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Hourly cost and minimum ticket calculator

Add up what it costs to keep the van on the road each month. See your real cost per billable hour, the rate you need, and the smallest job worth the drive.

Example costs. These are made-up round numbers. Use last month's bills and statements instead.

Monthly costs

$1,920 a month
  • $
  • $
  • $
  • $
  • $
  • $
  • $
  • $

Your time and pay

Hours on jobs and driving to them. Not paperwork or waiting.

$

Before income tax.

Your hourly numbers

True cost per hour

$17.72

$1,920 ÷ 108.3 billable hours a month

Rate you need

$63.88

Covers your costs and $60,000 a year for you

Smallest job worth the drive

min
min

Minimum ticket

$74.52

Pays your costs and your target pay, plus parts

Break-even ticket

$20.68

Covers costs only, pays you nothing

Minimum ticket by drive time, with 30 minutes on site
Drive, one wayMinimum ticketBreak-even
10 min$53.23$14.77
20 min$74.52$20.68
30 min$95.82$26.58
45 min$127.75$35.45
60 min$159.69$44.31

LockCommand's reports show revenue and jobs, so you can check these numbers against real work every month.

Track revenue per job in LockCommand

How to use it

Most locksmiths know what they charge for a lockout. Fewer know what an hour on the road costs them. This calculator spreads your monthly costs over the hours you can bill, adds the pay you want, and turns the answer into a minimum ticket for any drive time.

How to use it

  1. Replace the example costs with last month's real bills. Add any cost we left out with "Add a cost".
  2. Enter your billable hours a week. Look at your last few weeks of jobs rather than guessing.
  3. Enter what you want to earn in a year, before income tax.
  4. Set a drive time and a time on site to see the smallest ticket worth driving out for.

What the numbers mean

  • True cost per hour is monthly costs ÷ billable hours a month. A month is 52 weeks ÷ 12, about 4.33 weeks. Charging less than this loses money even if you pay yourself nothing.
  • Rate you need is (monthly costs + your yearly income goal ÷ 12) ÷ billable hours a month.
  • Minimum ticket is the rate you need × the hours a job takes, counting the drive both ways. Parts go on top.
  • Break-even ticket covers your costs for that time and pays you nothing.

A worked example

The example costs add up to $1,920 a month. At 25 billable hours a week, that is 108.3 billable hours a month, so each hour costs $17.72. To earn $60,000 a year you need another $5,000 a month, so the rate you need is $6,920 ÷ 108.3 = $63.88 an hour. A job 20 minutes away that takes 30 minutes on site is 70 minutes of your time, so the minimum ticket is $74.52 plus parts. Break-even is $20.68.

What to do with it

  • Set your trip fee or the low end of your ranges so short jobs reach the minimum ticket.
  • Charge more for far jobs. The service area and trip fee zones tool turns drive distance into a fee for each zone.
  • Check single jobs with the job profit calculator, which counts parts, miles and card fees one job at a time.
  • Come back when a cost changes. A new van payment or a jump in insurance moves every number on this page.

Fuel is in the monthly costs here, so the minimum ticket doesn't add a separate cost per mile. If you'd rather count the van by the mile, take the van payment, fuel and insurance out of the monthly costs and use a per mile cost in the job profit calculator instead.

Questions

What counts as a billable hour?
Time you can charge for: driving to a job and working on it. Quoting, ordering parts, cleaning the van and waiting for a callback are real work, but nobody pays you for them, so they don't count. It's easy to guess this number too high, so check it against your job history.
Why is my cost per hour so much higher than I thought?
Because the costs are spread over billable hours only, not every hour you're working. If you pay $1,920 a month to run the van and the business, and bill 25 hours a week, each billable hour carries about $17.72 of costs before you pay yourself anything.
Should I include parts in the monthly costs?
No. Parts change from job to job, so charge them on top of the ticket. Put tools, key blanks you stock and other regular spending in the monthly costs.
Is the target income before or after tax?
Before income tax. If you need a take-home number, ask your accountant what to add for income and self-employment tax and use the larger figure.
Do I have to turn down jobs under the minimum ticket?
No. A small job on your way to a big one, or a regular customer, can be worth it. The minimum ticket tells you which jobs lose money when you drive out just for them.

More for your shop

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