Methodology
Mobilisation Cost Recovery Planner methodology
Educational only: Business decision support, not accounting, tax or legal advice.
Privacy: Calculations run locally; Margin101 does not receive your commercial inputs.
Update policy: Reviewed when formulas or official dependencies change.
Scope: Market-neutral small-business planning using your own assumptions.
1. Formulas and units
totalMobilisationCostExTax = setup labour + travel and freight + permits and equipmentWhere
- setupLabourExTax
- Setup labour (currency units/mobilisation program, ex tax)Source: Business record
- travelAndFreightExTax
- Travel and freight (currency units/mobilisation program, ex tax)Source: Business record
- permitsAndEquipmentExTax
- Permits and equipment (currency units/mobilisation program, ex tax)Source: Business record
- totalMobilisationCostExTax
- Total mobilisation cost (currency units, ex tax)Source: Calculated output
unrecoveredCostExTax = maximum of zero and total mobilisation cost − amount already recoveredWhere
- amountAlreadyRecoveredExTax
- Amount already recovered (currency units/mobilisation program, ex tax)Source: Business record
- totalMobilisationCostExTax
- Total mobilisation cost (currency units, ex tax)Source: Calculated output
- unrecoveredCostExTax
- Unrecovered mobilisation cost (currency units, ex tax)Source: Calculated output
requiredRecoveryPerProjectExTax = unrecovered mobilisation cost ÷ expected projectsWhere
- expectedProjects
- Expected projects (whole projects)Source: Business record
- totalMobilisationCostExTax
- Total mobilisation cost (currency units, ex tax)Source: Calculated output
- unrecoveredCostExTax
- Unrecovered mobilisation cost (currency units, ex tax)Source: Calculated output
- requiredRecoveryPerProjectExTax
- Required recovery per project (currency units/project, ex tax)Source: Calculated output
Money inputs and outputs use the currency selected in the scenario without changing the canonical methodology. Rates, margins, utilisation and buffers are entered as percentages and converted to decimal values for calculation.
2. Worked example
Input assumptions
The rows below come directly from the exact engine using the visible default fixture.
- Setup labour
- 2,000 currency units/mobilisation program, ex tax
- Travel and freight
- 1,000 currency units/mobilisation program, ex tax
- Permits and equipment
- 1,000 currency units/mobilisation program, ex tax
- Expected projects
- 4 whole projects
- Amount already recovered
- 1,000 currency units/mobilisation program, ex tax
Calculation and outputs
Total mobilisation cost
totalMobilisationCostExTax = setup labour + travel and freight + permits and equipment- Setup labour
- 2,000 currency units/mobilisation program, ex tax
- Travel and freight
- 1,000 currency units/mobilisation program, ex tax
- Permits and equipment
- 1,000 currency units/mobilisation program, ex tax
Engine result: 4,000 currency units, ex tax
Unrecovered mobilisation cost
unrecoveredCostExTax = maximum of zero and total mobilisation cost − amount already recovered- Amount already recovered
- 1,000 currency units/mobilisation program, ex tax
- Total mobilisation cost
- 4,000 currency units, ex tax
Engine result: 3,000 currency units, ex tax
Required recovery per project
requiredRecoveryPerProjectExTax = unrecovered mobilisation cost ÷ expected projects- Expected projects
- 4 whole projects
- Total mobilisation cost
- 4,000 currency units, ex tax
- Unrecovered mobilisation cost
- 3,000 currency units, ex tax
Engine result: 750 currency units/project, ex tax
Example
The rows below come directly from the exact engine using the visible default fixture.
- Total mobilisation cost
- 4,000.00
- Unrecovered mobilisation cost
- 3,000.00
- Required recovery per project
- 750.00
The exact engine-derived outputs are shown in the labelled rows below.
Interpretation
Mobilisation is a separate cost event; hiding it inside later rates can leave early cash unrecovered.
3. Validation and boundary checks
- All values must be finite and remain inside the visible input boundaries.
- All money values use one consistent ex-tax basis and period.
- Rates must remain inside their engine-owned boundaries.
- Expected projects must be a whole number; per-project recovery is unavailable when that count is zero.
- Setup labour minimum
setupLabourExTax ≥ 0 currency units/mobilisation program, ex tax— A lower value is rejected before calculation.- Setup labour maximum
setupLabourExTax ≤ 10,000,000 currency units/mobilisation program, ex tax— A higher value is rejected before calculation.- Travel and freight minimum
travelAndFreightExTax ≥ 0 currency units/mobilisation program, ex tax— A lower value is rejected before calculation.- Travel and freight maximum
travelAndFreightExTax ≤ 10,000,000 currency units/mobilisation program, ex tax— A higher value is rejected before calculation.- Permits and equipment minimum
permitsAndEquipmentExTax ≥ 0 currency units/mobilisation program, ex tax— A lower value is rejected before calculation.- Permits and equipment maximum
permitsAndEquipmentExTax ≤ 10,000,000 currency units/mobilisation program, ex tax— A higher value is rejected before calculation.- Expected projects minimum
expectedProjects ≥ 0 whole projects— A lower value is rejected before calculation.- Expected projects maximum
expectedProjects ≤ 100,000,000 whole projects— A higher value is rejected before calculation.- Amount already recovered minimum
amountAlreadyRecoveredExTax ≥ 0 currency units/mobilisation program, ex tax— A lower value is rejected before calculation.- Amount already recovered maximum
amountAlreadyRecoveredExTax ≤ 10,000,000 currency units/mobilisation program, ex tax— A higher value is rejected before calculation.
4. Assumptions and source classification
- All hours, utilisation, costs, rates and recovery targets are supplied by the user.
- Money values use one consistent ex-tax basis.
- No provider fee, jurisdiction, benchmark or demand forecast is embedded.
- Raw engine precision is retained until display.
This planner has no current policy-data dependency. Its commercial assumptions are user supplied. Registered family-level regression suites exercise the shared business-logic engine and worked-result reconciliation.
5. Limitations
- Results depend on the completeness and classification of the entered business records.
- The planner does not forecast demand, utilisation, supplier terms or project outcomes.
- This is educational business decision support rather than accounting, tax, legal or financial advice.
This is educational decision support, not tax, accounting, legal or financial advice. Check the treatment of your actual transactions under the rules that apply to your business and seek qualified advice where appropriate.
6. Update and evidence policy
Registered family-level suites test formula invariants and example reconciliation; the release ledger records that coverage without claiming a separate oracle for every line of public copy. There is no official threshold or benchmark to refresh for this planner. Commercial inputs remain user-supplied because they vary by business and contract.
Change history
- : Initial public release of the Mobilisation Cost Recovery planner and methodology.
Related reading
Guides to interpret the decision and its assumptions.
- Field-Service Economics: Travel, Labour and Capacity
Reconcile call-out work with travel, loaded labour, recovery and daily capacity on one job basis.
Read guide