Act on the result
Separate genuinely unavoidable non-billable work before changing staffing, allocation or sales activity.
Educational only: Business decision support, not accounting, tax or legal advice.
Privacy: No account is required. Tool inputs and results stay in this browser. Anonymous categorical usage analytics send only governed page, tool, cluster and action identifiers; tool inputs and results are never sent. Error monitoring is disabled. Optional saved state stays only on this device.
Update policy: Reviewed when formulas or official dependencies change.
Scope: Market-neutral small-business planning using your own assumptions.
What this planner helps you decide
Best for
Service businesses separating billable work from paid but unassigned capacity.
Outputs
Bench and avoidable hours, bench cost, billable utilisation and foregone revenue capacity.
Start here
Reconcile paid and billable hours first, then enter loaded cost, billing rate and unavoidable non-billable hours.
Use a different tool when: Do not use this to compare overtime and hire cost at an entered demand level, including capacity and exact overtime-cost contribution; use Overtime vs Hire Comparison for that decision. Use this tool to measure the cost and user-entered revenue-capacity effect of paid but unassigned hours.
Profit & break-even
Unassigned Capacity Cost: bench and avoidable hours
Bench and avoidable hours, bench cost, billable utilisation and foregone revenue capacity.
Amounts use the same currency as your inputs. No currency conversion is performed.
Staffing decision assumptions
Use your own records on one consistent period, capacity, currency and tax basis.
Your numbers stay in this browser
Total paid capacity in the selected period.
Paid hours assigned to billable delivery.
User-entered cost per paid hour. Use one consistent currency and indirect-tax basis.
Additional planning inputsOpen the assumptions you are less likely to change on every comparison.
User-entered potential revenue rate; it is not a sales forecast. Use one consistent currency and indirect-tax basis.
Paid non-billable time that the user chooses not to treat as avoidable bench.
Decision result
Results come from the registered exact staffing engines. A component table is used because it is clearer than a chart for this decision.
- Bench hours
- 400 hours
- Avoidable bench hours
- 300 hours
- Bench cost
- 20,000.00
- Billable utilisation
- 60%
- Foregone revenue capacity
- 36,000.00
| Component | Hours | Cost or capacity value |
|---|---|---|
| Paid capacity | 1,000 | — |
| Billable capacity | 600 | — |
| Bench capacity | 400 | 20,000 |
| Unavoidable non-billable | 100 | — |
| Avoidable bench | 300 | 36,000 |
Scenario comparison
Each row names the assumption axis changed from the baseline.
ScenarioResultDifference
Entered scenario20,000.00Baseline
Lower Billable hours23,000.003,000.00
Higher Billable hours17,000.00-3,000.00
Save these results, change an input, then compare the updated figures with this baseline.
The baseline is temporary in this tab and is not added to shared scenario links or generated reports.
Calculation details
View calculation detailsView the formulas and inputs used for these results.
Bench hours
Bench hours
paid hours − billable hours400 hoursResult400 hours
Uses user-entered staffing records and assumptions on one consistent period, capacity and currency basis. The exact engine retains raw precision; bounded display formatting does not feed calculation.
Unassigned Capacity Cost Planner formulas →Inputs used by these formula steps
- Bench hoursPaid Hours
- 1,000
- Bench hoursBillable Hours
- 600
- Bench hoursLoaded Cost Per Paid Hour Ex Tax
- 50
- Bench hoursBilling Rate Per Hour Ex Tax
- 120
- Bench hoursUnavoidable Non Billable Hours
- 100
Avoidable bench hours
Avoidable bench hours
bench hours − unavoidable non-billable hours300 hoursResult300 hours
Uses user-entered staffing records and assumptions on one consistent period, capacity and currency basis. The exact engine retains raw precision; bounded display formatting does not feed calculation.
Unassigned Capacity Cost Planner formulas →Inputs used by these formula steps
- Avoidable bench hoursPaid Hours
- 1,000
- Avoidable bench hoursBillable Hours
- 600
- Avoidable bench hoursLoaded Cost Per Paid Hour Ex Tax
- 50
- Avoidable bench hoursBilling Rate Per Hour Ex Tax
- 120
- Avoidable bench hoursUnavoidable Non Billable Hours
- 100
Bench cost
Bench cost
bench hours × loaded cost per paid hour20,000.00Result20,000.00
Uses user-entered staffing records and assumptions on one consistent period, capacity and currency basis. The exact engine retains raw precision; bounded display formatting does not feed calculation.
