How Much Does a Chimney Sweep Business Owner Make With a $70k Salary?
A chimney sweep business owner can make the modeled $70,000 salary, but extra take-home depends on profit and cash In this plan, the business shows EBITDA of -$76k in Year 1 and -$30k in Year 2, so early owner pay is funded before the company is truly profitable The model reaches breakeven in Month 22, then improves to $23k EBITDA in Year 3, $131k in Year 4, and $292k in Year 5 These are researched planning assumptions, not salary guarantees or tax advice
Owner income$70kNet margin30%Revenue for target pay≈$983kBusiness difficultyHard
Which six drivers move chimney sweep owner income most?
1
Completed Jobs
$368K
More finished visits move EBITDA from -$76K in Year 1 to $292K in Year 5 and pull payback to Month 22.
2
Average Ticket
$180-$600
Year 1 cleaning is about $180 and repairs about $600, so ticket mix sets revenue per stop.
3
Tech Productivity
1.5-4h
Cleaning takes 1.5 hours and repairs 4.0, so tighter dispatch lets each tech finish more billable work.
4
Route Density
7%-6%
Fuel and maintenance run 7.0% in Year 1, so denser routes protect margin and free cash.
5
Overhead Control
$2.9K/mo
Fixed overhead is about $2,900 a month before payroll, so cost control drops straight to owner take-home.
6
Repeat Customers
10%-48%
Maintenance packages rise from 10.0% to 48.0%, which steadies repeat work and eases customer acquisition cost pressure.
Want to test your own owner income case?
Owner income calculator
Estimate owner take-home and the target-pay gap from monthly revenue, gross margin, labor, overhead, reserves, and target pay.
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Planning note: This is a researched planning estimate only, not guaranteed salary, tax advice, or owner distribution advice. The model reaches breakeven in Month 22 and shows a minimum cash need of about $618k.
Want to check owner income in the Chimney Sweep Service model?
Can a solo chimney sweep owner make more than an owner with technicians?
Yes—a solo owner can make more per job in Chimney Sweep Service, but a technician-led shop can make more total profit if routes stay full. In the supplied plan, staffing grows from 1 FTE in Year 1 to 5 FTE in Year 5, and EBITDA rises from -$76k to $292k, so capacity and route density decide the winner.
Solo owner upside
Keeps more margin per job
Avoids a $50k salary
Hits a fast job cap
Raises safety and scheduling strain
Technician team tradeoff
Lower margin per job first
Can lift total EBITDA
Payroll and insurance add cost
Callbacks and route density matter
What is the profit margin for a chimney sweep business?
A Chimney Sweep Service starts with weak profit margin, and EBITDA is negative in Years 1 and 2; the startup-cost view in How Much Does It Cost To Open, Start, And Launch Your Chimney Sweep Service Business? explains why. Using the figures provided, Year 1 direct materials are 130% of revenue, so gross margin before labor is about 870%; fuel and digital ads add 120%, taking contribution margin to about 750%.
By Year 5, contribution margin improves to about 805% as supplies, consumables, fuel, and ads fall as a share of revenue, and EBITDA reaches $23k, $131k, and $292k in Years 3 to 5, but callbacks, drive time, insurance, weak scheduling, and the $2,900/month fixed overhead plus payroll still matter, while owner income sits below EBITDA.
Margin stack
Year 1 materials: 130% of revenue
Gross margin before labor: about 870%
Fuel and ads add 120%
Contribution margin: about 750%, then 805%
Profit blockers
$2,900/month fixed overhead
Payroll sits on top of overhead
EBITDA negative in Years 1 and 2
Callbacks and drive time cut margin fast
How much revenue does a chimney sweep need to pay the owner?
A Chimney Sweep Service needs about $249k in annual revenue to pay a $70k owner salary while covering direct costs, payroll, fixed overhead, and marketing before taxes and debt. Here’s the quick math: $186.8k / 75.0% contribution margin = $249.1k, and this pay target ties directly to What Is The Most Critical Measure Of Success For Chimney Sweep Service?.
Revenue Target
Target revenue: $249.1k/year
Monthly revenue: $20.8k/month
Covered payroll: $140k/year
Overhead and marketing: $46.8k/year
Pay Cushion
Model break-even: Month 22
Fund early owner draws
Each $10k cost needs $13.3k revenue
Taxes and debt are excluded
Key Takeaways
Completed jobs drive revenue faster than leads do.
Full crews and dense routes protect gross profit.
Repeat maintenance cuts acquisition cost and fills slow months.
Overhead, insurance, and reserves need strict control.
