How Much Window Tinting Business Owners Make: $80K Plus Profit
You’re checking whether a tint shop can pay you, not just stay busy This page covers Year 1 to Year 5 revenue, margins, costs, reserves, and owner take-home using the provided US window tinting model, including auto, residential, and commercial work It excludes tax filing advice, franchise claims, and guaranteed income promises
Owner income$80kNet margin71%–678%Revenue for target pay$113kBusiness difficultyHard
Want the six main tint shop income drivers?
1
Service mix
60/30/10
Year 1 mix is 60% automotive, 30% residential, and 10% commercial, so moving toward higher-hour work lifts blended ticket and owner take-home.
2
Average ticket
$986
The Year 1 blended ticket is about $986, so even small price lifts flow straight into gross profit if close rates hold.
3
Labor productivity
4/12/40h
Automotive, residential, and commercial jobs take about 4, 12, and 40 billable hours, so faster installs raise capacity without adding payroll.
4
Overhead
$51K
Fixed overhead runs about $51,000 a year, so the break-even line stays low if rent, utilities, and admin stay tight.
5
Lead flow
$150
CAC starts at $150, so cheaper repeat leads keep the funnel open without eating margin.
6
Job volume
M7
The model reaches breakeven in Month 7, so filling the calendar faster is the quickest way to turn fixed costs into take-home.
Want to test your tint shop income?
Owner income calculator
Estimate owner take-home and the target-pay gap from revenue, margin, labor, fixed costs, reserves, and your pay target.
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Planning note: This output is a researched planning estimate, not guaranteed salary, tax advice, or owner distribution advice.
How much revenue does a window tinting business need?
There isn’t a single revenue target for Window Tinting; use this formula: (owner pay + non-owner payroll + fixed overhead + reserve/profit target) ÷ contribution margin. With 73.5% contribution margin after 26.5% variable costs for film, shipping, marketing, and vehicle costs, $80,000 owner pay plus $113,750 non-owner payroll plus $51,000 fixed overhead points to about $333,000 before extra profit. Year 1 implied revenue is about $368,000, with roughly $26,000 EBITDA.
Base revenue math
$80,000 owner pay
$113,750 payroll
$51,000 fixed overhead
$333,000 pre-profit base
Year 1 outcome
73.5% contribution margin
26.5% variable costs
$368,000 implied revenue
$26,000 EBITDA
Is mobile window tinting income better than a shop?
Not automatically. For Window Tinting, mobile work can earn more if your schedule is dense and travel gaps stay small, but a shop can win when you can keep bays full and handle storage-heavy commercial jobs. Here’s the quick math: the shop model carries about $2,500 in monthly rent, while the mobile model needs a $35,000 service van and vehicle costs at 3% of Year 1 revenue.
Mobile model math
Lower fixed overhead than a shop
Adds fuel and travel time
Weather can disrupt site work
Site control can slow installs
Shop model math
$2,500 monthly rent here
Improves bay utilization
Helps with storage and trust
Fits commercial workflow better
Can a window tinting business make a full-time income?
Yes, a Window Tinting business can make a full-time income: the researched base case supports an $80,000 owner/general manager salary, but only after booked work covers film, labor, rent, vehicle costs, marketing, insurance, and admin; track service quality with What Is The Customer Satisfaction Level For Your Window Tinting Business? because weak satisfaction can slow bookings. Year 1 EBITDA is only $26,000, so early cash is tight and owner pay is not guaranteed.
Income Math
Supports $80,000 owner/manager pay
Year 1 EBITDA: $26,000
Covers film, labor, rent, vehicles
Blocks up to 99% UV rays
Operating Choice
Owner-operator lowers payroll
Owner-operator caps capacity
Hired installer raises overhead
Hired installer scales appointments
Key Takeaways
Completed jobs drive revenue, not inquiries.
Blended ticket rises from $986 to $1,110.
Better installer productivity protects margin and owner draw.
Repeatable lead flow lowers CAC and fills calendars.
Compare low, base, and scaled window tinting income scenarios
Owner income scenarios
Income shifts as the shop moves from ramp-up to a staffed crew to a scaled multi-installer setup. Labor, pricing, and fixed overhead do most of the work.
Low, base, and high owner income cases for a window tinting shop.
