Solar Panel Cleaning Owner Income: $90K Pay And Month 9 Breakeven
In these researched assumptions, a solar panel cleaning business owner can plan around a $90,000 before-tax founder salary, not a guaranteed salary The business shows -$84,000 EBITDA in Year 1, then $282,000 EBITDA in Year 2, with breakeven in Month 9 EBITDA means earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization Any extra owner distributions should come only after reserves, debt service, taxes, and reinvestment are covered
Owner income$90k/yrNet margin845%-888%Revenue for target pay$408k/moBusiness difficultyHard
Can this route pay you?
Owner income calculator
Estimate owner take-home and the target-pay gap from revenue, margin, costs, reserves, and target pay.
!
Planning note: This is a researched planning estimate, not a guaranteed salary, tax advice, or owner distribution advice. Actual owner income depends on revenue, margins, payroll, taxes, debt, and reinvestment.
What changes owner take-home most?
1
Pricing
$65-$1K
Year 1 pricing runs $65, $110, $350, $800, and $200 across the five service lines, so small rate lifts compound fast.
2
Job Volume
400/yr
With $60K of marketing and $150 CAC, Year 1 spend can buy about 400 customers, so booked jobs set revenue pace.
3
Recurring Mix
81%
Year 1 mix inputs total 105%, so normalize them first; after that, about 81% of sales are recurring and easier to retain.
4
Labor Productivity
3 FTE
Year 1 starts with 3 field FTE, so jobs per tech decide how much payroll turns into profit.
5
Cost Control
$34.5K/mo
Year 1 carries about $34.5K a month in fixed and payroll load, including the $90K founder salary, so every saved dollar lifts EBITDA.
6
Route Density
4.0%
Three service vehicles mean tighter routing can shave fuel, which sits at 4.0% of Year 1 revenue.
How much profit can a solar panel cleaning business make?
A Solar Panel Cleaning business can move from a Year 1 EBITDA loss of -$84k to modeled EBITDA of $5.198m by Year 5, if pricing, route count, recurring contracts, labor, and local solar density line up; see What Is The Current Growth Rate Of Solar Panel Cleaning Business? for the growth context. Modeled revenue rises from about $3908k to $7569m, with owner pay modeled separately at $90k/year.
Profit drivers
Raise route density per zip code
Sell recurring service contracts
Control labor hours per job
Cut idle drive time fast
Modeled EBITDA
Year 1: -$84k
Year 2: $282k
Year 3: $1166m
Year 5: $5198m
Should a solar panel cleaning owner stay solo or hire crews?
Solar Panel Cleaning is usually better solo at first if you want to protect margin, because owner-run work keeps payroll light. Crews can raise route capacity, but they only help if jobs stay booked, CAC drops from $150 to $100, and overhead stays below contribution margin.
Solo protects margin
Owner work keeps fixed labor low
Fewer crews means simpler scheduling
One route limits daily capacity
Cash stays tighter in early months
Crews only pay off at scale
Year 1: 1 lead, 2 cleaners
Year 5: 5 leads, 10 cleaners
Payroll rises from $305k to $1.025m
Hiring helps only with full routes
How many solar panel cleaning jobs to make a living?
Solar Panel Cleaning is a revenue game, not a job-count game: to cover $90k owner pay, $215k Year 1 non-owner payroll, $492k fixed overhead, and $60k marketing at 845% contribution, you need about $4.902M/year or $408k/month. At a $200 one-time ticket, that works out to about 2,040 cleanings per month before seasonality.
Revenue target
$4.902M needed yearly
$408k needed monthly
$200 ticket sets volume
2,040 cleanings monthly
Job mix
$350 to $800 contracts cut job count
Need stronger lead flow
Need more service capacity
Seasonality still matters
Key Takeaways
Pricing drives contribution before payroll and overhead.
Fixed costs mean empty routes still cost money.
Recurring contracts make revenue easier to plan.
Protect cash reserves before owner distributions.
Compare owner-income scenarios without promising outcomes
Owner income scenarios
Owner pay changes fast as the business moves from Year 1 ramp to Year 5 scale. Crew count, marketing, and cash reserves decide how much income the owner can safely take.
Low, base, and high cases show how founder pay shifts with ramp, staffing, and cash pressure.
