Every contracting business has a magic number: the point where monthly revenue exactly covers all fixed costs and you stop losing money. Below that number, every day costs you. Above it, every dollar is profit. Most contractors have never calculated their break-even point, which means they operate without knowing whether a slow month puts them in the red or just makes them less profitable. This calculator takes your monthly fixed costs and your average contribution per job to determine exactly how many jobs or how much revenue you need each month to break even. The math is straightforward but the insight is powerful: knowing your break-even transforms decisions about pricing, marketing spend, and how aggressively you need to fill your schedule.
✓ Break-Even Calculator
Results
Contribution per job-
Break-even jobs per month-
Break-even revenue per month-
Break-even jobs per week-
✓ How break-even is calculated
Break-even jobs = fixed costs ÷ (price per job × (1 − direct cost %))
Fixed costs are what you pay every month no matter how much work you do: overhead plus the pay you need to take home. Direct costs rise and fall with each job: materials, subcontractors and the wages of whoever does the work. What is left of each job after direct costs is its contribution, and enough contribution to cover fixed costs is break-even.
✓ Reading the result
With $6,500 of monthly fixed costs, an $850 average job and 45% direct costs, each job contributes $467.50 and you need 14 jobs a month to break even. Job 15 is the first that makes a profit.
The fastest levers are the average ticket and the direct cost percentage. Adding one well-priced upsell per job often moves break-even more than chasing extra jobs. See how pricing changes the numbers in the job pricing calculator.
✓ Frequently Asked Questions
What fixed costs should a contractor include in break-even analysis?
Include every cost that stays the same regardless of how many jobs you do: truck payments, insurance premiums, shop or office rent, phone and internet, loan payments, software subscriptions, marketing retainers, accounting fees, and your own minimum salary. These costs run whether you work one job or twenty. Variable costs like materials, fuel to job sites, and per-job labor are excluded from the fixed cost side because they scale with each job you take.
How many jobs per month does a typical contractor need to break even?
It depends entirely on your fixed costs and average job size. A solo plumber with $4,000 in monthly fixed costs averaging $800 profit per service call needs 5 calls to break even. A remodeling contractor with $12,000 in monthly overhead averaging $3,000 profit per project needs 4 projects. The number is unique to your business, which is why calculating it yourself is more useful than any industry average.
What is contribution margin and why does it matter?
Contribution margin is the amount each job contributes toward covering your fixed costs after its own variable costs are paid. If you charge $2,000 for a job that costs $1,200 in materials and labor, the contribution is $800. That $800 goes toward rent, insurance, truck payments, and everything else. Once your total contributions for the month exceed your fixed costs, you have passed break-even and every additional job is pure profit.
How can I lower my break-even point without cutting prices?
There are two approaches: reduce fixed costs or increase contribution per job. On the cost side, renegotiate insurance annually, evaluate whether you need that office space, audit software subscriptions for unused tools. On the contribution side, reduce material waste, improve labor efficiency, negotiate better supplier pricing, or reduce drive time by clustering jobs geographically. Even small improvements compound: saving $500/month in overhead means one fewer job needed to break even.
Should I calculate break-even monthly or annually?
Monthly gives you the most actionable insight because you can compare it against actual revenue each month and spot problems early. Annual break-even is useful for big-picture planning, like deciding whether to hire an employee or take on a truck payment. Calculate both: monthly break-even tells you how many jobs you need this month, annual break-even tells you whether a major expense is sustainable over the full year.