Know the minimum price you can charge before you lose money on a job
Free tool by ThePocketBoss - enter your job costs and see exactly where break-even falls so you never underprice a project again. Then use the contractor profit calculator to find the right price above break-even.
Wages, labor burden, and subcontractor costs for this job
All materials, supplies, and equipment rental for this job
Use your actual allocated insurance, vehicle, tool, office, and other overhead
Your proposed price to the customer - see if it clears break-even
Your break-even price is the absolute minimum you can charge on a job without losing money. It covers labor, materials, and your share of overhead - but leaves zero profit. Every dollar above break-even is money in your pocket.
When a customer pushes back on price, you need to know your floor. Without a clear break-even number, you might drop your price below cost and actually pay to do the work. Knowing your contractor hourly rate and understanding the difference between markup vs margin gives you the confidence to negotiate from a position of strength.
ThePocketBoss tracks your actual costs on every job - labor hours, materials, and expenses. Our contractor business software builds a library of real cost data over time that makes your break-even calculations more accurate, so you stop leaving money on the table.
Break-even is the price at which your revenue exactly equals your costs. You don't make money, but you don't lose any either. It's your pricing floor.
Break-even contains no profit. Add a target chosen for your own overhead, risk, capacity, market, taxes, and business plan. The calculator shows the scenario you enter; it does not recommend a margin or guarantee that a customer accepts the price.
Rarely. Some contractors will do it for a high-value repeat customer or to fill a schedule gap, but consistently pricing below break-even will put you out of business.
Calculate your own overhead rather than using a generic percentage. Define the relevant period and allocation method, total the applicable indirect costs, and divide by the matching revenue or capacity base. Confirm the method with your accountant.
ThePocketBoss tracks every dollar on every job so you never price below break-even again.
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