Unassigned Capacity Cost Planner formulas →Inputs used by these formula steps
- Bench costPaid Hours
- 1,000
- Bench costBillable Hours
- 600
- Bench costLoaded Cost Per Paid Hour Ex Tax
- 50
- Bench costBilling Rate Per Hour Ex Tax
- 120
- Bench costUnavoidable Non Billable Hours
- 100
Billable utilisation
Billable utilisation
billable hours ÷ paid hours0.6 percentResult60%
Uses user-entered staffing records and assumptions on one consistent period, capacity and currency basis. The exact engine retains raw precision; bounded display formatting does not feed calculation.
Unassigned Capacity Cost Planner formulas →Inputs used by these formula steps
- Billable utilisationPaid Hours
- 1,000
- Billable utilisationBillable Hours
- 600
- Billable utilisationLoaded Cost Per Paid Hour Ex Tax
- 50
- Billable utilisationBilling Rate Per Hour Ex Tax
- 120
- Billable utilisationUnavoidable Non Billable Hours
- 100
Foregone revenue capacity
Foregone revenue capacity
avoidable bench hours × billing rate per hour36,000.00Result36,000.00
Uses user-entered staffing records and assumptions on one consistent period, capacity and currency basis. The exact engine retains raw precision; bounded display formatting does not feed calculation.
Unassigned Capacity Cost Planner formulas →Inputs used by these formula steps
- Foregone revenue capacityPaid Hours
- 1,000
- Foregone revenue capacityBillable Hours
- 600
- Foregone revenue capacityLoaded Cost Per Paid Hour Ex Tax
- 50
- Foregone revenue capacityBilling Rate Per Hour Ex Tax
- 120
- Foregone revenue capacityUnavoidable Non Billable Hours
- 100
Inputs used
- Paid hours
- 1,000
- Billable hours
- 600
- Loaded cost per paid hour
- 50
- Billing rate per hour
- 120
- Unavoidable non-billable hours
- 100
Open this calculator with preset values
This calculator supports documented, shareable scenario URLs. Compatible assistants and applications can construct links using the parameters below.
Scenario links contain only allowlisted numeric and closed-choice inputs shown in the URL; Margin101 excludes free text and identifying fields. Anyone you share the URL with can read those numbers, so do not include private or identifying data.
| Parameter | Meaning | Unit | Allowed values | Presence | Default |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| billableHours | Paid hours assigned to billable delivery. | billable hours/selected period | 0 to 100000000 | Required | 600 |
| billingRatePerHourExTax | User-entered potential revenue rate; it is not a sales forecast. Use one consistent currency and indirect-tax basis. | currency units/billable hour, ex tax | 0 to 10000000 | Required | 120 |
| loadedCostPerPaidHourExTax | User-entered cost per paid hour. Use one consistent currency and indirect-tax basis. | currency units/paid hour, ex tax | 0 to 10000000 | Required | 50 |
| paidHours | Total paid capacity in the selected period. | paid hours/selected period | 0 to 100000000 | Required | 1000 |
| unavoidableNonBillableHours | Paid non-billable time that the user chooses not to treat as avoidable bench. | non-billable hours/selected period | 0 to 100000000 | Required | 100 |
Unassigned Capacity Cost: bench and avoidable hours
Use bench cost to quantify paid idle capacity and treat foregone revenue only as user-entered capacity value.
Formula summary
- Primary formula
- bench hours = paid hours − billable hours
Data used here
- The estimate uses your inputs and the general business formula documented in the methodology.
Decision checks
Stress-test the decision
Retest fewer billable hours and a lower recoverable billing rate to expose the downside.
When this estimate can be misleading
- Foregone revenue is entered capacity value, not a sales forecast or guaranteed recovery.
- Unavoidable non-billable time must be chosen from business records and operating policy.
- Use one consistent period, capacity, currency and indirect-tax basis.
- This is educational decision support, not accounting, payroll, employment, tax or legal advice.
- Use bench cost to quantify paid idle capacity and treat foregone revenue only as user-entered capacity value.
Educational estimate, not advice. See all assumptions & limitations →
Related reading
Guides to interpret the decision and its assumptions.
- Absence and Rework: Protect Delivery Capacity
Reconcile absence and rework with delivery commitments on one time basis without inventing a staffing buffer.
Read guide
Frequently asked questions
How do I measure the cost and user-entered revenue-capacity effect of paid but unassigned hours?
Separate genuinely unavoidable non-billable work before changing staffing, allocation or sales activity.
Which planning assumptions should I stress-test?
Compare a plausible alternative scenario and verify the decision-critical assumption that changes the plan most.