How to calculate the hourly cost of doing something manually
Before deciding whether to automate a task, calculate what it currently costs to do it manually. The formula is short. The results are often a surprise.
The formula
(Time per task in minutes ÷ 60) × hourly value of owner time × frequency per month = monthly cost in owner time
Use £75 per hour as a baseline if you do not have a specific figure in mind. This is a conservative estimate for most service business owners and does not include the opportunity cost of sales calls or site visits not made during that time.
Three examples
Chasing quotes
A quote follow-up, one call or message, takes about 8 minutes. A business sending 15 quotes per month and following up twice on each, at 48 hours and at ten days, runs 30 follow-up actions per month. At 8 minutes each: 240 minutes, or 4 hours. At £75 per hour: £300 per month in owner time, spent on work that has already been partially done at the quoting stage.
Sending review requests
A text or email to a customer asking for a review, written and sent individually, takes around 3 minutes. At 25 jobs per month: 75 minutes. Just over an hour. At £75 per hour: approximately £94 per month — for a task that an automated message handles in zero owner time.
Booking return appointments
For services with a natural repeat cycle, cleaning, maintenance, or inspections, a manual re-booking call or message takes around 6 minutes per customer. At 40 regular customers contacted quarterly, that is roughly 80 minutes of owner time per month. At £75 per hour: £100 per month.
The total
These three tasks alone cost approximately £494 per month in owner time at £75 per hour. Over 12 months, that is £5,928. That figure does not include the revenue cost of the times the tasks do not get done because there was no time for them.
The number is different for every business. The formula is the same for all of them.
EveryCatch automates all three of these tasks so the owner time cost drops to zero. Book a free discovery call and we will run the calculation for your specific tasks.
