Minimum Job Charge Calculator

Work out the least any job can pay from your own visits, crew hours, burden rate, travel and minimum materials, and the floor size below which your minimum applies.

What Is the Least a Job Can Pay

Find the floor under every quote: the charge below which a small job loses you money. Small coating jobs cost what they do because of trips, not square feet. Cure and recoat windows fix how many visits a system needs, and every visit costs a drive, a set up and a clean up whatever the size of the floor. Enter your visits, crew, hours and costs, and the tool returns your minimum charge, how much of the job is spent off the floor, and the floor size below which the minimum, not your area price, should set the quote.

Your numbers, not ours. Nothing here is pre-filled: wages, overhead, vehicle costs and margin are all yours. The Hourly Burden Rate and Vehicle Operating Cost calculators give you two of them.

The Smallest Job You Would Take

Count trips, not square feet. Cure and recoat windows decide how many there are.

Separate trips the system needs: prep and base coat on one day and a topcoat on the next is two.
People sent on each visit.
Round trip, to the site and back.
Loading, masking, setting up, cleaning tools and packing down: the time a visit costs before any floor gets coated.
Grinding, patching and coating, added up across every visit.

What It Costs You

Leave blank any line that does not apply; it counts as zero.

What one hour of one installer costs you, including payroll costs.
Your overhead per crew hour, from the Hourly Burden Rate Calculator. Every hour on a small job carries it too.
Your cost per mile times the round trip, from the Vehicle Operating Cost Calculator.
The smallest quantity you have to open, at cost. A tiny floor still uses whole kits.
Anything the job costs whatever its size: disposal, permits, consumables.
Your gross margin target. Leave blank to see the cost floor, the charge below which the job loses money.

Your Usual Price (optional)

Shows the floor size below which the minimum, not your area price, sets the quote.

Units
What you normally charge per ft² for this system on a full sized job.

Enter the visits, the crew size and a wage to see your minimum charge. A margin of 100% or more has no answer.

The result is your own cost floor, built only from the numbers you enter. It is not a market rate or a recommended price, and this site publishes neither. Check the visit count against the data sheets of the system you are quoting, because cure and recoat windows decide it.

How the Minimum Job Charge Calculator Works

  1. Enter the number of separate visits the system needs, and the crew size for each
  2. Enter the round trip drive time and the set up and clean up time for one visit
  3. Enter the hours actually spent working the floor across the whole job, per person
  4. Enter your wage and burden rate per crew hour, the vehicle cost of one trip, and the smallest quantity of material you have to open
  5. Add your target margin, and optionally your usual price per ft² or m² to see where the minimum takes over

Examples

ScenarioA small two visit job at a 35% margin (illustration figures, not market rates)Input2 visits · crew of 2 · 1.5 hr drive and 2 hr set up per visit · 6 hr on the floor · $30.00 wage + $20.00 burden per hour · $35.00 per trip · $400.00 materials · 35% marginResult$1,770.00 of cost, so charge at least $2,723.08. 54% of each person's hours are off the floor
ScenarioThe same job done in one visitInputAs above, with 1 visitResultMinimum charge falls to $2,130.77, a saving of $592.31 from one fewer trip
ScenarioWhere the minimum takes over, at an illustrative $5.00 per ft²Input$2,723.08 minimum · $5.00 per ft²ResultFloors under about 545 ft² are priced by the minimum. With no margin the cost floor alone is $1,770.00

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a minimum job charge?

The least you will accept for any job, however small the floor. Below a certain size, your usual price per square foot does not cover the fixed cost of turning up: the drives, the set ups and clean ups, the material you have to open whole, and the overhead those hours carry. The minimum charge is that fixed cost plus your margin, and it replaces the area price on any floor too small to reach it.

Why does the calculator count visits instead of square feet?

Because on a small coating job the visits are the cost. A system that needs a prep and base coat day and a topcoat day needs two trips whether the floor is 100 ft² or 1,000 ft², because cure and recoat windows set the timing, not the area. Each trip is a round trip drive, a set up and a clean up for the whole crew. On a small floor that time can be more than half of the job, and the result shows you exactly how much.

Why is nothing pre-filled?

Because every input is a fact about your business. Wages, overhead, vehicle costs, material and margin differ between contractors and between regions, and this site does not publish market rates it cannot defend. The Hourly Burden Rate Calculator and the Vehicle Operating Cost Calculator give you two of the inputs from your own figures. The example on this page uses round illustration numbers to show the method, and is labeled that way.

Should I quote the minimum or my area price on a small floor?

Whichever is higher. Price the floor the normal way first, then compare it with your minimum. If you add your usual price per ft² or m² the calculator shows the floor size where the two meet: below it, the minimum sets the quote. Above it, the area price covers the fixed cost on its own.

Can I lower my minimum?

Only by lowering the cost behind it, not by discounting it. The levers are the ones the result breaks out: fewer visits (a faster curing system, or combining coats where the data sheet allows it), less set up and clean up time, a smaller material minimum, or fitting the small job around a larger one nearby so the drive is shared. Charging less than the minimum means the job is paid for by your other customers.

Important Notes

  • Nothing is seeded. Every currency field, the hours and the margin are your own inputs.
  • Labor and overhead are charged on every crew hour, including driving and setting up, because those hours are paid and they carry your overhead like any other.
  • Leave the margin blank to see the cost floor: the charge below which the job loses money.
  • The visit count comes from the system and the data sheets, not from the floor size. Check it against the recoat windows of the products you are quoting.
  • The result is your own cost floor, not a market rate or a recommended price.
Hourly Burden Rate CalculatorYour overhead per crew hour, which every hour of a small job carries too.Vehicle Operating Cost CalculatorYour true cost per mile, for the vehicle cost of each trip.Profit Margin CalculatorCheck the margin you put on top of the cost floor.
How to Set a Minimum Job ChargeA small floor costs what it does because of the trips, not the square feet. Build your minimum from what it costs to turn up, and let it set the price on any floor too small to cover it.How to Bake Your Overheads Into Every Epoxy QuoteInsurance, software, licensing, and bookkeeping run whether you are working or not. Spread them across your days, jobs, and square footage so every quote actually covers them.How to Price an Epoxy Flooring Job for a Real Profit MarginMargin and markup are never the same number for the same job. Here is how to turn a job cost into a sell price that actually protects your target margin.