How to use the car detailing profit calculator
- Replace the example services with your menu: price, product cost per job, hands-on hours and jobs per week.
- Enter your labour cost per hour (or 0 to see owner earnings) and fixed monthly overhead.
- Turn on mobile detailing and enter a travel cost per job if you drive to customers.
- Review monthly revenue, gross profit, net profit, break-even jobs and profit per hour.
- Check the per-service table to see which services earn the most per hour.
Worked example
Wash $80 (10/week) and full detail $250 (3/week), mobile
At $25 per hour labour and $10 travel per job, a wash contributes $80 − $8 − $37.50 − $10 = $24.50 and a full detail $250 − $25 − $100 − $10 = $115. Weekly contribution $590 × 52 ÷ 12 = $2,556.67 per month from $6,716.67 revenue. After $2,000 overhead, net profit is $556.67 per month. Break-even is 44.1 jobs a month at this mix. All prices and costs are examples.
How it works
Jobs per month = jobs per week × 52 ÷ 12. Contribution per job = price − product cost − hours × labour rate − travel (mobile only). Gross profit = Σ contribution × jobs. Net profit = gross profit − fixed overhead. Break-even jobs = overhead ÷ average contribution per job at your current mix. Profit per hour = net profit ÷ hands-on hours.
Assumptions
- Service prices, product costs, hours and weekly volumes are yours; starting rows are examples.
- Labour cost, travel cost and overhead are your own figures.
- The service mix stays constant when computing break-even.
- No tax is modelled.
Frequently asked questions
Should I include my own time as labour?
Enter 0 to see what the business leaves you as the owner, or enter a wage to see true profit after paying yourself.
What goes in overhead?
Costs you pay regardless of job count: insurance, van or rent, equipment finance, software, phone, marketing and accounting.
Why does profit per hour look low?
It is net of every cost including overhead, spread over hands-on hours only. Travel and admin time are not counted as worked hours here, so your real hourly earnings are lower still.
Limitations
- Does not model seasonality, staff utilisation or equipment depreciation.
- Travel time is not counted in hours unless you include it in service hours.