Break Even Basics: Do you know how many clients you need to break even?

Kelly Uhler Guerrero
7 days ago
4 min read

Most cleaning and landscaping business owners work incredibly hard. You are out there every day, hustling to book jobs, schedule crews, manage supplies, and keep customers happy. But if you do not know your break-even point, you are flying blind.

And when you are guessing at your numbers, it becomes almost impossible to build lasting profitability.

Let’s fix that.

What Is a Break-Even Point and Why It Matters

Your break-even point is the exact moment your revenue covers your costs. It is the line where you stop losing money and start making it.

If you know this number, you can make smarter decisions about pricing, marketing, and scheduling. You will know exactly how many clients or jobs you need each month to stay afloat and what it takes to reach your profit goals on top of that.

Without it, you are just guessing.

A Simple Example

Imagine you run a cleaning company.

Your fixed costs such as rent, insurance, software, marketing, and admin total $4,000 per month.
You charge $150 per standard cleaning.
Each job costs you $50 in labor and supplies.

Your gross profit per cleaning is $100.

To cover your $4,000 in fixed costs, you need 40 cleanings per month just to break even. Every job after that becomes profit.

Now let’s look at a landscaping business.

Your fixed monthly costs are $6,000 for equipment payments, fuel, marketing, insurance, and admin.
You charge $300 per lawn care job.
Each job costs $120 in labor, fuel, and materials.

Your gross profit per job is $180.

That means you need 34 jobs per month to break even.

Once you know that number, the chaos becomes clear. You know what to aim for, when to push harder, and when to plan for growth.

Why Most Owners Do Not Know Their Break-Even Point

Here is the truth. Most small business owners do not know their numbers.

It is not because they are lazy or careless. It is because nobody ever taught them how to track costs and calculate margins. You started your business to serve customers, not to become an accountant.

But ignoring your numbers costs you real money every month.

Without knowing your break-even point:

You may underprice your services and wonder why there is never cash left over.
You may overwork yourself trying to “do more jobs” without realizing some are barely profitable.
You may hesitate to hire help because you are unsure if you can afford it.

Knowing your break-even point changes all of that.

How to Calculate Your Break-Even Point

Here is the simple formula:

Break-Even Point = Fixed Costs ÷ Gross Profit Per Job

List your fixed costs.These are the bills you pay no matter what: rent, insurance, admin salaries, software, phone, website, and so on.
Determine your average gross profit per job.Take your service price and subtract the variable costs that go directly into doing that job, such as labor, supplies, gas, and materials.
Do the math.Divide your fixed costs by your gross profit per job.

Example for cleaning:$4,000 ÷ $100 = 40 jobs per month to break even.

Example for landscaping:$6,000 ÷ $180 = 34 jobs per month to break even.

Once you know your break-even number, you can plan your entire business around it.

Using Your Break-Even Point to Plan Smarter

Knowing your break-even point is not just an accounting exercise. It is a decision-making tool.

Here is how you can use it:

1. Set realistic sales goals. You know exactly how many cleanings or lawn jobs you need per week to stay profitable.

2. Price with confidence. You can instantly see when your pricing is too low and what rate you should charge to protect your profit.

3. Make smart marketing choices.When you know your break-even point, you can decide how much you can safely spend on ads or flyers to bring in more clients.

4. Plan for growth.Adding a new crew or expanding into a new area becomes less stressful because you can calculate how much extra revenue is needed to cover your new fixed costs.

5. Manage your time.When you know what “enough” looks like, you can stop chasing every single lead and focus on higher-value clients instead.

The Freedom That Comes From Knowing Your Numbers

The biggest shift I see in my clients, especially in cleaning and landscaping businesses, happens when they finally understand their numbers. Instead of reacting to chaos each week, they start leading with clarity. They stop working sixty hours a week for mystery profits.They start making data-driven decisions.They grow their businesses with confidence.

When you know your break-even point, you do not just understand your business better. You take control of it.

Do Not Guess. Know.

If you do not know your break-even number yet, it is time to change that.

At Home Pro Coaching, I work with cleaning and landscaping business owners every day to help them:

Understand their numbers
Create real profitability plans
Build systems that scale

You do not have to keep guessing or stressing about whether you are making enough.

We will go through your costs, your pricing, and your goals and figure out your exact break-even point together so you can plan your growth with confidence.