Rex says
Money math without the spreadsheet headache. Plug in your numbers and I'll show you exactly where the dollars land.
Try a scenario
Click to load — tweak from there.Inputs
Result
Breakeven billable hours/month
67.9
Breakeven billable hours/week
15.7
Total loaded monthly cost
$6,006
Labor revenue needed to cover cost
$8,832
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How to use this
- 1Enter monthly base pay or guarantee ($).
- 2Enter payroll tax + benefits load (%).
- 3Enter monthly tools/uniform/training allocation ($).
- 4Enter shop effective labor rate ($/hr).
- 5Enter labor gross margin (excl. this hire's own pay) (%).
- 6Read your breakeven billable hours/month on the right — it updates as you type.
- 7Hit Share to keep the scenario or send it to someone.
About this calculator
Before adding a technician, the real question isn't 'can we afford the wage,' it's 'do we have enough incremental car count and bay capacity for this person to hit breakeven production.' This calculator takes total loaded cost of a new hire (base pay or guarantee, payroll taxes, benefits, tools/uniform allowance) and your labor gross margin to compute the minimum billable hours per month the tech must produce just to cover their own cost, then compares that to realistic production based on experience level so you can sanity-check the hire against actual available work before extending an offer.
Worked example
Using the values the calculator loads with:
Inputs
- Monthly base pay or guarantee: 4800 $
- Payroll tax + benefits load: 22 %
- Monthly tools/uniform/training allocation: 150 $
- Shop effective labor rate: 130 $/hr
- Labor gross margin (excl. this hire's own pay): 68 %
Results
- Breakeven billable hours/month: 67.9
- Breakeven billable hours/week: 15.7
- Total loaded monthly cost: $6,006
- Labor revenue needed to cover cost: $8,832
What each field means
Inputs
- Monthly base pay or guarantee ($)
- The monthly base pay or guarantee used in the calculation, measured in $. Starts at 4800 $ so you have a working example on load.
- Payroll tax + benefits load (%)
- The payroll tax + benefits load used in the calculation, measured in %. Starts at 22 % so you have a working example on load. Accepted range: 0–100 %.
- Monthly tools/uniform/training allocation ($)
- The monthly tools/uniform/training allocation used in the calculation, measured in $. Starts at 150 $ so you have a working example on load.
- Shop effective labor rate ($/hr)
- The shop effective labor rate used in the calculation, measured in $/hr. Starts at 130 $/hr so you have a working example on load.
- Labor gross margin (excl. this hire's own pay) (%)
- The labor gross margin (excl. this hire's own pay) used in the calculation, measured in %. Starts at 68 % so you have a working example on load. Accepted range: 1–100 %.
Results
- Breakeven billable hours/month
- Returned as a decimal number and shown as the headline result. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Breakeven billable hours/week
- Returned as a decimal number. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Total loaded monthly cost
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Labor revenue needed to cover cost
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
FAQ
What's a realistic ramp-up for a new hire's production?
A tech new to the shop, even if experienced elsewhere, typically produces 60-75% of eventual normal output for the first 2-3 months while learning your shop's processes, software, and parts sourcing — budget for a below-breakeven ramp period, not instant full production.
Should I include this tech's pay in the labor GP% input?
No — use your labor GP% calculated from the rest of the team excluding this new hire, since including their own cost in the margin used to judge their own breakeven creates a circular, misleading number.
What if breakeven hours exceed realistic capacity?
That means you don't have enough car count or bay space to support the hire yet — either fix the car-count/marketing side first, or the hire will run at a structural loss until demand catches up, which owners often discover too late without running this math upfront.
Does this apply to hourly (non-flat-rate) techs too?
Yes, same logic — replace flag-hour production with actual hours billed to customers, since an hourly tech who spends half their clocked time on non-billable work has the same breakeven problem as a flat-rate tech running low efficiency.
Accuracy and 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.
Related tools
Cite this calculator
Writing about this topic? Grab a citation — every link helps keep these tools free.
RevenueLab. (2026). Technician Hire Breakeven Calculator. Retrieved from https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/tech-hire-breakeven
<p>Source: <a href="https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/tech-hire-breakeven" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Technician Hire Breakeven Calculator — RevenueLab</a> (2026).</p>
Source: [Technician Hire Breakeven Calculator — RevenueLab](https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/tech-hire-breakeven) (2026).