Personal Care Assistance Break-Even Analysis: ~$80K/Month

Fixed costs $33.4K/mo Fixed base

Contribution margin 89% After variable costs

Break-even revenue $37.5K/mo Monthly target

Break-even timing Month 7 Model breakeven

Break-even calculator

Use this calculator to test monthly revenue, variable expenses, and fixed costs against break-even for personal care assistance.

Lean Base Full

Monthly revenue Revenue is the monthly client billings you use to cover costs. $ Low sales High sales Variable expenses These rise with volume, like referral spend, travel, and client supplies. $ Lean spend Heavy spend

Money available to cover fixed costs $188,640 $209,600 revenue - $20,960 variable expenses

Margin ratio

90%

Covers fixed costs

Yes

Fixed monthly costs This is the monthly overhead and payroll base your margin has to cover. $ Low overhead High overhead

Break-even chart Revenue Total costs

Which personal care assistance expenses are fixed, and which move with sales?

Cost classification

Break-even gets unreliable when caregiver hours, mileage, software usage, and hiring steps sit in the wrong bucket. The key is matching each expense to what actually drives it: time billed, revenue, caseload, or a monthly commitment.

Expense	Cost	Break-Even Treatment	Common Mistake
Caregiver billable wages	Variable	Treat scheduled caregiver pay as direct labor tied to billable service hours and customer volume.	Modeling caregiver payroll as fully fixed, which hides utilization risk.
CEO/Founder, Operations Manager, Care Coordinators, and Administrative Assistant payroll	Fixed	Include salaried office and management payroll as monthly overhead within the current staffing plan.	Pushing admin payroll into direct service delivery and overstating gross margin.
Office Rent	Fixed	Use the recurring $2,500 monthly rent as fixed overhead from Month 1 through Month 60.	Spreading rent across clients and making break-even look easier at low volume.
Utilities, General Business Insurance, Professional Services, and IT Infrastructure	Fixed	Group the $400 utilities, $300 insurance, $1,000 professional services, and $800 IT as stable monthly overhead.	Treating these base charges as if they fall when sales dip.
Caregiver Travel Reimbursements	Variable	Model as revenue-linked mileage expense, starting at 2.0% of revenue in the first year.	Burying mileage in payroll and missing route density problems.
Client Portal Software Fees	Variable	Model usage-linked portal fees as 1.5% of revenue in the first year, declining as scale improves.	Putting all software into fixed overhead and understating service volume drag.
Caregiver Background Checks	Variable	Treat background checks as hiring-linked expense, starting at 1.0% of revenue in the first year.	Parking recruiting checks in general HR and missing caregiver churn pressure.
Care Coordinator hiring as caseload rises	Semi-fixed	Add coordinator payroll in steps as active client volume requires more scheduling and support capacity.	Assuming one coordinator can absorb unlimited new clients without service failure.

How do lean, base, and full staffing plans change break-even in personal care assistance?

Scenario table

CM means contribution margin, or the share left after variable costs. As staffing and billable hours rise, fixed payroll also rises, so break-even needs more revenue even when the margin stays healthy.

Planning cases only; these figures are model assumptions, not guarantees.

Scenario	Monthly Revenue	Variable Costs	Fixed Costs	CM Ratio	Operating Profit	Break-Even Signal
Lean break-even plan	$66.8k	$35.4k	$31.3k	46.9%	$0	At this load, revenue just covers fixed overhead.
Base Year 1 operating plan	$99.0k	$10.9k	$83.4k	89.0%	$4.7k	Thin cushion; one weak month can erase profit.
Full Year 2 scale plan	$230.5k	$24.0k	$142.6k	89.6%	$63.9k	Strong cushion, but more payroll raises fill-risk.

What pushes this personal care business off break-even?

Stress test

Break-even sits near $801k, so this plan has little cushion. A 10% revenue miss, a 15% fixed-cost jump, or margin pressure can move it off target fast.

Stress Case	Changed Assumption	Break-Even Revenue	Revenue Gap	Risk Signal
Current plan	Base case uses $376k fixed monthly costs and 469% contribution margin.	$801k	$0 gap	The plan breaks even, but there is no cushion.
Revenue shortfall	Revenue falls 10% from the base case.	$801k	$38k gap	Client cancellations can pull revenue below break-even.
Fixed-cost pressure	Fixed costs rise 15% above the base case.	$920k	$119k gap	Rent, admin, or software creep lifts the floor fast.
Margin pressure	Variable-expense pressure rises from 110% to 140%.	$856k	$55k gap	Open caregiver shifts, overtime, and mileage cut the margin.
Combined pressure	Revenue falls 10%, fixed costs rise 15%, and margin pressure worsens.	$916k	$115k gap	Multiple small misses can turn into a cash crunch.

Is this care business ready to hire and lease before break-even?

Founder checklist

Don’t sign the lease or hire ahead of demand until referrals, pricing, and staffing can hold the Month 7 break-even path. The key checks are the $1,370 monthly revenue per customer, 40 billable hours per active customer, and the $662K cash cushion.

1Caregiver Ramp20 FTE

Do not hire to the Year 1 caregiver level until referrals can keep 20 caregiver FTE busy and the background-check and service-area scheduling flow is live, or idle labor will hit break-even.

2Billable Load40 hrs/mo

Verify each active customer can sustain 40 billable hours a month, since weaker schedules cut monthly revenue fast.

3Revenue Mix$1,370/mo

Test the Year 1 service mix to make sure each customer averages about $1,370 in monthly revenue, or payroll will outrun sales.

4Office Overhead$5.5K/mo

Keep recurring office and admin costs near the modeled $5.5K a month before signing the lease, because the plan does not clear break-even until Month 7.

5Cash Cushion$662K

Hold the modeled $662K minimum cash through Month 7, since that is the low point before EBITDA turns positive.

6Launch Spend$50K/yr

Use the $50K Year 1 marketing budget only if it turns into booked hours by service area, or the launch spend will not feed the break-even path.