What does your pool route really cost?
Service fees only tell half the story. Enter your chemicals, travel, time and overhead to estimate what remains each month. The starting numbers are an example; replace them with your own.
How the estimate works
Monthly revenue = pools × monthly service fee. Monthly visits = pools × visits per pool. Chemical and vehicle costs scale with visits. Labor allowance = visits × (service minutes + drive minutes) ÷ 60 × hourly allowance. Other overhead is one monthly amount.
Remaining amount = revenue − chemicals − vehicle costs − labor allowance − overhead. Break-even fee = total entered costs ÷ pools. Fee at your target margin = total entered costs ÷ (1 − target margin) ÷ pools. A 20% margin uses 0.20 in this formula; margin is different from markup.
What to include in your numbers
- Use actual chemical purchase costs and average usage across seasons.
- Allow for fuel, vehicle wear and the distance from your first to last stop, including your return trip.
- For employees, include payroll burden in labor. For an owner, enter a value for your own time and distinguish that allowance from cash paid out.
- Add admin time, insurance, tools, software and other costs to overhead when they are not already included.
This is a scenario estimate before taxes, debt payments, major repairs and capital purchases. It includes only the costs you enter; missing costs will overstate what remains. It does not forecast guaranteed profit or savings, calculate chemical doses, or replace your actual business records.
Why a monthly average matters
Four visits every month represents 48 visits per year. Weekly service over 52 weeks averages about 4.33 each month. Use your actual service agreement and skip weeks when choosing the visit count. Changing currency or distance units only changes labels; enter matching amounts yourself.