Is this job worth rolling the van for? Free, no signup.
Presets are common starting points, not quotes. Adjust every number to your market.
Vehicle cost covers fuel, wear, and insurance per mile. Edit it to match your van.
Quote stays fixed once you say the price. Extra on-site minutes come out of your pocket.
| Extra time | Profit | Your $/hr |
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Start by tapping one of the five job-type presets: Home lockout, Car lockout, Rekey visit, Deadbolt install, or Car key program. These are editable starting points, not quotes. Each preset fills in the service call fee, on-site minutes, parts cost, and parts markup with common values you can change freely. Then work through the "What you charge" card: your service call fee, estimated on-site labor in minutes, your target hourly rate (default $100/hr), parts cost, and markup percentage. Tick the after-hours checkbox if it is an emergency call to add your flat after-hours premium, and set your minimum charge, which the tool uses as a floor for the final quote. In the "What the job costs you" card, enter round-trip drive minutes and miles plus your vehicle cost per mile (default $0.70). The tool instantly shows a quote breakdown with the customer total, then a "Worth rolling?" verdict based on true profit and your effective hourly rate across all committed time. A sensitivity table shows how profit and your effective rate change if the job runs 15, 30, or 45 minutes long.
Example only, not typical earnings. Using the default Home lockout preset: service call fee $65, on-site labor 20 minutes at a $100/hr target rate, which is (20/60) x $100 = $33.33, and $0 in parts. The subtotal is $65 + $33.33 = $98.33, which is above the $85 minimum charge, so the customer quote is $98.33. True cost is drive time plus on-site time, (30 + 20)/60 x $100 = $83.33, plus 18 miles x $0.70/mile = $12.60 in vehicle cost, plus $0 parts, for a total of $95.93. True profit is $98.33 - $95.93 = $2.40. Effective rate is ($98.33 - $0 parts - $12.60 vehicle) divided by 50/60 hours = $85.73 / 0.833 = $102.88/hr. Since profit is not negative and $102.88 beats the $100/hr target, the verdict is WORTH ROLLING. If the same job runs 15 minutes long, the quote stays $98.33 but true cost rises to $120.93, so profit flips to -$22.60 and the effective rate drops to $79.14/hr.
What does the tool count as my true cost on a job?
Your true cost is the parts cost at what you pay for them, the vehicle cost (round-trip miles times your per-mile figure), and the time cost, which is on-site minutes plus drive minutes valued at your target hourly rate. The tool subtracts that true cost from the customer quote to show your real profit, so a job that looks fine at first glance can reveal itself as a money loser once the drive is counted.
What is the difference between my target rate and the effective rate?
Your target rate is the hourly number you enter as your goal (the default starting point is $100/hr). The effective rate is what the job actually pays you per hour across all committed time: the quote minus parts and vehicle cost, divided by on-site plus drive hours. The verdict compares the two, so WORTH ROLLING means the job beat your goal and UNDERPRICED means the drive ate your margin.
How does the minimum charge work?
The tool adds the service call fee, labor, parts plus markup, and any after-hours premium into a subtotal, then compares it with the minimum charge you set (default $85). If the subtotal is lower, the customer quote is raised to your minimum and the tool notes "Raised to your minimum charge." If it is already above the minimum, you see "Above your minimum charge."
Why does the "If the job runs long" table matter?
Once you tell the customer a price, the quote is fixed. Extra on-site minutes add time cost at your target rate but no extra revenue, so every overrun minute comes straight out of your pocket. The table shows true profit and your effective hourly rate if the job runs 15, 30, or 45 minutes past the quoted time, which helps you pad time estimates on jobs that tend to surprise you.
Do my numbers get sent anywhere, and is this financial advice?
The page is built so your numbers never leave your device, and everything shown is an estimate for planning only. It is not tax, legal, or financial advice: your market prices, licensing rules, and insurance costs vary, so treat the verdicts as a starting point for your own judgment, not a directive.