{
  "$schema": "https://soudcoh.com/tools/data/index.json",
  "slug": "cost-per-booked-job-calculator",
  "name": "True cost per booked job",
  "category": "Cost per lead",
  "url": "https://soudcoh.com/tools/cost-per-booked-job-calculator",
  "dataUrl": "https://soudcoh.com/tools/data/cost-per-booked-job-calculator.json",
  "currency": "AUD",
  "updated": "2026-08",
  "summary": "Add management fees, tracking and tools to media spend, divide by booked jobs rather than leads, and see what acquisition really costs and what margin survives it.",
  "whatItDoes": [
    "Adds every recurring cost of running the marketing — media, management, tools, tracking — into one monthly figure.",
    "Divides it by booked jobs rather than leads, which is usually two to four times the number people carry in their heads.",
    "Subtracts it from the gross profit on the job so you can see what is actually left."
  ],
  "howToUse": [
    "Enter your media spend, then everything else you pay monthly to make it work: agency or freelancer fees, call tracking, CRM, landing page hosting.",
    "Enter the enquiries and the share that became paid work. The lead-to-job calculator produces both if you do not have them.",
    "If the costs you entered include GST, switch that on so the comparison against revenue is like for like.",
    "Read the profit per job after acquisition. That, not cost per lead, is the number to take to a decision."
  ],
  "formula": [
    "Total marketing cost = media + management + tools",
    "Jobs = leads × lead-to-job rate",
    "Cost per booked job = total marketing cost ÷ jobs",
    "Profit per job after acquisition = (job value × gross margin) − cost per booked job"
  ],
  "interpret": [
    "If the profit after acquisition is negative, the business is buying work at a loss on the first job. That is only survivable if customers return, and that has to be measured rather than assumed.",
    "Watch the ratio of media to non-media costs. A $600 fee on $1,000 of media is a different business decision from the same fee on $20,000.",
    "Compare cost per booked job across months rather than against anyone else. There is no published figure for it in any trade, in any market."
  ],
  "limitation": "This counts recurring costs only. Setup work — building the account, the landing page, the tracking — is real money and is spread across however long the arrangement lasts, which this tool does not attempt to amortise. It also credits every job to advertising, so a business with strong word of mouth will see a cost per job that is too high.",
  "inputs": [
    {
      "key": "media",
      "label": "Media spend a month",
      "kind": "currency",
      "default": 3000,
      "min": 0,
      "max": 5000000,
      "unit": "AUD",
      "help": "What goes to Google, Meta or wherever else the ads run.",
      "sourceId": null,
      "sourceNote": null,
      "options": null
    },
    {
      "key": "management",
      "label": "Management fee a month",
      "kind": "currency",
      "default": 1200,
      "min": 0,
      "max": 500000,
      "unit": "AUD",
      "help": "Agency, freelancer or the value of your own time if you run it yourself.",
      "sourceId": null,
      "sourceNote": null,
      "options": null
    },
    {
      "key": "tools",
      "label": "Tools and tracking a month",
      "kind": "currency",
      "default": 180,
      "min": 0,
      "max": 200000,
      "unit": "AUD",
      "help": "Call tracking, CRM, landing page hosting, reporting.",
      "sourceId": null,
      "sourceNote": null,
      "options": null
    },
    {
      "key": "gstIncluded",
      "label": "Those figures include GST",
      "kind": "select",
      "default": 0,
      "min": 0,
      "max": 1,
      "unit": "count",
      "help": "Only affects whether costs are divided by 1.1 before comparison. It gives no advice about input tax credits — ask your accountant about those.",
      "sourceId": "ato-gst",
      "sourceNote": "GST is 10% of the price of most goods and services sold in Australia.",
      "options": [
        {
          "label": "No — they are ex-GST",
          "value": 0
        },
        {
          "label": "Yes — strip GST so it matches ex-GST revenue",
          "value": 1
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "key": "leads",
      "label": "Enquiries a month",
      "kind": "number",
      "default": 40,
      "min": 1,
      "max": 1000000,
      "unit": "count",
      "help": "Everything the advertising produced.",
      "sourceId": null,
      "sourceNote": null,
      "options": null
    },
    {
      "key": "closeRate",
      "label": "Enquiries that become paid work",
      "kind": "percent",
      "default": 30,
      "min": 0.1,
      "max": 100,
      "unit": "percent",
      "help": "From your job book.",
      "sourceId": null,
      "sourceNote": null,
      "options": null
    },
    {
      "key": "jobValue",
      "label": "Average job value",
      "kind": "currency",
      "default": 1200,
      "min": 1,
      "max": 10000000,
      "unit": "AUD",
      "help": "Average invoice excluding GST.",
      "sourceId": null,
      "sourceNote": null,
      "options": null
    },
