{
  "slug": "bay-utilization",
  "title": "Bay Utilization Calculator",
  "heading": "Service Bay Utilization Calculator",
  "category": "financial",
  "url": "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/bay-utilization",
  "summary": "See how much revenue capacity your bays actually produce versus their ceiling.",
  "description": "A shop's real capacity ceiling is bay-hours, not technician headcount — you can hire another tech, but if there's no open bay, that hire adds nothing. Bay utilization measures actual billed hours produced against the total hours each bay is open and staffed, exposing whether growth needs another bay, another shift, or just better scheduling to close the gap between open hours and billed hours. This calculator takes bay count, operating hours, and hours actually billed through those bays to compute utilization percentage and the revenue you're leaving on the table if a bay sits idle waiting on tows, parts, or diagnostics instead of turning cars. Most shops discover 15-30 unbilled bay-hours a week hiding in idle time once they actually measure it, which at a modest labor rate is thousands of dollars of unrealized capacity monthly without adding a single square foot.",
  "formula": "Capacity Hours = Bays × Hours Open per Day × Days Open. Utilization% = Billed Hours ÷ Capacity Hours. Idle Revenue = Idle Hours × Effective Labor Rate.",
  "dateModified": "2026-09-30",
  "run_url": "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/api/public/calc?tool=bay-utilization",
  "inputs": [
    {
      "id": "bays",
      "label": "Number of service bays",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 6,
      "unit": null,
      "min": 1,
      "max": null
    },
    {
      "id": "hoursDay",
      "label": "Hours open per day",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 10,
      "unit": "hrs",
      "min": 1,
      "max": 24
    },
    {
      "id": "daysOpen",
      "label": "Days open per month",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 25,
      "unit": null,
      "min": 1,
      "max": 31
    },
    {
      "id": "billedHours",
      "label": "Total billed hours per month",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 950,
      "unit": "hrs",
      "min": 0,
      "max": null
    },
    {
      "id": "elr",
      "label": "Effective labor rate",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 130,
      "unit": "$/hr",
      "min": 0,
      "max": null
    }
  ],
  "outputs": [
    {
      "id": "utilPct",
      "label": "Bay utilization",
      "format": "percent",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": true
    },
    {
      "id": "capacity",
      "label": "Total bay-hour capacity",
      "format": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": false
    },
    {
      "id": "idleHours",
      "label": "Idle bay-hours per month",
      "format": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": false
    },
    {
      "id": "idleRevenue",
      "label": "Unrealized labor revenue per month",
      "format": "currency",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": false
    }
  ],
  "worked_example": {
    "inputs": [
      "Number of service bays: 6",
      "Hours open per day: 10 hrs",
      "Days open per month: 25",
      "Total billed hours per month: 950 hrs",
      "Effective labor rate: 130 $/hr"
    ],
    "outputs": [
      "Bay utilization: 63.3%",
      "Total bay-hour capacity: 1,500",
      "Idle bay-hours per month: 550",
      "Unrealized labor revenue per month: $71,500"
    ]
  },
  "how_to": {
    "title": "How to use this",
    "steps": [
      "Enter number of service bays.",
      "Enter hours open per day (hrs).",
      "Enter days open per month.",
      "Enter total billed hours per month (hrs).",
      "Enter effective labor rate ($/hr).",
      "Read your bay utilization on the right — it updates as you type.",
      "Hit Share to keep the scenario or send it to someone."
    ]
  },
  "scenarios": [
    {
      "name": "Conservative",
      "description": "Lower-end numbers — what if things land soft?",
      "values": {
        "bays": 4,
        "hoursDay": 6,
        "daysOpen": 15,
        "billedHours": 570,
        "elr": 78
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "Typical",
      "description": "Defaults — the most common real-world setup.",
      "values": {
        "bays": 6,
        "hoursDay": 10,
        "daysOpen": 25,
        "billedHours": 950,
        "elr": 130
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "Ambitious",
      "description": "Higher-end numbers — what if things really pop?",
      "values": {
        "bays": 10,
        "hoursDay": 16,
        "daysOpen": 31,
        "billedHours": 1520,
        "elr": 208
      }
    }
  ],
  "limitations": [
    "Results are estimates before tax, fees, and inflation unless an input explicitly covers them.",
    "Rates are treated as fixed for the whole period — variable-rate products will drift from this projection.",
    "This is educational maths, not financial advice. Check anything contractual with the lender or your accountant."
  ],
  "faq": [
    {
      "q": "What utilization percentage is realistic?",
      "a": "75-85% is a strong target. 100% isn't achievable or even desirable because you need slack for diagnostics, comebacks, and same-day emergency work. Below 60% consistently signals either a marketing/car-count problem or a scheduling inefficiency, not a capacity problem."
    },
    {
      "q": "Should lift/alignment bays count the same as general bays?",
      "a": "No, model them separately if they have different throughput. An alignment bay might turn 3-4 cars a day at 45 minutes each while a general repair bay holds one car for hours; blending them into one utilization number hides which bay type actually needs investment."
    },
    {
      "q": "How does this relate to hiring another technician?",
      "a": "If utilization is already above 85% and idle hours are low, a new tech has nowhere to work — you need another bay or a second shift before another hire helps. If utilization is below 70%, the bottleneck is car count or scheduling, and another tech won't fix it either."
    },
    {
      "q": "What causes idle bay-hours most often?",
      "a": "Parts delays, waiting on customer approval for additional work, poor appointment spacing that leaves gaps, and technicians pulled off jobs for shuttle runs or counter help. Tracking idle time by cause for two weeks usually reveals one dominant culprit."
    }
  ],
  "related": [
    "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/technician-efficiency-proficiency",
    "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/car-count-aro"
  ],
  "license": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "citation": "RevenueLab — Bay Utilization Calculator (https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/bay-utilization)"
}