How Much Dispute Resolution Service Owners Make at $200-$375/Hour
A dispute resolution service owner can model income from case revenue minus mediator costs, filing fees, intake costs, travel, payroll, marketing, overhead, reserves, and taxes In these researched assumptions, the owner role is budgeted at $125,000 per year, but distributable profit is not available in early years because Year 1 revenue is about $227,000 against about $373,700 of payroll, marketing, and fixed overhead before variable costs By Year 5, revenue reaches about $922,000 with a 785% contribution margin and about $44,000 of EBITDA before reserves and taxes
Owner income≈$125kNet margin43%-68%Revenue for target pay$184k-$291kBusiness difficultyHard
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Planning note: This is a researched planning estimate, not guaranteed salary, tax advice, or owner distribution advice.
Want to check owner income in the Dispute Resolution Service model?
Profit margin in a Dispute Resolution Service is driven by case-level costs and early overhead, so the biggest swings come from contract mediator fees, filing fees, and staffing. For planning, this guide to How To Write Dispute Resolution Service Business Plan? keeps the math tied to real costs.
Case costs
18% to 16% mediator fees hit each case
2% to 15% filing fees move with volume
5% to 3% intake gets cheaper as process tightens
3% to 1% travel falls with virtual sessions
Fixed cost load
$4,500 monthly rent and utilities
$650 insurance, $350 software, $200 secure video
$150 dues and $500 bookkeeping add up fast
Payroll rises from $252,500 in Year 1 to $507,500 in Year 5
How much can a solo dispute resolution service owner make?
A solo owner of a Dispute Resolution Service can plan for $125,000 in owner pay, but under the provided Year 1 staffing and marketing plan, EBITDA is about negative $210,000, so the model is not cash-profitable yet. The upside is that owner-led sessions can protect the 18% contractor mediator cost; see How Much To Launch A Dispute Resolution Service Business? for the launch-cost context, but admin work becomes the real cap.
Owner earnings
Planned owner pay: $125,000
Year 1 EBITDA: -$210,000
Contractor cost upside: 18%
Owner-led sessions lift gross margin
Real cap
Intake calls consume billable time
Scheduling delays slow case flow
Cancellations weaken utilization
Consistent referrals beat raw inquiries
Can a dispute resolution service owner make more by hiring mediators?
If Dispute Resolution Service hires mediators, it can take more scheduled cases, but that does not automatically lift take-home pay. Modeled paid matters rise from 100 to about 264 per year, while contractor mediator fees cut gross margin by 18% in Year 1 and 16% in Year 5. By Year 5, revenue reaches about $922,000 and EBITDA is about $44,000 before reserves and taxes.
More cases
100 to about 264 matters yearly
Hiring boosts case capacity
Virtual scheduling can help fill gaps
More matters do not mean higher take-home
Margin pressure
Gross margin falls 18% in Year 1
Gross margin falls 16% in Year 5
Quality control gets harder with more mediators
Management payroll and referral dilution rise
Year 5 still looks thin: about $922,000 revenue and $44,000 EBITDA before reserves and taxes. The real risk is operational, not demand.
What drives owner income most?
1
Paid Cases
100-264/yr
More resolved matters spread staff and rent over more billable work, so owner take-home rises fastest with case flow.
2
Matter Fee
$2.3K-$3.5K
A higher blended fee lifts revenue on every case, and the extra dollars flow through after mediator pay and filing costs.
3
Billable Time
4.5-5.5h/mo
More paid session time and less intake or admin time raise revenue per active customer without adding the same cost base.
4
Payroll Load
$253K-$508K
Payroll rises from about $253K to $508K a year, on top of $6,350 in monthly fixed overhead, so hiring only helps when case flow can absorb it.
5
Contractor Fees
18%-16%
Cutting mediator contractor pay from 18% to 16% leaves more gross margin in each resolved dispute.
6
Acquisition Cost
$450-$360
Customer acquisition cost (CAC) falling from $450 to $360 turns more of the marketing budget into paid cases and faster payback.
Dispute Resolution Service Core Six Income Drivers
Paid Case Volume
Paid Case Volume
Income moves when qualified disputes become paid cases, not when inquiry count rises. Here’s the quick math: modeled volume is marketing budget ÷ CAC, with 100 cases in Year 1 and about 264 cases in Year 5. At a $450 Year 1 CAC, weak intake burns cash fast and cuts owner pay.
