Break-even calculator for equipment and service businesses
How many hours, jobs or rentals you need each month to cover your fixed costs, and the revenue that takes, from your price and the variable cost of each one.
Your numbers
See your resultResult
Break-even per month 89hours, jobs or rentals Revenue to break even $13,333 Contribution per unit $90.00price − variable cost Profit at 120 a month $2,800 Stop working this out by handIn FleetZap, labor, parts and outside vendor costs from every work order roll up to each machine, so the costs behind your break-even are real.
See FleetZap Maintenance · Try the demoThe formula
Break-even = Fixed costs ÷ (Price − Variable cost per unit)
Each hour, job or rental first pays its own variable cost; what’s left goes toward fixed costs. With the example: $8,000 ÷ ($150 − $60) = 88.9, so 89 a month, about $13,330 of revenue. At 120 a month that leaves $2,800 of profit. The cost per hour guide covers what goes into the fixed side for a machine.
Using the numberWhat to do with it
- For a single machine, the break-even hours tell you whether it earns its keep or should be rented instead.
- Lowering fixed costs and raising utilization both move the break-even; price is only one lever.
- Recheck it when a loan, insurance or a lease changes.
Guides behind this calculator
Heavy equipment cost per hour Setting equipment rental rates Equipment lifecycle costMore free calculators
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The heart of FleetZap, and everything a maintenance team needs in one place: work orders and preventive maintenance, inspections and the field app, plus a parts store with purchasing, compliance and certificate tracking, multi-location assets with a full lifecycle, and the KPIs that prove it’s working.
- Work orders
- Preventive maintenance
- Procedures, inspections & field app
- Parts & purchasing
- Compliance
- Assets, reports & KPIs
Good to know
How do you calculate break-even?Break-even units = fixed costs ÷ (price − variable cost per unit). $8,000 a month at $150 a job with $60 of variable cost is 89 jobs.
What counts as fixed and variable cost?Fixed costs stay the same each month (loan payments, insurance, rent, salaries); variable costs come with each job or hour (fuel, wear parts, per-job labor).
How do I lower my break-even?Cut fixed costs, raise the price, lower the variable cost per job, or all three.
See FleetZap on your own fleet
Book a 20-minute walkthrough, or poke around the live demo company right now.
- Set up with you, on your machines
- Works fully by hand, GPS optional
- Live demo, no sign-up