Break-Even Calculator
How much do you need to sell each month just to keep the lights on? Two numbers tell you.
Rent, insurance, admin payroll, software, loan payments — everything you pay even in a slow month.
Of each sales dollar, the share left after direct costs (materials, subs, direct labor). Not sure? It's on your P&L — or read our margin guide.
Your typical invoice, job, or ticket size, to translate revenue into number of sales.
Your break-even point
Revenue needed per month
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That's roughly per week
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Number of sales per month
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Every dollar of revenue above this line contributes profit. Every dollar below it comes out of your pocket.
How the math works
Break-even revenue = fixed costs ÷ gross margin. If your fixed costs are $12,000 a month and you keep 40 cents of each sales dollar after direct costs, you need $30,000 in monthly sales before the business earns its first dollar of profit. The calculator also divides that by your average sale, so "we need $30,000" becomes the more actionable "we need about 36 jobs."
Two ways owners misuse this number: using revenue targets that ignore margin (a $30,000 month at 25% margin is a losing month if you needed 40%), and forgetting that owner pay belongs in fixed costs — if you can't pay yourself, you haven't broken even in any way that matters.
The hard part of this calculator isn't the math — it's knowing your real fixed costs and your real gross margin. When you outsource bookkeeping with InsightTrack, both numbers come straight off financial statements we keep clean and current every month, so your break-even point is a fact, not a guess. Schedule a free consultation and we'll calculate it from your actual books.