The real risk is conversion quality. Referral reliability, seasonality, and cancellations can lower paid-case volume even when leads look strong. One clean one-liner: more inquiries do not pay the bills unless they close into scheduled, paid matters.
Speed Up Screening
Track inquiry-to-paid-case conversion, cancellation rate, and time from first contact to booked session. Fast screening and cleaner scheduling protect the $450 CAC by keeping bad-fit matters out and paid matters moving. If intake is slow, the marketing spend still lands, but revenue slips.
Measure paid cases, not inquiries.
Track cancellations by source.
Review referral close rates monthly.
Book faster to cut drop-off.
What this estimate hides is case mix. A high lead count with poor fit can still leave the owner short on cash, because unpaid screening time and missed bookings do not turn into billable hours. Cleaner scheduling turns the same pipeline into more take-home income.
1
Average Fee Per Matter
Average Fee Per Matter
This driver is the blended average revenue per case. It comes from hourly rate, hours per matter, and case mix. In Year 1, the weighted case revenue is about $2,270, based on family law at $250 per hour for 12 hours, business disputes at $300 for 8 hours, and civil or property matters at $200 for 4 hours. Higher-fee matters raise cash per case and make owner pay easier.
By Year 5, weighted case revenue rises to about $3,495. That ceiling is set by complexity and what buyers will pay. If the mix shifts toward shorter, lower-rate matters, revenue per case falls even if case count stays flat, and fixed overhead takes a bigger cut of profit.
Track Rate, Hours, and Mix
Measure realized hourly rate, hours per matter, and case mix by dispute type. Here’s the quick math: fee per matter equals rate times hours, then blended by mix. A family matter at $250 x 12 hours is $3,000 before mix effects, while a civil matter at $200 x 4 hours is only $800.
Track fee by matter type.
Watch hours sold versus billed.
Reset prices when complexity rises.
Forecast owner draw from mix.
If session length drifts up without a price reset, margin drops and cash comes in slower. Use the mix forecast to set staffing and owner pay, because the real limit is not demand alone; it is what clients will pay for a harder dispute.
2
Mediator Utilization
Mediator Utilization
Utilization is the share of work time that becomes paid mediation hours. Nonbillable intake, follow-ups, travel, document handling, and admin all pull that share down, so owner income falls even if inquiries stay steady. The key inputs are available work time, paid hours, and billable hours per active customer, which rise from 45 in Year 1 to 55 in Year 5, or about 22% more output from each active matter.
That matters because the owner gets paid only when sessions run. Solo founders hit the wall first since they sell, screen, mediate, and manage the calendar, so one loose week can cut revenue fast. Same pipeline, better scheduling, more revenue. If paid hours do not keep pace with available time, take-home income gets squeezed before fixed costs even change.
Protect Billable Hours
Track paid mediation hours ÷ available work time every week, then split lost time by cause. If admin and travel are growing, the owner is buying back less billable time than the market needs. Watch hours per active customer and compare it to the 45 to 55 hour range, because that number drives revenue per case and the owner’s draw.
Push more work into tight scheduling and virtual sessions, and batch intake, follow-ups, and document handling outside paid blocks. A cleaner calendar raises utilization without adding more leads. Fewer gaps, more paid hours, better cash flow. If onboarding drags past a few days, the risk is simple: the same case load pays less and the owner’s profit share drops.
3
Referral Channel Economics
Referral Channel Economics
Referral channels matter only when they produce paid, retained matters. Judge them by cost per retained case, not by lead count, because a cheap inquiry that never closes still burns staff time and cash. In this model, marketing spend rises from $45,000 in Year 1 to $95,000 in Year 5, while CAC improves from $450 to $360.
Here’s the quick math: $45,000 ÷ $450 implies about 100 cases in Year 1, and $95,000 ÷ $360 implies about 264 cases in Year 5. Attorney referrals, court-adjacent sources, workplace relationships, online search, reviews, and repeat institutional clients can each close at different rates, so the mix matters as much as the spend.
Measure the source, not just the lead
Track each channel by spend, close rate, and retained-case count. The real formula is channel spend ÷ retained cases. A source is weak if it books low-cost leads but loses them in intake, scheduling, or early mediation, because that pushes up CAC and cuts owner pay.