Compare lean, base, and high owner-income cases without treating them as salaries
Owner income scenario table
Owner income depends on job volume, service mix, and staffing. The model loses money in Years 1-2, breaks even in Month 22, and turns profitable in Year 3.
Low, base, and high cases show when the owner can pay themselves from a chimney sweep service.
Scenario
Low CaseSolo ramp
Base CaseStaffed base
High CaseRoute-dense growth
Launch model
Slow job volume keeps earnings under pressure and leaves little room beyond owner pay.
The modeled case reaches breakeven in Month 22 and turns EBITDA positive in Year 3.
Stronger utilization and a richer service mix push EBITDA to $131k in Year 4 and $292k in Year 5.
Typical setup
One van, Year 1 pricing, and the $2,900 monthly fixed overhead keep cash tight while the owner stays on the route.
The plan runs with one owner/operator, one certified technician at 1.0 FTE in Year 1, 0.5 FTE admin, and marketing starting in Month 13.
The team expands to 5.0 certified technician FTE by Year 5, with admin, marketing, and operations support behind a denser route book.
Cost drivers
slow job volume
Year 1 pricing
$2,900 monthly fixed overhead
$70k owner salary
Month 22 breakeven
Year 1 EBITDA -$76k
Year 2 EBITDA -$30k
Year 3 EBITDA $23k
$2,900 monthly fixed overhead
more technician FTE
higher repair and maintenance mix
emergency service share
higher hourly rates
larger marketing budget
Owner income rangeBefore owner reserves
Salary onlyLow case income
$70k-$93kBase case income
$201k-$362kHigh case income
Best fit
Use this to stress test a thin-demand launch with weak cash flow.
Use this as the working model for budgeting, hiring, and cash timing.
Use this to test owner pay upside once the route is dense and the crew is fully staffed.
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Planning note: Scenario ranges are researched planning assumptions, not guaranteed earnings, salary promises, tax advice, or distributions.
Chimney Sweep Service Core Six Income Drivers
Completed Jobs And Seasonal Demand
Completed Jobs And Seasonal Demand
For a chimney sweep service, income starts with completed jobs, not leads. A packed calendar only pays when the crew finishes the clean, inspection, repair, maintenance, or emergency call, and missed appointments or weather gaps cut annual revenue before margin math starts. One clean or inspection job uses 15 billable hours; repairs use 40; maintenance uses 10; emergency service uses 20.
Seasonality matters because busy months must fund slow months and payroll. The fastest revenue lift comes from more finished work when contribution margin is near the disclosed 750% to 805% range, so every extra completed job has a big cash effect on owner pay. If the crew is booked but not finishing jobs, revenue, profit, and cash all fall at the same time.
Track Finish Rate And Service Weeks
Watch completed jobs per week, service weeks, cancellation rate, and technician utilization. These four numbers show whether booked demand is turning into paid work, or whether weather, travel, and no-shows are eating the schedule. One clean one-liner: if the truck is moving but the invoice isn’t sent, the owner isn’t earning.
Build the forecast from completed work, not leads. Keep enough crew capacity for peak months, then use maintenance and emergency work to fill weak weeks. If cancellations rise or drive time stretches the day, completed jobs drop fast and the owner’s take-home shrinks even when demand looks strong on paper.
Use completed jobs as the core KPI
Split demand by season and service type
Review no-shows every week
Protect peak months with backup capacity
Average Ticket And Service Mix
Average Ticket and Service Mix
Average ticket is the dollars collected per completed job, and service mix is the share of cleaning, inspection, repair, maintenance, and emergency work. In this model, Year 1 tickets are $180 for cleaning and inspection, $600 for repair, $100 for maintenance, and $400 for emergency work. Higher tickets lift revenue only if the crew can do the work safely and on time.
By Year 5, those tickets rise to $210, $680, $120, and $440. That is a 16.7%, 13.3%, 20%, and 10% lift, respectively. The owner sees better take-home only when the mix shifts toward work that adds margin, not just workload. More repair and maintenance dollars can help, but they also need more skill, parts control, and staffing.
Track Revenue Per Visit
Measure revenue by service line, not just total jobs. Track completed jobs, average ticket, labor hours per job, and the share of repairs and maintenance in each route. If inspections lead to caps, minor repairs, and maintenance reminders, the average visit value rises and cash flow gets steadier. One clean rule: more dollars per truck roll usually beats more truck rolls.
Test whether higher-ticket work actually clears margin after parts, labor, and callbacks. If repairs are growing, make sure pricing covers extra time and that the schedule has enough certified staff. When jobs get more complex without support, gross margin slips and owner pay gets squeezed even if revenue looks better on paper.
