{
  "slug": "portfolio-door-scaling-breakeven",
  "title": "Portfolio Door Scaling Breakeven Calculator",
  "heading": "Portfolio Scaling Breakeven Calculator",
  "category": "financial",
  "url": "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/portfolio-door-scaling-breakeven",
  "summary": "Find how many doors you need before hiring in-house management beats outsourcing.",
  "description": "At small scale, outsourcing to a third-party property manager is almost always cheaper than hiring your own staff, but as a portfolio grows there's a crossover point where the fixed cost of an in-house property manager or maintenance tech becomes cheaper per door than paying a percentage-based external fee on every unit. This calculator finds that crossover unit count given your average rent, the external management fee percentage, and the fully-loaded cost of the in-house role you'd hire, so you know roughly how many doors you need before building an internal team makes financial sense rather than just a lifestyle preference.",
  "formula": "External cost = units × avg rent × mgmt% × 12. In-house cost = fully-loaded salary + benefits + overhead (fixed, roughly independent of unit count within a role's capacity). Breakeven units = in-house annual cost ÷ (avg rent × mgmt% × 12).",
  "dateModified": "2026-09-30",
  "run_url": "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/api/public/calc?tool=portfolio-door-scaling-breakeven",
  "inputs": [
    {
      "id": "avgRent",
      "label": "Average monthly rent per unit",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 1500,
      "unit": "$",
      "min": 0,
      "max": null
    },
    {
      "id": "mgmtPct",
      "label": "External management fee",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 8,
      "unit": "%",
      "min": 0,
      "max": 20
    },
    {
      "id": "salary",
      "label": "In-house PM fully-loaded annual cost",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 68000,
      "unit": "$",
      "min": 0,
      "max": null
    },
    {
      "id": "capacityUnits",
      "label": "Units one in-house PM can handle",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 100,
      "unit": null,
      "min": 1,
      "max": null
    },
    {
      "id": "currentUnits",
      "label": "Your current unit count",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 55,
      "unit": null,
      "min": 1,
      "max": null
    }
  ],
  "outputs": [
    {
      "id": "breakevenUnits",
      "label": "Breakeven unit count",
      "format": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": true
    },
    {
      "id": "savingsAtCurrentScale",
      "label": "Savings at your current unit count",
      "format": "currency",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": false
    },
    {
      "id": "currentExternalCost",
      "label": "Estimated external management cost",
      "format": "currency",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": false
    },
    {
      "id": "currentInHouseCost",
      "label": "In-house PM fully-loaded cost",
      "format": "currency",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": false
    },
    {
      "id": "utilizationPct",
      "label": "In-house PM capacity utilization",
      "format": "percent",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": false
    }
  ],
  "worked_example": {
    "inputs": [
      "Average monthly rent per unit: 1500 $",
      "External management fee: 8 %",
      "In-house PM fully-loaded annual cost: 68000 $",
      "Units one in-house PM can handle: 100",
      "Your current unit count: 55"
    ],
    "outputs": [
      "Breakeven unit count: 47",
      "Savings at your current unit count: $11,200",
      "Estimated external management cost: $79,200",
      "In-house PM fully-loaded cost: $68,000",
      "In-house PM capacity utilization: 55%"
    ]
  },
  "how_to": {
    "title": "How to use this",
    "steps": [
      "Enter average monthly rent per unit ($).",
      "Enter external management fee (%).",
      "Enter in-house pm fully-loaded annual cost ($).",
      "Enter units one in-house pm can handle.",
      "Enter your current unit count.",
      "Read your breakeven unit count 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": {
        "avgRent": 900,
        "mgmtPct": 4.8,
        "salary": 41000,
        "capacityUnits": 60,
        "currentUnits": 33
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "Typical",
      "description": "Defaults — the most common real-world setup.",
      "values": {
        "avgRent": 1500,
        "mgmtPct": 8,
        "salary": 68000,
        "capacityUnits": 100,
        "currentUnits": 55
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "Ambitious",
      "description": "Higher-end numbers — what if things really pop?",
      "values": {
        "avgRent": 2400,
        "mgmtPct": 12.8,
        "salary": 109000,
        "capacityUnits": 160,
        "currentUnits": 88
      }
    }
  ],
  "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 counts as 'fully-loaded' salary cost?",
      "a": "Base salary plus payroll taxes, benefits, a vehicle or mileage allowance if they travel between properties, software and tools, and a share of office overhead. Fully-loaded cost typically runs 1.25-1.4x the base salary number, and using just base salary will understate the true breakeven point."
    },
    {
      "q": "How many units can one property manager handle?",
      "a": "It varies by property type and how much leasing and maintenance coordination is centralized — single-family scattered-site portfolios often cap out around 75-125 units per manager due to travel time between properties, while a single large multifamily site can support 150-250+ units per on-site manager because everything is in one place."
    },
    {
      "q": "Does going in-house eliminate all outside costs?",
      "a": "No — you'll likely still pay for leasing photography, background check services, accounting software, and possibly a maintenance coordinator or vendor network separately. In-house replaces the management fee layer, not every third-party service a management company bundles in."
    },
    {
      "q": "What's the risk of going in-house too early?",
      "a": "Below the breakeven unit count, you're paying full fixed salary cost for a role that isn't fully utilized, and you take on employer liability, payroll administration, and the risk of that one person quitting with no backup — an external manager spreads that risk across their whole client base."
    }
  ],
  "related": [
    "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/pm-fee-vs-self-manage",
    "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/pm-commission-tier-comparison"
  ],
  "license": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "citation": "RevenueLab — Portfolio Door Scaling Breakeven Calculator (https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/portfolio-door-scaling-breakeven)"
}