Scenario
Low CaseRamp-up
Base CaseSteady-state
High CaseScale pressure
Launch model
This is the launch-year case, where founder pay is still funded through cash despite a loss.
This is the modeled operating case, where recurring revenue can support steadier owner pay.
This is the scaled case, where strong EBITDA can support a much larger owner draw.
Typical setup
Year 1 model with about $3.908 million revenue, negative $84k EBITDA, $305k payroll, $60k marketing, and $90k founder pay.
Year 2 model with about $11.61 million revenue, $282k EBITDA, $540k payroll, and $120k marketing.
Year 5 model with about $75.69 million revenue, $5.198 million EBITDA, $1.025 million payroll, and $450k marketing.
Cost drivers
Launch-year ramp
$60k marketing
$305k payroll
founder pay funded by cash
reserve pressure
Crew growth
$120k marketing
$540k payroll
recurring jobs
better cash conversion
Crew scale
$450k marketing
$1.025m payroll
larger contract mix
reserve pressure
Owner income rangeBefore owner reserves
$90,000Cash-funded pay
Cash-covered drawSteadier draw
Higher draw upsideUpside under pressure
Best fit
Use this to stress-test launch cash and whether founder pay can stay funded in the Year 1 ramp.
Use this as the working plan once revenue, payroll, and marketing settle into Year 2 scale.
Use this to test the upside case and see when crew scale starts to squeeze cash reserves.
!
Planning note: These scenario ranges are researched planning assumptions, not guaranteed earnings, salary promises, tax advice, or distributions.
Solar Panel Cleaning Core Six Income Drivers
Pricing And Average Ticket
Pricing and Average Ticket
For solar panel cleaning, price per job sets contribution before payroll and overhead. In Year 1, the model uses $65 residential basic, $110 residential premium, $350 commercial standard, $800 commercial large, and $200 one-time service. A higher average ticket lifts owner income only if close rate and route density hold.
Price should reflect panel count, roof access, soil level, travel time, and customer type. Here’s the quick math: a bigger ticket raises revenue, but if it adds drive time or lowers close rate, take-home can drop. Underpricing commercial work can fill the calendar and still weaken profit.
Price the Job, Not the Name on the Door
Use a simple rate card with adders for hard access, heavy dirt, and longer travel. Track average ticket, close rate, and jobs per route day together, since a higher ticket only helps when sold work stays dense. If close rate falls after a price move, the segment may not support that rate.
Set commercial pricing from labor time and drive time, not just panel count. One clean rule: if setup takes longer, safety risk rises, or the route is thin, the price should go up. That protects contribution margin and leaves more room for owner draw after payroll and overhead.
Recurring Contracts And Repeat Customers
Recurring Contracts
Recurring solar panel cleaning contracts make monthly revenue easier to forecast and cut the pressure to keep replacing lost customers. In this model, one-time service work drops from 20% in Year 1 to 5% in Year 5, while premium residential and commercial large accounts rise, which usually supports steadier cash flow and better owner pay.
The key inputs are active customers, service cadence, and contract mix across residential subscriptions, commercial standard, commercial large, and one-time jobs. One clean rule: not every site needs the same schedule, so the contract should follow panel condition, access, and customer value, or the business can end up overservicing low-value accounts.
Track Mix and Cadence
Measure how much revenue comes from recurring work versus one-time jobs, then watch whether the mix shifts toward higher-value contracts. Here’s the quick math: if one-time work keeps shrinking from 20% to 5%, more revenue is planned in advance, so fewer sales calls are needed just to replace churn.
Track renewal rate by contract type.
Match cadence to site conditions.
Price for access and travel time.
Separate low-value one-time jobs.
What this hides: if you sell too many low-frequency jobs, route planning gets choppy and cash gets lumpier. Push premium residential and commercial large accounts where the cleaning schedule fits the site, because those contracts usually support more predictable labor planning and less acquisition pressure.
Job Volume And Utilization
Job Volume and Utilization
Empty routes still cost money. This driver is the number of paid cleanings your crews complete each month, divided by the capacity you already pay for. With $41k in fixed overhead, $5k in marketing, and about $254k in payroll each month, low utilization can wipe out owner pay fast even before variable costs show up.
