HVAC Calculator
HVAC Break-Even Calculator
Calculate the monthly jobs and revenue needed to cover overhead, debt payments and owner draw from your average job contribution.
HVAC break-even formula
Break-even jobs = monthly cost to cover ÷ (average job revenue − direct job cost). This tool includes the debt payments and owner draw you enter in the monthly coverage target. With $18,000 to cover and $250 contribution per job, the result is 72 jobs and $36,000 revenue.
HVAC Break-Even Calculator
Estimate the jobs and revenue needed to cover entered monthly fixed costs.
Your estimate
Use contribution after direct job cost, not revenue alone. Results are a scenario estimate, not a forecast.
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Save a direct link to this calculator so you can rerun the scenario when your costs, capacity, or goals change.
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- Rerun it with current business inputs
- Keep the planning tool handy
Calculate contribution before counting jobs
Revenue is not the amount left to pay the shop’s bills. Subtract the direct costs of completing an average job first. Use the same period and job mix for both figures; a replacement-heavy month and a repair-heavy month can have very different contributions.
The calculator adds monthly operating overhead to the debt payments and owner draw you choose to cover, then divides by contribution per completed job. Because debt principal and owner draw can be cash requirements rather than accounting expenses, treat the result as this tool’s monthly coverage scenario, not a formal accounting profit calculation.
Worked HVAC shop example
- Operating overhead: $15,000 per month.
- Debt payments and owner draw to cover: $3,000 per month.
- Average completed job revenue: $500.
- Average direct job cost: $250.
Monthly cost to cover is $18,000. Each average job contributes $250, so $18,000 ÷ $250 = 72 jobs per month. At $500 per job, those jobs produce $36,000 monthly revenue. These are example inputs, not an industry benchmark.
What if your job mix changes?
If direct job cost rises to $300 while average revenue remains $500, contribution falls to $200. The same $18,000 target then requires 90 jobs and $45,000 revenue. Compare a quiet month, a normal month and a busy month using your own completed-job records.
Keep costs in one place
Do not include the same cost in both overhead and direct job cost. If revenue is no higher than direct job cost, there is no positive contribution to cover fixed costs; increasing job volume alone cannot produce a finite break-even result under those inputs. Fractional job results should be rounded up when planning whole completed jobs.
Build the fixed-cost input with the HVAC overhead cost calculator. Check contribution with the HVAC job profit calculator. For the underlying fixed-cost/contribution method, see the SBA break-even explanation.