Source spend by channel
Close rate by source
Retained cases by source
Cancellation rate after intake
Active matter hours per case
If one source closes fast but cancels early, it is not growth. If another source costs more but keeps matters active, it lifts cash flow and protects profit. Split reporting by source and case type so you can cut weak spend and push more dollars into the channels that turn into billable hours.
4
Delivery Model And Mediator Costs
Delivery Model Costs
Owner-led mediation protects margin because the fee stays in-house. Once you add outside mediators, contract mediator fees hit 18% of revenue in Year 1 and 16% in Year 5, and that comes out before owner distributions. So the business only pays off if contractor hours are full enough to cover the fee give-up plus admin.
Here’s the quick math: every $100 of revenue with contractors leaves $82 in Year 1 and $84 in Year 5 before fixed overhead and owner pay. The inputs that matter are billable hours, paid mediator mix, utilization, and scheduling load. Quality control and follow-up are real costs, not side work.
Control Mediator Fees
Track mediator fee as a share of collected revenue, not booked work. If outside mediators are not selling enough paid hours, they dilute owner income fast. A multi-mediator model only helps when added capacity lifts billable volume enough to absorb the 18% to 16% fee layer.
Measure these inputs each month:
Paid mediator hours
Outside mediator fee %
Billable hours per case
Cancellation and reschedule rate
Admin time per matter
Keep owner-delivered work for high-margin cases, and use contractors only when their paid utilization covers the fee plus the extra scheduling and review time.
5
Fixed Overhead And Reserves
Fixed Overhead And Reserves
Fixed overhead cuts owner pay before case volume can catch up, because rent, software, insurance, dues, and bookkeeping cost money every month. Here the fixed bill is $6,350 a month, or $76,200 a year, before payroll and marketing. That means early income is squeezed even if intake is slow, and the owner has less room for draws while the pipeline builds.
Payroll also climbs from $252,500 in Year 1 to $507,500 in Year 5, so the burden gets heavier before profits do. EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) can stay negative in early years, so extra distributions should wait until reserves are built and cash is steady.
Control Fixed Costs First
Track each fixed line item monthly: rent, software, insurance, dues, and bookkeeping. The owner should know the exact cash burn before taking any draw. Here’s the quick math: if fixed overhead is $6,350 per month and EBITDA is negative, every extra dollar paid out weakens the cushion and raises the risk of a cash shortfall.
Set a reserve target before distributions and review it against payroll growth from $252,500 to $507,500. If overhead rises faster than paid case volume, owner income falls even when sales look active. Keep one simple rule: no extra payout until the reserve can cover fixed costs and payroll timing gaps.
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Compare low, base, and high owner-income scenarios without promising results
Owner income scenarios
Income moves with case mix, fee rates, and staffing load. Early years stay under pressure until volume and pricing improve together.
A quick read on how case volume and fee rates change owner income.
Scenario
Low CaseLow Case
Base CaseBase Case
High CaseHigh Case
Launch model
This is the lower-earnings path using Year 1 volume and pricing.
This is the modeled middle path using Year 3 activity.
This is the stronger-earnings path built on Year 5 demand.
Typical setup
About 100 cases at a $2,270 weighted fee produce roughly $227,000 of revenue, with a 72% contribution margin and enough payroll, marketing, and overhead to keep EBITDA negative.
About 188 cases at a $2,860 weighted fee produce roughly $536,000 of revenue, with a 75% contribution margin but negative EBITDA once staffing and overhead are in place.
About 264 cases at a $3,495 weighted fee produce roughly $922,000 of revenue, and the model turns slightly positive while the planned owner salary stays at $125,000.
Cost drivers
Case volume
weighted fee
payroll
marketing budget
fixed overhead
Case volume
pricing mix
staff growth
overhead
intake costs
Case volume
higher fee mix
staffing scale
referral flow
cash reserves
Owner income rangeBefore owner reserves
About -$210k EBITDALow Case
About -$146.5k EBITDABase Case
About $44k EBITDAHigh Case
Best fit
Use this to stress-test the first year when referrals are still thin.
Use this as the planning case for a steadier operating year with a fuller team.
Use this to test upside if referrals compound and cash is strong enough for distributions.
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Planning note: Ranges are researched planning assumptions, not guaranteed earnings, salary promises, tax advice, or distribution forecasts.
