How is jobs per hour calculated?

Divide completed billable jobs by total paid crew hours over the same period. Paid hours include drive time, on-site work, breaks, and any clock-in to clock-out time the crew is on payroll. Most operators run it weekly or monthly per crew.

What is a healthy jobs per hour for a service business?

It varies by trade and scope. A residential cleaning crew running 1.5-hour visits at 0.5 jobs per hour is healthy. A residential lawn-care crew running 30-minute visits at 1.5 to 2 jobs per hour is healthy. The number does not transfer across trades, only across crews doing similar work.

How is jobs per hour different from price per hour?

Jobs per hour counts visits. Price per hour counts revenue. The two are related but separate: a crew can have high jobs per hour at low price per hour (small fast jobs) or high price per hour at low jobs per hour (big slow jobs). Operators usually optimize both at once.

What drives jobs per hour up?

Two levers, both operational. First, route density: pack each crew's day with stops geographically close to each other so drive time falls. Second, scope discipline: keep visit lengths within the planned window so a 60-minute job does not eat 90 minutes and push the rest of the day out.

Does jobs per hour matter for solo operators?

Yes. A solo operator's calendar lives or dies on jobs per hour because there is no second crew to absorb a bad day. Tightening the route, hitting the planned scope, and protecting the gaps between visits compound directly into either more daylight or more visits per week.

How is jobs per hour calculated?

Divide completed billable jobs by total paid crew hours over the same period. Paid hours include drive time, on-site work, breaks, and any clock-in to clock-out time the crew is on payroll. Most operators run it weekly or monthly per crew.

What is a healthy jobs per hour for a service business?

It varies by trade and scope. A residential cleaning crew running 1.5-hour visits at 0.5 jobs per hour is healthy. A residential lawn-care crew running 30-minute visits at 1.5 to 2 jobs per hour is healthy. The number does not transfer across trades, only across crews doing similar work.

How is jobs per hour different from price per hour?

Jobs per hour counts visits. Price per hour counts revenue. The two are related but separate: a crew can have high jobs per hour at low price per hour (small fast jobs) or high price per hour at low jobs per hour (big slow jobs). Operators usually optimize both at once.

What drives jobs per hour up?

Two levers, both operational. First, route density: pack each crew's day with stops geographically close to each other so drive time falls. Second, scope discipline: keep visit lengths within the planned window so a 60-minute job does not eat 90 minutes and push the rest of the day out.

Does jobs per hour matter for solo operators?

Yes. A solo operator's calendar lives or dies on jobs per hour because there is no second crew to absorb a bad day. Tightening the route, hitting the planned scope, and protecting the gaps between visits compound directly into either more daylight or more visits per week.

Glossary entry

What is jobs per hour?

Why jobs per hour is the operator's headline metric

Most service business owners can quote their revenue per month but cannot quote their jobs per hour. That is backwards. Revenue per month is a result. Jobs per hour is the operating condition that produces the result. Move jobs per hour up by 10 percent and revenue follows without anyone selling anything new. Move it down by 10 percent and no amount of marketing catches the lost capacity back up.

The metric is also the cleanest comparison between crews. Crew A and Crew B both work eight-hour days. Crew A completes 10 visits, Crew B completes 7. The difference is real, explainable, and almost always operational rather than personal: tighter route, better buffer rules, more disciplined scope. Once the gap is visible, the conversation about how to close it gets concrete.

Four levers that move jobs per hour

Route density

Stops within 10 minutes of each other compound. Two extra visits a day on a tighter route can lift jobs per hour by 20 percent.

Scope discipline

Visits that run 25 percent over scope eat the rest of the day. Hitting the planned window consistently is most of what keeps the metric honest.

Buffer realism

Planned gaps between stops should match reality. Buffers that are too tight cause cascading lateness; buffers that are too generous starve the day.

Start time honesty

If the crew is supposed to roll at 7 a.m. but actually rolls at 7:35, the metric loses 35 paid minutes every day. The fix is operational, not technological.

Benchmark bands across common trades

Healthy ranges are trade-dependent because average scope length changes the denominator. The bands below represent operators we have observed at Simple Scheduler.

Residential cleaning

Typical band: 0.4 to 0.7 jobs per crew hour for 1.5- to 2-hour visits.

Lawn care (mowing)

Typical band: 1.2 to 2.0 jobs per crew hour on 25- to 45-minute residential routes.

Pest control (residential)

Typical band: 1.0 to 1.5 jobs per technician hour on dense neighborhood rounds.

Pool maintenance

Typical band: 1.5 to 2.5 jobs per technician hour on 20- to 30-minute weekly service routes.

HVAC tune-ups

Typical band: 0.7 to 1.2 jobs per technician hour for 45- to 75-minute residential PMs.

Mobile pet grooming

Typical band: 0.5 to 0.8 jobs per groomer hour for 60- to 90-minute appointments.

Related concepts

Frequently asked questions

: Divide completed billable jobs by total paid crew hours over the same period. Paid hours include drive time, on-site work, breaks, and any clock-in to clock-out time the crew is on payroll. Most operators run it weekly or monthly per crew.

Start today

Measure jobs per hour out of the box.

Run a real workspace, watch the metric move, and identify where the day is leaking time.

Get started See route optimization