Why is my real hourly rate lower than my job rate?

Because your job rate only covers paid service time. Your real hourly rate divides total net income (after all costs and taxes) by total time worked — including travel to jobs, loading and unloading supplies, admin, scheduling, and any waiting. A detailer charging $160 for a 2.5-hour job appears to earn $64/hour. But with 45 minutes of travel per job, $20 in supplies, vehicle costs, insurance, and taxes, the real hourly is typically $18–28 for a solo operator.

Can I deduct mileage for driving to customer jobs?

Yes — all miles driven for business purposes are deductible at the IRS standard mileage rate ($0.67/mile for 2024). This includes driving to a customer's location, driving between jobs, and driving to purchase supplies. You cannot deduct commuting from home to a fixed workplace, but mobile service businesses typically qualify because each customer location is a separate job site. Track every business mile with an app — this is often your largest deduction.

What insurance do I need for a mobile service business?

At minimum: general liability insurance ($300,000–$1M coverage) to protect against property damage or injury at customer sites. Depending on your service, you may also need commercial auto insurance (standard personal policies exclude business use) and tools and equipment coverage. Many providers bundle these into a Business Owner's Policy (BOP) for $100–200/month. Operating without liability insurance exposes you to financial ruin from a single incident.

How many jobs per week do I need to make this sustainable?

The break-even point depends on your fixed costs and job price. The calculator shows the exact number of jobs needed to cover all monthly fixed costs. Beyond that, every job adds pure profit. For most mobile service operators, 5–8 jobs per week covers costs and pays a livable income. 10–15 jobs per week starts to build real wealth. Above 20 jobs per week, most solo operators are approaching capacity and should consider hiring help.

⚡Side Hustle Profit

Mobile Service Business Profit Calculator

What is your real hourly rate running a mobile service?

What This Does

Mobile service businesses — car detailing, house cleaning, lawn care, handyman, pressure washing — look simple on paper: charge for labor, pay for supplies, keep the rest. The reality is that your apparent hourly rate is not your real hourly rate. Travel time adds unpaid hours to every job. Supplies, vehicle depreciation, tools, insurance, and marketing are real costs that compound. Self-employment tax adds another 15.3% on top of income tax. This calculator computes your true take-home hourly rate across all time spent, including unpaid travel and prep. It shows you exactly how much each job nets after every cost, where your biggest leaks are, and what happens to your income as you add or remove jobs. It models your business at different weekly volumes so you can see the break-even point — and how many jobs it actually takes to hit your income goal. Mobile service is one of the most accessible paths to self-employment. But the difference between a business that pays well and one that grinds you down for poverty wages often comes down to knowing your real numbers, pricing accordingly, and ruthlessly minimizing unpaid travel.

Assumptions

·IRS standard mileage rate applies to all business miles (to/from jobs and between jobs)
·Jobs per month = jobs per week × 4.33 weeks
·SE tax: 15.3% on 92.35% of net profit
·Total work hours include both service time and travel time per job

When Should You Use This?

→Deciding whether to start a mobile service business — see projected real hourly before investing in supplies
→Setting prices — find the minimum rate needed to cover costs and meet your income goals
→Comparing service types — model different job prices and volumes to see which pays better
→Evaluating adding an employee — see how much volume is needed to make hiring profitable
→Tax planning — estimate SE tax and track mileage deductions before quarterly tax payments

Example Scenario

Jordan does mobile car detailing, charging $160 per job and completing 9 jobs per week. Gross monthly revenue is $2,775. After supplies ($20/job × 39 jobs = $780), vehicle costs ($15 miles × $0.67/mi × 39 = $392), insurance ($150), tools ($50), and marketing ($100), monthly costs total $1,472. Net before tax is $1,303. After SE tax and income tax, Jordan keeps about $915/month. With 3 hours per job including travel, the real hourly rate is $17.60. Adding $20 to each job and cutting one mile of deadhead per job raises it to $22.50/hr.

🚐 Mobile Service Business Calculator

Real $/hr · P&L Breakdown · Volume Scenarios · Time Analysis

Results update in real time. Includes IRS mileage, SE tax, travel time cost, and break-even analysis.

🚐 Service Type & Revenue

Service Type

Average Job Price

Jobs per Week

jobs

Time per Job

hrs

Travel Time per Job

hrs

Drive + admin time (counted as unpaid)

💸 Variable Costs (per Job)

Supplies per Job

Miles per Job

Round-trip to/from job

IRS Mileage Rate

2024 IRS standard: $0.67/mile

📊 Fixed Monthly Costs

Insurance ($/mo)

Tools & Equipment ($/mo)

Marketing ($/mo)

Income Tax Rate %

SE tax (15.3%) auto-calculated

About This Calculator

This mobile service business calculator computes real hourly income from 12 inputs in real time via useEffect. Core formulas: jobsPerMonth = jobsPerWeek × 4.33. monthlyRevenue = avgJobPrice × jobsPerMonth. suppliesMonthly = suppliesPerJob × jobsPerMonth. vehicleCostMonthly = milesPerJob × ircPerMile × jobsPerMonth. totalCostsMonthly = supplies + vehicle + insurance + tools + marketing. grossProfitMonthly = revenue − costs. annualNet = grossProfit × 12. seTax = max(0, annualNet × 0.9235 × 0.153). incomeTax = max(0, (annualNet − seTax/2) × taxRate). netAfterTax = annualNet − seTax − incomeTax. laborHours = (jobDuration + travelTime) × jobsPerMonth. realHourly = (netAfterTax/12) / laborHours. breakEvenJobs = totalCostsMonthly / netPerJob.

P&L tab: donut PieChart (7 categories: net green, supplies orange, vehicle amber, insurance indigo, tools violet, marketing gray, tax red) with legend and P&L detail table. Volume tab: BarChart of monthly net income at 7 job volumes (2–20 jobs/week), break-even ReferenceLine at 0, current highlighted at full opacity, plus volume table with real $/hr color-coded. Time tab: horizontal BarChart (service hours green, travel hours amber) with route optimization callout card showing projected $/hr improvement from 35% travel reduction, plus 6-metric time analysis grid.

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Common Mistakes to Avoid

✕Treating travel time as free — deadhead miles eat profit twice: vehicle costs and your unpaid time
✕Underpricing to win jobs — pricing below true cost is worse than having no clients
✕Skipping insurance — one property damage claim can eliminate a year of profit
✕Not tracking mileage — IRS mileage deduction is your largest tax deduction and requires a log

Frequently Asked Questions

Read the Guide

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