In the model, breakeven lands in Month 9, so the early gap between booked work and crew capacity matters. Seasonality and lead flow can push the job count needed above the simple average, which means a full calendar on paper can still miss cash targets if routes are thin or cancellations rise.
Track booked crew days, not just leads
Booked jobs per crew day is the metric that protects take-home pay. Count scheduled jobs, completed jobs, cancellations, and drive-time gaps so you can see whether payroll is turning into billable work. If utilization drops, fixed cost per job rises, and the owner’s draw gets squeezed even when sales look fine.
Use a weekly forecast that compares demand to capacity, then fill slack with recurring contracts and route clustering. Watch the mix of residential, commercial, and one-time jobs, because the wrong mix can keep crews busy but still leave too much unpaid time between stops.
Track jobs booked versus crew capacity.
Measure cancellation and no-show rates.
Watch drive time between stops.
Forecast slow months separately.
Protect recurring work first.
Route Density And Service Area Efficiency
Route Density
Route density is how many paid jobs you pack into one crew day, one area, and one truck. For solar panel cleaning, it protects owner income by cutting unpaid drive time, fuel, and schedule gaps. In the model, direct service vehicle fuel is 40% of revenue in Year 1 and drops to 30% by Year 5, so tighter routes directly lift gross margin and cash available for owner pay.
Here’s the quick math: more clustered jobs mean more billable stops without adding vehicles. The key inputs are jobs per day, average drive minutes, fuel cost, service radius, and weather delays. Geography, local solar adoption, and competition aren’t fixed; they change how many paid stops fit into a crew day.
Map Dense Service Zones
Track paid stops per route, drive minutes per job, and fuel spend as a share of revenue. If a route has long gaps between jobs, raise the minimum service area or shift those leads into a different day. The goal is simple: keep crews on panels, not on the road.
Test clustered pricing by zip code, then measure how many extra billable jobs each crew day can carry. Use local solar adoption and weather patterns in the forecast, and adjust routes when competition weakens density. Dense routes improve contribution, so the owner can take more cash without hiring another truck.
Labor Model And Crew Productivity
Labor Cost Per Crew Day
Solar panel cleaning labor decides how much booked revenue turns into owner pay. The model starts with a founder, an operations manager, 1 lead technician, and 2 technicians, then scales to 5 lead technicians and 10 technicians by Year 5, while payroll rises from $305k to $1.025M. Each crew day has to cover wages, supervision, vehicle time, and insurance.
Owner income depends on separating labor replacement cost from actual owner draw. If the founder is still doing field work or dispatch, that labor has to be priced in before any pay comes home. One clean line: empty crew time pays nobody.
Track Paid Hours, Not Just Jobs
Measure booked work hours, labor cost per job, and revenue per crew day every week. Here’s the quick math: if payroll grows faster than paid hours, margin gets squeezed before owner draw. Keep lead techs on higher-value jobs and technicians on fast, repeat work.
Also track unpaid time from travel, setup, and cleanup, because that is where crew productivity leaks. The goal is enough covered labor to pay the team, absorb supervision and vehicle time, and still leave cash for the owner. If booked work is thin, add work before adding payroll.
Operating Costs And Reserve Discipline
Operating Costs and Reserve Discipline
Fixed overhead is the quiet drag on owner pay in solar panel cleaning. Here it runs $492k/year, or about $41k/month, before owner draws. That means rent, utilities, insurance, software, supplies, professional services, vehicle insurance, and maintenance can eat cash even when jobs are booked, so thin months hit profit fast.
The cash burden does not stop at overhead. Startup capex is $137k, and the minimum cash need reaches $709k in Month 16. Vehicles, poles, water systems, and safety gear wear out, so reserve funding has to happen before owner distributions.
Build the Reserve Before You Pay Yourself
Track fixed overhead as a monthly burn rate and keep it tied to cash, not just profit. Use the core inputs here: rent, utilities, insurance, software, supplies, professional services, vehicle insurance, and vehicle maintenance. If those costs drift above $41k/month, the owner’s draw should slow until the reserve is back on plan.
Set a repair and replacement reserve first, then pay the owner from what is left. A simple rule: fund wear-out items before distributions. That matters because one worn vehicle or failed water system can wipe out a month of profit and push the business below the $709k Month 16 cash floor.
