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Know what the job earns before you quote it.

Three calculators for the jobs that go wrong quietly: what a job actually earns, what to quote when the parts range is wide, and what a no-show costs. Every result shows the formula and the assumptions, so you can check the arithmetic yourself.

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.calcform{display:none!important} JavaScript is off, so the calculators cannot run. The formulas, assumptions and a manual worksheet are below, and this page prints cleanly. Nothing here needs an account either way.

The fields start with a worked example. Replace the figures with your own. Nothing is sent anywhere, and no figure is saved unless you print it.

What a job actually earns

Price minus the direct costs. This is gross margin, before rent, insurance, admin, tax or your own draw.

What this is not

Not net profit. Rent, insurance, software, admin and tax are not in these fields.
Not your hourly rate. The labour field is a cost, not a wage you pay yourself.
Not a pricing decision. It tells you what the job leaves, not what the market will bear.

A healthy margin can still be a bad job. If it takes three visits, two callbacks and a week of chasing, the direct costs are not the whole story. Add the cost of the time you are not counting.

The rule

Use the price the customer actually pays, not the list price. Use the parts invoice, not the supplier’s catalogue. If a number is a guess, write “guess” next to it before you trust the result.

What to quote when the parts range is wide

A call-out, the labour, a parts range and a contingency, then a target margin. The result is a range, not a promise.

Call-out or minimum charge

Other fixed costs

Permit, disposal, parking, a second visit you already know about.

Labour hours

Labour rate per hour

The cost of the time, including what you pay the person doing it.

Parts, low end

Parts, high end

Contingency %

For the thing you cannot see yet. It is added to cost, not kept as profit.

Target gross margin %

What an empty slot costs

The lost gross profit, plus the staff time only when that time is an extra cost. Revenue is not the same as profit.

Average appointment value

Gross margin on that sale %

The share left after the direct cost of the service, not your net profit.

Appointment length, minutes

Staff cost per hour

Use 0 if the time is yours and you do not cost it.

Is that staff time an extra cost?

If the team would be paid whether the customer turns up or not, the cash loss is the lost gross profit, not the wage twice.

No-shows per week

Weeks to look at

Read this before the number

An empty slot does not lose the full sale. It loses the gross profit you would have made on it.
If staff are paid anyway, their wage is not an extra cash loss. It is still a cost of the empty time.
If you pay a commission only when the customer arrives, that commission is part of the lost margin, not a separate saving.

Do not price the policy from the panic. A deposit or cancellation term has to be simple enough to say at booking and fair enough to keep the regular. This calculator tells you the exposure; it does not tell you the term.

The rule

Count the no-shows you actually get, not the worst week you remember. If you do not know, write down every one for four weeks before you change the policy.

Formulas and manual worksheet

If JavaScript is off, or you want to check the maths, these are the same rules the calculators use. Write your own figures on the lines.

Margin

Gross profit = price - (parts + labour + other direct costs)
Gross margin % = gross profit / price x 100
Markup on cost % = gross profit / total direct costs x 100
Price for target margin = total direct costs / (1 - target margin / 100)

Price ________ Parts ________ Labour ________ Other ________
Direct costs ________ Gross profit ________ Gross margin ________%

Quote

Cost = call-out + (hours x rate) + parts + other fixed costs
Cost with contingency = cost x (1 + contingency / 100)
Quote = cost with contingency / (1 - target margin / 100)
Gross profit = quote - cost with contingency
Risk if you quote low = low quote - high cost

Call-out ________ Hours ________ Rate ________ Parts low ________ Parts high ________
Other ________ Contingency ________% Target margin ________%

No-show cost

Lost gross profit = appointment value x margin / 100
Staff cost = hourly cost x minutes / 60
Cost per no-show = lost gross profit + staff cost (only if the staff time is extra)
Period cost = cost per no-show x no-shows per week x weeks

Appointment value ________ Margin ________% Minutes ________ Hourly cost ________
No-shows per week ________ Weeks ________ Staff time extra? ________

What none of these can tell you: whether the price is competitive, whether the customer will pay it, what your overhead actually is, what tax you owe, or whether the law or your insurer requires a particular term. They are arithmetic aids, not accounting, tax or legal advice.

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