Repeat Customers And Property Accounts
Repeat Customers And Property Accounts
Repeat work is cheaper work. For this chimney sweep business, repeat maintenance lowers paid ad spend and fills slow-season routes, so owner take-home rises even when new lead flow is flat. The model shows CAC falling from $120 in Year 1 to $90 in Year 5, a 25% drop, as reviews, annual reminders, landlords, real estate deals, and property managers send more work back through the door.
This driver is not a true monthly subscription. Chimney sweeping is periodic maintenance, so income depends on reminders, service history, and property accounts, not guaranteed recurring billing. The model’s maintenance package allocation rises from 100% to 480%, which means more repeat jobs and steadier off-season cash flow. Better retention cuts acquisition cost and helps keep crews busy on route gaps, which protects profit and owner pay.
Track Repeat Rate, Not Just Leads
Measure repeat booking rate, CAC, and the share of work from property accounts. The key inputs are annual reminders sent, repeat jobs booked, landlord and manager accounts, and review volume. One clean test: compare paid-ad jobs against reminder-driven jobs each month. If repeat work rises, marketing pressure falls and contribution margin improves without adding much labor.
Set reminders before the burn season.
Tag landlord and manager accounts.
Track off-season route fill.
Ask for reviews after each visit.
Technician Productivity And Crew Capacity
Technician Productivity
This driver is about how much each certified technician produces in a day and how much gross profit the crew keeps after payroll. The model grows from 1 FTE in Year 1 to 5 FTE in Year 5 at $50,000 salary each, so payroll alone rises from $50,000 to $250,000 before burden. If schedules stay full, added crews can lift revenue faster than costs.
The weak spot is idle time. More crews also mean more training, supervision, vehicle needs, quality checks, and callback risk. Track jobs per technician per day, revenue per technician, callback rate, and drive time. Thin routes make a $50,000 tech expensive; owner field work can protect early margin, but it also pulls the owner away from sales and management.
Measure Crew Output
Build the schedule from completed work, not headcount. Use the four core checks: jobs per tech per day, revenue per tech, callback rate, and drive time. If a technician is booked but not producing, the crew is not paying for itself.
Before hiring the next tech, test whether current routes are full enough to support the added payroll. Keep the owner in the field early if it helps quality, but watch management time. One clean rule: full routes make hiring work; thin routes make hiring expensive.
Track completed jobs, not leads
Review callbacks by technician
Cluster work to cut drive time
Hire only when schedules stay full
Route Density And Local Market Efficiency
Dense Service Routes
Route density is how many paid stops fit into one service day without wasting time on the road. In this business, dense routes cut fuel, vehicle wear, and unbilled hours, and that matters because fuel and vehicle maintenance run 70% of revenue in Year 1 and 60% by Year 5 in the assumptions. Fewer dead miles means more cash left for owner pay.
The inputs are service area, zip clusters, completed jobs per day, drive time per stop, cancellation rate, and fuel cost. Demand depends on housing stock, fireplace use, cold-weather patterns, and property turnover, but no single US region wins by default.
Cluster by Service Day
Map every job by zip code, then group nearby homes on the same day. Track jobs per route hour, miles per completed job, and fuel cost per job. If a tighter cluster adds one more completed job without extra payroll, that lift drops straight into gross profit.
Watch drive minutes, not just revenue.
Separate emergency calls from planned routes.
Drop low-density areas with weak demand.
One clean rule: if a route gets longer, owner take-home usually gets thinner.
Overhead, Insurance, Equipment, And Reserves
Overhead, Insurance, Equipment, And Reserves
$2,900/month of fixed overhead means $34,800/year leaves the business before the owner pays themself. That cost covers storage rent, business insurance, software, vehicle insurance and registration, utilities, professional services, and office supplies, so every extra dollar here comes straight off take-home income unless revenue rises with it.
$124,000 of launch capex across vans, equipment, camera systems, safety gear, tools, office setup, software setup, website, and a second van is cash tied up in operations, not profit. The listed cash low point of $618k in Month 32 is a reserve floor, not owner pay. Here’s the hard rule: safety gear, insurance, and compliance stay in the budget even when cash feels tight.
Protect Cash Floor
Track monthly overhead vs. completed jobs, plus insurance renewals, vehicle costs, and equipment replacement timing. If overhead rises by $500/month, owner income drops by $6,000/year before taxes, so small leaks matter. The job is to keep fixed costs flat while keeping required coverage and safety spend in place.