Scenario
Low CaseRamp-up
Base CaseStaffed shop
High CaseScaled operation
Launch model
This is the first-year ramp case, with owner income held near the planned pay level while volume is still building.
This is the modeled operating case, where the shop has stable demand and a full team starts to carry the load.
This is the stronger upside case, with a scaled multi-installer shop and much higher throughput.
Typical setup
About $368,000 revenue and $26,000 EBITDA, with the owner still covering sales and ops before the shop is fully loaded.
About $837,000 revenue and $322,000 EBITDA in Year 2, with breakeven already reached by Month 7.
About $314 million revenue and $2.129 billion EBITDA in Year 5, driven by a larger commercial mix and more crew capacity.
Cost drivers
Lower job volume
owner-led sales
higher marketing spend
fixed workshop rent
labor ramp
Higher job volume
staffed install team
better mix
lower CAC
spread fixed overhead
Multi-installer throughput
commercial mix
premium pricing
lower CAC
lean variable costs
Owner income rangeBefore owner reserves
$80,000Owner pay
$322,000Breakeven base
$2.129BMulti-installer
Best fit
Use this to test the downside if demand grows slowly or staffing stays thin.
Use this as the core planning case for hiring, cash flow, and owner draw.
Use this to stress-test upside capacity, hiring, and market demand at full scale.
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Planning note: These scenario ranges are researched planning assumptions, not guaranteed earnings, salary promises, tax advice, or distributions.
Window Tinting Core Six Income Drivers
Completed job volume
Completed Job Volume
Your income here depends on booked and finished jobs, not inquiries. In Year 1, $368,000 of revenue at a $986 blended ticket implies about 31 completed jobs per month ($368,000 ÷ $986 ÷ 12). If completions slip, owner pay slips too, even if leads look busy.
This driver is capped by install hours, vehicle type, curing conditions, appointment gaps, and commercial scheduling. More volume helps only when quality stays high and rework stays low. One clean install beats two messy ones. Higher bay utilization usually means more gross profit and more room for owner draw.
Track Finished Jobs, Not Just Leads
Measure booked jobs, completed jobs, and rework rate every week. If a job is sold but not finished, it does not pay the bills. Watch the gap between booked and closed work, then fix the bottleneck: schedule gaps, slow curing, or jobs that run long on certain vehicle types or commercial sites.
Use a simple control list: completed jobs per day, average install hours, and bay utilization. If volume rises but callbacks rise too, margin gets eaten fast. The goal is steady throughput with clean installs, because that is what turns 31 completed jobs per month into usable cash for the owner.
Track booked-to-finished conversion.
Flag jobs that miss schedule.
Cut rework before adding volume.
Fill gaps with shorter jobs.
Protect quality on commercial work.
Service mix
Service mix
Year 1 mix is 60% automotive, 30% residential, and 10% commercial. That mix drives income because auto jobs are shorter and repeatable, residential jobs carry larger tickets, and commercial jobs can be high-value but slower to sell and schedule. Here’s the quick math: commercial Year 1 ticket math is 40 hours × $110 = $4,400.
By Year 5, the mix shifts to 50% automotive, 35% residential, and 15% commercial, and that can lift the blended ticket from $986 to $1,110. The catch is cash timing: commercial work may improve revenue per job, but slower approvals and longer scheduling can delay owner draw if working capital is tight.
Track mix by margin and cash timing
Track bookings, completed jobs, average ticket, gross margin, and days from quote to install by service line. A mix shift only helps if the added residential and commercial work still covers labor, film, and overhead. If commercial jobs sit in the pipeline too long, they can look good on paper but still squeeze cash flow.
Price and schedule each line separately. Automotive should keep bays full, residential should protect ticket size, and commercial should be sold only when install capacity and payment timing fit the calendar. If one line needs more labor hours or has more rework, its real margin is lower even when the sale price looks strong.
Installer productivity and rework control
Installer Productivity
Installer productivity is the labor time, film waste, and rework behind each job. In this model, payroll starts at $193,750 in Year 1 and rises to $332,500 by Year 5, so clean installs matter to owner pay. Faster work lifts billable output, cuts warranty fixes, and keeps bays open for the next job instead of paying for avoidable do-overs.
