Solo operator
$37k–$68k/mo revenue target
- Overhead
- $8k–$16k
- Owner pay
- $6k–$10k
- Gross margin
- 38–48%
Good fit for plumbers, electricians, painters, cleaners, and handymen who need owner pay protected before chasing crew growth.
Finance planner
Calculate the contractor break-even target that pays the owner first.
Most contractors ask, “How much revenue do I need?” The better question is: “How much revenue covers overhead, pays me properly, protects margin, and creates enough booked jobs without panic?” Use this as the finance checkpoint inside the ProTradeHQ growth platform before changing prices, hiring, or buying more leads.
Formula
Monthly revenue target = (overhead + owner pay + debt cushion) ÷ gross margin
If your gross margin is 40%, every $1 of overhead needs $2.50 of revenue. That is why “just book more jobs” fails when labor burden, material cost, and callbacks are not priced correctly.
- Overhead: trucks, insurance, software, rent, phones, admin, marketing, licensing, bookkeeping.
- Owner pay: salary the business must support before profit distributions.
- Debt cushion: monthly repayment, tax reserve, and slow-season cash buffer.
- Gross margin: revenue left after direct labor, materials, permits, subs, and job-specific costs.
Contractor owner-pay target calculator
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Contractor revenue targets by owner-pay stage
Use these contractor break-even ranges as planning guardrails, not promises. The right target depends on your trade, crew productivity, callbacks, labor burden, market pricing, and how much admin the owner still carries.
One crew plus owner
$74k–$131k/mo revenue target
- Overhead
- $18k–$32k
- Owner pay
- $8k–$14k
- Gross margin
- 35–45%
Use this when the owner still sells, estimates, or supervises most jobs but payroll is now a fixed commitment.
Two to three crews
$156k–$281k/mo revenue target
- Overhead
- $38k–$70k
- Owner pay
- $12k–$20k
- Gross margin
- 32–42%
At this stage the target should include dispatch, admin, callbacks, vehicle debt, software, and a marketing budget that keeps crews fed.
Lower-path routing
Route the break-even gap before sending the owner to a product or channel.
Owner-pay math can reveal a demand gap, a profitable-quote gap, a payroll-risk gap, or a profile-destination gap. Keep those paths separated so the next click matches the financial constraint.
Break-even target exceeds current booked-job capacity
Route owners toward lead source, close rate, ticket size, and booked-job math before adding ads or discounts.
Diagnose demand quality before raising spend ->
Product fit: Neutral margin-first demand route
Revenue target depends on higher-value quote requests
Use when profitable services, city proof, project photos, financing language, or quote forms need to support better jobs.
Check website proof and quote flow ->
Product fit: Webzaz-fit website proof route
Payroll would raise fixed break-even too soon
Keep owner-pay, cash runway, labor burden, training capacity, and manager capacity attached before adding payroll.
Score hiring readiness first ->
Product fit: Neutral hiring-readiness route
Local profile traffic needs one simple next action
Use when GBP, QR, review, referral, or social traffic should route to one action without rebuilding the full site.
Audit local profile destinations ->
Product fit: LocalKit-fit profile route
One-stop growth platform context
The break-even target should control pricing, lead volume, hiring, and operations decisions.
If the monthly number is too high, the fix might be quote minimums, service mix, better close rate, stronger local demand, fewer callbacks, or delaying payroll until cash runway improves.
Increase qualified demandUse when the target requires more booked jobs, not cheaper leads. Check payroll readinessUse before a new hire raises fixed monthly break-even. Reduce callback wasteProtect gross margin with cleaner handoffs and fewer rework loops. Improve quote qualityUse when the site attracts low-fit jobs or hides profitable services.
Next steps