    {
      "key": "margin",
      "label": "Gross margin",
      "kind": "percent",
      "default": 40,
      "min": 1,
      "max": 100,
      "unit": "percent",
      "help": "After labour and materials, before overheads.",
      "sourceId": null,
      "sourceNote": null,
      "options": null
    }
  ],
  "defaults": {
    "media": 3000,
    "management": 1200,
    "tools": 180,
    "gstIncluded": 0,
    "leads": 40,
    "closeRate": 30,
    "jobValue": 1200,
    "margin": 40
  },
  "exampleResult": {
    "headline": {
      "label": "Cost per booked job",
      "value": "$365.00",
      "note": "$4,380 a month ÷ 12 jobs"
    },
    "outputs": [
      {
        "label": "Total marketing cost",
        "value": "$4,380",
        "note": "As entered, ex-GST"
      },
      {
        "label": "All-in cost per enquiry",
        "value": "$109.50",
        "note": "Media alone is $75.00"
      },
      {
        "label": "Gross profit per job",
        "value": "$480.00",
        "note": "40% of $1,200.00"
      },
      {
        "label": "Left after acquisition",
        "value": "$115.00",
        "note": "Before rent, vehicles and admin"
      },
      {
        "label": "Marketing as a share of revenue",
        "value": "30.4%",
        "note": "$14,400 of revenue a month"
      }
    ],
    "workings": [
      {
        "label": "Total marketing cost",
        "expression": "$3,000.00 + $1,200.00 + $180.00 = $4,380"
      },
      {
        "label": "Jobs",
        "expression": "40 × 30% = 12"
      },
      {
        "label": "Cost per booked job",
        "expression": "$4,380 ÷ 12 = $365.00"
      },
      {
        "label": "Gross profit per job",
        "expression": "$1,200.00 × 40% = $480.00"
      },
      {
        "label": "Left after acquisition",
        "expression": "$480.00 − $365.00 = $115.00"
      }
    ]
  },
  "shareableExample": "https://soudcoh.com/tools/cost-per-booked-job-calculator?media=3000&management=1200&tools=180",
  "faqs": [
    {
      "question": "What is the difference between cost per lead and cost per booked job?",
      "answer": "Cost per lead divides media spend by enquiries. Cost per booked job divides everything you pay — media, management fee, call tracking, CRM — by the enquiries that actually became work. At a 30% close rate and a $1,200 management fee on $3,000 of media, a $75 cost per lead becomes a $350 cost per booked job. Both are true; only the second one belongs next to your margin."
    },
    {
      "question": "Should I include my own time if I run the ads myself?",
      "answer": "Yes, at whatever you would have earned doing something else with those hours. Leaving it out makes running it yourself look free, and it is the most expensive option in most trade businesses because the hours come out of quoting or out of the evening. Put a number on it even if it is a rough one."
    },
    {
      "question": "Is there a benchmark for cost per booked job?",
      "answer": "No. Not for plumbing, electrical, cleaning, roofing or anything else, in Australia or anywhere else, from any source with a published method. What we can offer is our own book: across 34 Australian accounts we run, published cost per ENQUIRY sits between $8.91 and $220.59. Multiplying that by your own close rate gets you closer to a cost per job than any benchmark you will find quoted."
    },
    {
      "question": "What does the GST switch actually do?",
      "answer": "It divides the cost figures by 1.1 so they sit on the same basis as revenue you have entered excluding GST. That is all. It makes no claim about whether you can claim GST back on those costs — that depends on your registration and your circumstances, and it is a question for your accountant rather than a calculator."
    },
    {
      "question": "My cost per job is higher than my gross profit. What now?",
      "answer": "Check the close rate first, because it is the largest multiplier in the calculation and the number most often guessed. Then look at the split between media and everything else: a fixed fee on a small media budget produces a high cost per job even when the advertising is working perfectly. Cutting media spend in that situation makes the ratio worse, not better."
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "ato-gst",
      "label": "Australian Taxation Office, GST",
      "publisher": "Australian Taxation Office",
      "year": "2026",
      "market": "AU",
      "method": "GST is 10% of the price of most goods and services sold in Australia.",
      "confidence": "high",
      "caution": null,
      "url": "https://www.ato.gov.au/businesses-and-organisations/gst-excise-and-indirect-taxes/gst"
    }
  ],
  "relatedTools": [
    "https://soudcoh.com/tools/cost-per-lead-calculator",
    "https://soudcoh.com/tools/break-even-roas-calculator",
    "https://soudcoh.com/tools/lead-to-job-calculator"
  ],
  "licence": {
    "terms": "Free to reuse with attribution to SoudCoh and a link to the page it came from. Third-party figures remain the property of the publisher named on each row and must keep their market and year attached.",
    "attribution": "SoudCoh — https://soudcoh.com/tools"
  }
}