How Much a Mobile Bicycle Repair Owner Can Make on a $70K Pay Plan
A mobile bicycle repair owner can make $70,000 before taxes in this researched model, with extra upside only if the business can safely distribute profit after reserves, debt service, taxes, and reinvestment Year 1 revenue is $163,000, built from service packages, a la carte repairs, parts sales, and corporate contracts Year 1 EBITDA is $39,000, rising to $317,000 by Year 5 The main swing factors are weekly repair volume, average ticket size, parts margin, travel efficiency, overhead, and staffing
Owner income$70kNet margin24%–51%Revenue for target pay$103kBusiness difficultyHard
Want to see what really moves owner income?
1
Service Calls
1.1K-3.5K
More completed jobs push revenue from about 1,100 service calls in Year 1 to 3,500 by Year 5, so fixed costs get spread over more cash sales.
2
Average Ticket
$95-$113
A few more dollars per stop lift take-home fast when each visit already has travel time and labor built in.
3
Route Density
4.0%-3.2%
Tighter routes cut vehicle fuel and maintenance, which keeps more of each dollar after driving costs.
4
Parts Margin
90.0%-92.4%
Parts and consumables stay near a 90.0% to 92.4% gross margin, so direct costs barely touch each repair sale.
5
Contract Revenue
$18K-$79K
Corporate contracts rise from 3 to 11 and create steadier, higher-value work that helps smooth cash flow.
6
Labor Mix
$70K-$160K
Owner pay plus technician hires set capacity, but payroll only helps income if job volume grows fast enough to cover it.
Want to test your own mobile repair pay target?
Owner income calculator
Estimate owner take-home and the target-pay gap from revenue, margin, costs, reserves, and target pay.
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Planning note: Research-based planning estimate only, not guaranteed salary, tax advice, or owner distribution advice.
Can Mobile Bicycle Repair support a $70K owner salary?
What mobile bicycle repair costs reduce owner take-home most?
For Mobile Bicycle Repair, the biggest hit to owner take-home is variable cost, not overhead: in Year 1, parts and consumables equal 100% of revenue, fuel and maintenance add 40%, payment fees add 25%, and fixed overhead is only $1,350 a month. For launch-budget context, see How Much Does It Cost To Open, Start, Launch Your Mobile Bicycle Repair Business?; the model’s capex totals about $72,000. Margin improves as parts and consumables fall to 76% by Year 5, so waste, callbacks, long drives, and repeat bookings drive take-home.
Year 1 cost pressure
100% of revenue on parts
40% on fuel and maintenance
25% on payment fees
$1,350 fixed overhead monthly
What moves take-home
76% parts by Year 5
Less waste lifts margin fast
Callbacks cut profit quickly
Long drives burn take-home
How many bike repairs per week to pay myself?
To pay yourself $70,000, Mobile Bicycle Repair needs about 1,082 completed service jobs per year, or roughly 21 per week; see What Is The Most Critical Indicator Of Success For Mobile Bicycle Repair? for the core KPI view. Here’s the quick math: $70,000 owner pay + $16,200 fixed overhead = $86,200, and $95 average ticket × 83.5% contribution = about $80 per completed job.
Weekly workload
1,100 Year 1 completed service jobs
About 21 completed jobs per week
$105,000 service revenue in Year 1
About $95 average service ticket
Pressure relief
Book more than 21 weekly appointments
Protect against cancellations and weather
Reduce route gaps between jobs
Use contracts and parts sales
How to grow a mobile bicycle repair business?
If you want to grow Mobile Bicycle Repair, do it by adding work density before adding too many people. Staying solo protects margin, but it caps weekly jobs; by Year 2, a 0.5 FTE junior mechanic at $25,000 can help lift capacity, and by Year 3, that role can rise to 1.0 FTE at $50,000. Revenue can grow from $268,200 in Year 2 to $624,600 in Year 5, but payroll also climbs from $95,000 to $160,000, so the tradeoff is clear: more volume, more overhead.
Hiring path
Start with 0.5 FTE help in Year 2.
Move to 1.0 FTE in Year 3.
Keep admin at 0.5 FTE in Year 3.
Admin can reach $40,000 by Year 5.
Best growth lanes
Use fleet work to bundle stops.
Run employer service days for route density.
Book schools, clubs, and apartment events.
Expect more training and quality control.
Key Takeaways
More completed jobs only pay off in tight routes.
Ticket size rises with higher-value repairs and bundles.
