Free Business Tool
Break-Even Calculator for Small Business
Find out exactly how many jobs your roofing, HVAC, or solar business needs per month to cover overhead — and how many more to hit your profit target.
See How SubcontractorHub Helps Contractors Hit Their NumbersHow Many Jobs Do You Need to Break Even?
Enter your overhead, average job size, and variable cost rate. Results update instantly.
Rent, admin salaries, insurance, vehicles, software — costs that don't change with job volume.
Your typical invoice amount per closed job (e.g. $8,500 for a roofing replacement, $7,200 for an HVAC system).
Materials + direct labor + subs as % of job revenue. Most roofing/HVAC contractors: 55–65%.
How much net profit you want to take home per month after overhead.
Break-even point
4.2 jobs / month
$35,714 in revenue needed to cover overhead
Gross profit per job
$3,570
42% gross margin
Jobs to hit profit target
7 jobs / month
$59,524 in revenue · $10,000 profit
Fixed overhead
$15,000
Avg job revenue
$8,500
Variable cost %
58%
Gross margin
42%
Estimates only. Fixed costs, variable cost rates, and average job values vary significantly. Confirm your actual numbers with your bookkeeper or accountant before making business decisions.
How to Use This Calculator
Enter your monthly fixed overhead
Add up all costs that don't change with job volume: office rent, admin or office manager salary, your own compensation to the extent it's fixed, commercial auto insurance, general liability, software (CRM, estimating, project management), phone, internet, marketing agency retainers. A 5-person roofing company typically runs $18,000–$35,000/month in fixed costs.
Enter your average job revenue
Use your actual average, not your best jobs. Pull your last 20–30 closed invoices and take the mean. If you do a mix of insurance claims at $9,000 and retail jobs at $14,000, the blend matters. For HVAC, a system replacement averages $7,500–$12,000 installed depending on system size and region.
Set your variable cost rate
Variable costs are everything that scales directly with each job: materials, direct field labor (wages + burden), subcontractors, equipment rental, dumpsters, and permit fees. For most roofing contractors this runs 55–65%. For HVAC, materials are typically 40–50% of revenue and direct labor adds 10–15%, putting variable costs at 50–65%.
Add a profit target
Break-even just tells you when you stop losing money. Your real goal is profit. Enter how much net profit you want to generate per month after covering all overhead. This number drives your actual sales target — and should inform how many leads, appointments, and proposals your sales team needs to run each month.
Why Contractors Miss Their Break-Even Without Knowing It
Undercounting fixed overhead
The biggest error: not including owner compensation as a fixed cost. If you're pulling $8,000/month from the business but not counting it as overhead, your break-even math is wrong and every job looks more profitable than it is.
Using wages instead of loaded labor
Pricing field labor at the wage rate ($28/hr) instead of fully loaded ($40–$45/hr) understates variable costs by 30–40%. This shifts your apparent gross margin up artificially, making your break-even look lower than it really is.
Ignoring seasonality
A roofing company that breaks even at 6 jobs/month needs a strong spring and summer to fund slower winter months. Plan your annual break-even target across 12 months, not just the busy season.
Revenue target vs. job target
Most contractors track monthly revenue — a useful number but not the most actionable one. Break-even in jobs per month is more actionable for a sales team: 'We need 7 closed jobs this month' is a clearer target than 'We need $72,000 in revenue.'
Not updating the model when costs change
Adding a truck, hiring an office manager, or getting a new insurance policy all raise your fixed overhead — and your break-even point. Recalculate whenever you add a significant fixed cost.
Chasing volume instead of margin
Getting to break-even by adding more low-margin jobs is a trap. A roofing company improving gross margin from 32% to 38% on the same job volume reduces its break-even point by nearly a full job per month.
Know Your Numbers. Close the Jobs That Actually Move the Needle.
For roofing, HVAC, and solar contractors, the gap between break-even and real profit often comes down to close rate — not volume. SubcontractorHub's EasyQuote builds proposals on a tablet at the customer's home, with financing embedded, so your reps close more of the jobs they're already running.
Improving close rate from 28% to 35% on 50 leads/month is 3–4 more closed jobs — potentially enough to cross break-even and into profit without touching your marketing budget.
See How It WorksBuild proposals on a tablet at the customer's home
Embed GoodLeap & Service Finance financing at point of sale
Track pipeline and close rate by rep in real time
Auto-create installation projects from every signed job
See gross margin on every proposal as it's built
Common Questions About Break-Even Analysis
What is a break-even point for a small business?
The break-even point is the revenue level (or number of jobs/units) at which total revenue exactly equals total costs — fixed plus variable. Below break-even, the business is losing money. Above it, every additional job contributes to profit. For a roofing contractor with $15,000/month in fixed overhead and a $2,500 gross profit per job, break-even is 6 jobs per month. Job 7 and beyond generate profit.
What counts as a fixed cost for a contractor business?
Fixed costs are expenses that don't change with job volume: office rent, admin salaries, owner compensation, vehicle payments, insurance (general liability, commercial auto), software subscriptions, phone and internet, and marketing retainers. A solo HVAC contractor might have $6,000–$10,000/month in fixed costs. A 10-person roofing company might run $25,000–$50,000/month.
What are variable costs in a home services business?
Variable costs scale directly with job volume: materials, subcontractor costs, direct crew wages (if hourly per job), equipment rental, permit fees, and job-specific disposal. For most roofing and HVAC contractors, variable costs run 50–65% of revenue. A $10,000 roofing job with 60% variable costs has $4,000 in gross profit contributing toward fixed overhead.
How do I use break-even analysis to set a monthly sales goal?
Start with your fixed overhead, then add your target profit for the month. Divide by your average gross profit per job. Example: $15,000 overhead + $10,000 target profit = $25,000 needed. If your average job generates $3,000 in gross profit, you need about 8–9 closed jobs per month. That's your real sales target — not a revenue number your accountant shows you once a quarter.
What is a good gross margin for a roofing or HVAC contractor?
Healthy gross margins for installation contractors typically run 30–45%. Roofing averages 35–42% on retail jobs, often lower on insurance claims due to supplement complexity. HVAC system replacements run 40–50% when equipment is marked up correctly and labor is priced using fully loaded rates. If your gross margin is below 30%, investigate material costs, labor burden calculation, and whether change orders are being captured.
How does pricing affect my break-even point?
Raising your average job price by 10% is more powerful than most contractors realize. If your fixed costs are $15,000/month and you improve your gross margin from 32% to 38% on the same jobs, your break-even drops from roughly 5.5 to 4.6 jobs per month — nearly a full job less per month you need just to cover overhead. This is why pricing discipline has a larger impact than volume growth for most contractors.
Ready to Stop Guessing at Your Monthly Job Target?
SubcontractorHub gives HVAC, roofing, and solar contractors the proposals, financing, and pipeline visibility to hit their numbers every month.
Book a Free DemoAll calculations are estimates based on historical information and should be verified by the user.