0 and 95, starting at 44%.
- 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.