Dense routes cut fuel, time, and vehicle wear.
Recurring contracts stabilize bookings, but labor must stay utilized.
Compare lean, base, and high owner-income scenarios
Owner income scenarios
Owner income moves with job volume, ticket size, and staffing. Lean Year 1 is mostly solo, Year 3 adds support, and Year 5 tests contract-led scale.
Lean, base, and high owner income cases for a mobile bicycle repair business.
Scenario
Low CaseSolo ramp
Base CaseStaffed growth
High CaseContract scale
Launch model
A lean solo ramp keeps income close to the first-year operating model.
A modeled growth path adds staff and pushes income toward the Year 3 case.
A stronger upside case uses larger jobs and more contracts to push earnings higher.
Typical setup
Year 1 models $163,000 revenue from 1,100 service jobs at about $95 per ticket, with 90.0% gross margin after parts and supplies, $16,200 fixed overhead, $70,000 payroll, and planned owner pay of $70,000 before taxes.
Year 3 models $380,200 revenue from 2,300 service jobs at about $105 per ticket, with 91.2% gross margin after parts and supplies, a full junior mechanic, 0.5 FTE admin support, $140,000 payroll, and $136,000 EBITDA.
Year 5 models $624,600 revenue from 3,500 service jobs at about $113 per ticket, with 92.4% gross margin after parts and supplies, full junior mechanic and admin coverage, $160,000 payroll, and $317,000 EBITDA.
Cost drivers
Service volume
ticket mix
parts margin
fuel and maintenance
solo payroll
Job volume
higher ticket mix
junior mechanic
admin support
contract revenue
Contract volume
higher ticket price
full staffing
lower parts cost
fixed overhead absorption
Owner income rangeBefore owner reserves
$39,000 - $70,000Lean income band
$70,000 - $136,000Modeled income band
$136,000 - $317,000Upside income band
Best fit
Use this to stress-test a one-owner setup with limited labor capacity and tighter cash flow.
Use this as the core planning case for a small team with steady repeat work and some contract lift.
Use this to test scale if route density, contracts, and staffing all hold together.
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Planning note: These scenario ranges are researched planning assumptions only, not guaranteed earnings, salary promises, tax advice, or distributions.
Mobile Bicycle Repair Core Six Income Drivers
Completed Service Calls
Completed Service Calls
Completed jobs drive revenue only when the work closes cleanly and the route stays tight. In Year 1, the model shows 1,100 total service jobs from 300 packages and 800 a la carte repairs, or about 21 completed service jobs a week. By Year 5, volume reaches 3,500 jobs, or about 67 a week. More calls raise income, but only after parts, travel, payment fees, and overhead.
This driver can lift take-home pay, but cancellations, weather, no-shows, and scattered stops can erase the gain. Callbacks matter too, because a second visit turns one sale into extra labor with no new revenue. The best jobs are the ones that finish on the first trip and fit into the day without adding dead time.
Track completions by route
Measure booked jobs, completed jobs, cancellation rate, and callback rate each week. Also track jobs per route block, because a full calendar with poor spacing can make less money than fewer jobs on one tight run.
Push more same-neighborhood stops, employer bike days, and apartment clusters. If a job adds travel or a return visit, it can cut profit fast. The goal is simple: more completed work per paid hour, not just more bookings.
Owner Versus Technician Labor
Owner Versus Technician Labor
This driver is the tradeoff between a solo owner and hired help. The model starts with one full-time owner at $70,000, then adds a junior mechanic at $25,000 in Year 2 at 0.5 FTE, $50,000 from Year 3, and admin at $20,000 in Years 3-4, then $40,000 in Year 5.
Utilization, meaning paid time spent on billable work, is the key input. Owner take-home rises only when added labor creates more completed service calls and higher-ticket jobs. If labor grows faster than booked work, payroll eats cash and profit falls.
Track labor against completed jobs
Track labor against completed jobs, not headcount. Compare owner pay, mechanic pay, and admin pay with booked and finished service calls, average ticket, and route density. If added staff doesn’t lift completed jobs, delay the hire.
Use the step-up costs as a test: $25,000 in Year 2, $50,000 from Year 3, plus admin in Years 3-5. Build the forecast so each hire has enough billable work to cover wages and still leave room for owner draw.