The main inputs are install hours per job, billable hours, rework rate, and film waste. The model assumes billable hours move from 4 to 35 for auto and 40 to 32 for commercial by Year 5. If installs slip or rework rises, gross margin falls fast because labor is the core margin lever here.
Track Hours and Rework
Measure labor by job type, not as one blended number. Track quoted hours versus actual hours, plus redo causes like dust, creases, edge lift, and bad cuts. One clean job can protect margin more than a price increase, because it saves labor, film, and lost bay time without asking the customer to pay more.
Use a simple review each week: jobs completed, hours used, redo count, and scrap film. If auto jobs take more time than planned or commercial work stalls bays, fix the process before adding ads or headcount. Better productivity protects gross margin and owner draw because the same team can produce more billable work with less waste.
Track hours by installer and job type
Log every rework cause
Measure film waste per job
Review bay downtime weekly
Overhead structure
Fixed Overhead Load
Fixed overhead is the monthly floor your tint shop must clear before owner pay starts. Here, it is $4,250 per month, or $51,000 per year, including $2,500 rent, $400 utilities, $250 business insurance, $300 vehicle insurance, $350 accounting and legal, $200 software, $100 website, and $150 tools.
At Year 1 revenue of $368,000, fixed overhead is about 13.9% of sales. On a Year 1 run rate of about 31 completed jobs per month, that is roughly $137 of fixed overhead per job before labor, film, and owner draw. Mobile work can lower rent, but routing and service-call costs can eat into that savings.
Track the Overhead per Job
Track monthly overhead, completed jobs, and shop vs. mobile cost. The key test is simple: does each job cover its share of the $4,250 fixed load and still leave room for profit? Shop overhead can raise capacity and credibility, but only if schedule fill stays high.
Also watch the cash tied up in the $35,000 service van, $15,000 plotter, and $8,000 initial film inventory. That $58,000 does not hit monthly overhead, but it affects cash flow and owner pay if it is financed or paid out of working capital.
Jobs per month vs. rent load
Mobile miles and call-outs
Overhead per completed job
Cash tied up in equipment
Owner draw after fixed costs
Repeatable lead flow
Repeatable lead flow
Repeatable lead flow means steady booked work from search, reviews, referrals, dealerships, fleets, and commercial relationships. Here, marketing is 7% of Year 1 revenue, with CAC (customer acquisition cost) at $150 in Year 1 and $120 by Year 5. That matters because more qualified bookings fill the schedule, lift revenue per labor hour, and support owner pay.
The risk is paying for traffic instead of jobs. If leads don’t convert into profitable installs, the calendar looks busy but cash stays tight. With marketing budget rising from $10,000 to $55,000, the real test is booked work that fits capacity and margin, not raw lead count.
Track booked jobs, not clicks
Measure lead source, close rate, CAC, and booked profitable jobs by channel. Here’s the quick math: at $150 CAC, $10,000 of spend buys about 67 customers; at $120 CAC, $55,000 buys about 458. The goal is not more traffic, it’s more filled install days with work that clears labor and material cost.
Track source-by-source booked jobs.
Cut channels with weak close rates.
Push reviews and referrals weekly.
Protect margin with job-level pricing.
If lead flow is steady and qualified, the owner gets better bay use, lower acquisition cost, and more cash left for draw after payroll and overhead.
Average ticket and pricing
Average Ticket and Pricing
Your income rises faster when the mix shifts toward higher-ticket work. Year 1 modeled tickets are $340 for automotive, $1,140 for residential, and $4,400 for commercial, giving a blended ticket of about $986. At the same job count, a higher blended ticket lifts revenue, gross margin dollars, and the owner’s draw.
The model moves to a $1,110 blended ticket by Year 5 as commercial share rises from 10% to 15%. Pricing power comes from film type, warranty, clean installs, and local competition. What this hides: if higher tickets need more labor hours or slower commercial collection, cash flow can lag even when revenue grows.
Price the mix, not just the job
Track ticket by service line, not as one average. Use billable hours × hourly rate to test each quote, then watch which jobs close at full price versus get discounted.
Review auto, home, commercial ticket weekly
Protect price on warranty and film upgrades
Compare discounts to local competition
If the mix tilts to commercial, revenue can rise without adding another customer. Just make sure longer sales cycles and slower payment terms do not strain payroll or owner pay.
