Free planning tool / The math
How much is
a good job
actually worth?
The homepage calculator gives you a one-number answer. This page shows the math behind it so you can run it with your own numbers, sanity-check the output and know when it applies.
Jump back to the quick calculatorThe formula
One line.
Three inputs.
Additional jobs needed = Marketing budget ÷ (Average revenue per job × Contribution margin)
01 Marketing budget
What you plan to spend on marketing this month — across ads, software, agency, print and content.
02 Average revenue per job
What a typical booked job invoices for. Use the last 3–6 months of real invoices, not aspirational numbers.
03 Contribution margin
The share of revenue left after direct job costs (materials, subs, fuel, hourly crew), before fixed overhead and tax.
Plug in your numbers
A worked example.
Say you spend $400 / month on marketing, your average remodel invoice is $800, and after direct job costs you keep about 45%. One extra booked job each month covers the budget — the second lifts straight to the bottom line.
If your margin is tighter or your average job is smaller, you need more jobs to clear the same budget. The calculator shows exactly how many.
Break-even
2
jobs
Additional jobs per month to cover this marketing budget.
$360 contribution per job
A quick reality check
When this works.
And when it doesn't.
✓ It works when
- • Your average invoice is stable over the last 3–6 months
- • You know what each job costs you (materials, subs, hours)
- • Your marketing spend is roughly consistent month to month
- • You want a sanity check, not a precise forecast
✗ Use with caution when
- • Jobs vary wildly in size — use a weighted average instead
- • You're launching a new service with no historical data
- • Your fixed overhead already eats most of your margin
- • You're expecting marketing to perform in week one — most takes 90 days to compound
Reminder. This is a planning estimate, not a forecast. No agency can guarantee leads or revenue. The point of this exercise is to decide whether a budget is reasonable — not to promise an outcome.
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next chapter a good one.
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