Average Repair Ticket
Average Repair Ticket
Average repair ticket is the revenue earned per stop. In Year 1, $150 service packages and $75 a la carte repairs produce about a $95 average ticket; by Year 5, $170 and $87 lift that to about $113. On 1,100 jobs, that is about $104,500 in service revenue; on 3,500 jobs, it is about $395,500.
This driver matters because a higher ticket raises revenue without adding another stop. That helps owner pay only if the job mix supports it: tune-ups, brake work, drivetrain work, wheel work, diagnostics, and bundled service. Pricing still depends on market, skill, job mix, and customer approval, so a bigger quote that gets rejected does not help cash flow.
Raise Ticket Without Losing Approvals
Track ticket by job type, not just daily sales. Split package work, a la carte repairs, and add-ons, then watch approval rate and callback rate. If ticket rises but approvals fall, revenue can stall. Use clear pre-checks and quote bundles so customers see why the higher-priced repair is worth it.
Measure ticket by service type
Watch approval and callback rates
Bundle tune-ups with fixes
Train staff on clear quotes
For planning, use ticket × completed jobs. A move from $95 to $113 adds about $18 per stop, which compounds fast at scale. The cleanest lift comes from better diagnostics, higher-value repairs, and bundled service that customers can approve in one visit.
Parts And Supplies Margin
Parts And Supplies Margin
Parts and supplies margin is the cash left after tubes, cables, chains, brake pads, sealant, cleaners, and small hardware. It is measured before labor, fuel, rent, and owner pay. In the model, year 1 parts sold cost is 80% and service consumables are 20%, with disclosed gross margin after parts and supplies at 900%; by year 5 it improves to 924%.
That means small buying wins matter. Better markup discipline, fewer warranty callbacks, less shrinkage, and less unused stock all raise gross profit fast. A 1-point gain here flows almost straight to owner income because it lifts margin without needing more service calls.
Track markup, loss, and dead stock
Build the margin from the job log: parts revenue, parts cost, and consumables cost on each repair. Here’s the quick math: margin = (parts revenue - parts and consumables cost) / parts revenue. If a job needs a $14 tube and $8 sealant, the sell price has to cover stock loss, callbacks, and the time to restock.
Compare buy price to sell price.
Flag repeat callback parts.
Clear unused stock monthly.
Repeat And Contract Demand
Repeat And Contract Demand
Repeat and contract demand means the same riders and business accounts keep booking you. In this model, corporate contracts rise from 3 at $6,000 each in Year 1 to 11 at $7,200 each in Year 5, so contract revenue grows from $18,000 to $79,200. That steadier base helps fill slow days, lowers new-customer marketing pressure, and makes owner pay less tied to one-off jobs.
The catch is capacity. Recurring work still needs service slots, route planning, and clean quality control, or repeat clients churn. One missed visit can cost more than one extra sale. For a mobile bike repair service, the main inputs are contract count, repeat booking rate, and how many route gaps those jobs fill without adding too much drive time.
Build Predictable Route-Fill Work
Track contract count, renewal rate, and jobs per route. Split demand by source: repeat customers, cycling clubs, schools, employer bike days, apartment events, and delivery fleets. If a contract does not fill a weak day or cluster stops, it helps less than it looks. The goal is simple: more billed stops, fewer empty miles, and steadier cash for the owner.
Measure monthly contract revenue.
Track repeat booking rate.
Watch cancellations and no-shows.
Map jobs by neighborhood.
Review callback rates after each visit.
Route Density
Route Density
When jobs are clustered, more of the mechanic’s day becomes billable work and less gets burned on drive time. In this model, vehicle fuel and maintenance run at 40% of revenue in Year 1, then improve to 32% by Year 5. That gap matters: every $1,000 of revenue keeps about $80 more in the business at the lower cost rate.
Dense routes raise owner income by adding more jobs per day without adding the same miles. Same-neighborhood tune-up blocks, employer bike days, apartment events, and route windows all help. Scattered stops look fine on paper, but they cut take-home through fuel, wear, and unpaid windshield time. One clean route can beat three loose stops.
Tighten the route map
Track jobs per route, miles per job, and fuel plus maintenance as a % of revenue. If the route has too many one-off stops, price in the dead time or bundle work into local blocks. The goal is simple: more billable hours per van hour, not just more bookings.
Group same-neighborhood service calls
Sell route windows, not random slots
Use events to fill nearby stops
Watch fuel and wear by route
If appointments spread out, owner pay drops even when ticket prices stay strong. Dense routing protects gross margin and makes each workday generate more cash for wages, repairs, and profit draw.
