Field Guides
Every guide here does the same job: take one piece of business math that operators get burned by, explain it in plain English, work through it with real numbers, and point to the calculator that runs it. No filler, no theory for theory's sake — each guide exists because getting this particular calculation wrong costs real money.
Contractors & Trades
- Contractor Labor Burden: What an Employee Really CostsThe wage is not the cost. Where the extra 25–60% hides, and how to compute your real hourly labor cost.
- Markup vs. Margin: The Confusion That Quietly Costs ThousandsTwo words that sound interchangeable and are not. The arithmetic difference, and what it does to a year of bids.
- How to Price a Job: From Costs to a Defensible NumberThe pricing sequence in order: burdened labor, direct costs, overhead share, margin — and the division that ties it together.
- The Underbidding Trap: Why Busy Isn’t the Same as ProfitableHow a full schedule of thin jobs slowly starves a company, and the math for climbing out.
- The Real Cost of a CallbackA callback is a job with all the costs and none of the revenue. What the warranty tail actually costs per year.
- What a Missed Call CostsUnanswered calls are leads you already paid for, handed to a competitor. Pricing the leak.
Calculators for these guides live in the Contractors & Trades hub.
Small Business Core
- Months of Cash: The One Number Every Owner Should KnowCash runway — the distance between your business and the wall, and the levers that move it.
- Your Break-Even Number: The Finish Line Every Month HasThe revenue at which your month stops losing money — and why margin moves it more than cost-cutting.
- Overhead: The Invisible Line Item That Eats BusinessesNo customer is ever billed for overhead — so every price must quietly carry a slice of it. How to compute yours.
Calculators for these guides live in the Small Business hub.
Pay & Income
- Why Your Take-Home Pay Is So Much Lower Than Your SalaryWhere the gap between the offer letter and the bank deposit comes from, and how to calculate yours.
How Guides Are Written
Guides follow the same standards as our calculators: formulas shown, assumptions stated, at least one fully worked numeric example, and an honest section on where the math goes wrong. Contractor guides are framed and reviewed by Gerald G., founder of CalcAuthority, drawing on his background as a journeyman cabinet installer, subcontractor, and contracting business owner. See the Methodology page for the full editorial standard.