What payback period is good enough?

Under 12 months is an obvious project. Under 18 months is worth doing. Between 18 and 30 months, only if it also removes a real constraint on growth. Over 30 months, find a higher-frequency process instead.

Why 70% automatable rather than 100%?

There is almost always a remainder — exceptions, judgment calls, and the review step. Automating the last 5% frequently costs more than the first 95%, and a plan built on 100% is a plan that disappoints.

Why multiply the wage by 1.3?

Payroll taxes, benefits, and overhead. The fully loaded cost of an employee is meaningfully higher than their hourly wage, and using the raw wage understates what the manual process actually costs you.

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Does this actually pay for itself?

The arithmetic that decides whether an automation project is worth doing. Deliberately conservative — if it looks good here, it usually looks better in reality.

Your assumptions

Use the sliders or type the numbers you actually know. The calculator is illustrative, not a quote.

People doing this task

people

Hours each, per week

hrs

Hourly wage

$/hr

Loaded rate: $31/hr

Payroll burden / overhead

Default is 30%. Use your actual payroll burden if you know it.

Realistically automatable

70% is a starting assumption, not a benchmark. Adjust it to the share that truly follows repeatable rules.

Build cost

Monthly run cost

$/mo

What the assumptions produce

Hours spent on this, per year600 hrs

Estimated annual labor cost$18,720

Estimated hours returned per year420 hrs

Estimated gross annual saving$13,104

Less annual run cost− $2,400

Estimated net, year one-$1,296

Estimated net, later years$10,704

Estimated payback

13.5 months

Promising if the assumptions hold. Validate the time savings before committing to a build.

How this is calculated

Annual hours = people × hours per week × 50 weeks. We use 50 rather than 52 to leave room for holidays and time off.

Loaded wage = hourly wage × (1 + your burden percentage). The default 30% is editable because payroll taxes, benefits, and overhead vary materially by business.

Payback = build cost ÷ (estimated annual gross saving − annual run cost), expressed in months. The result is only as good as the assumptions above.

Want to pressure-test the assumptions?

Send us the numbers and the process. We will tell you which assumptions look defensible, which ones need measurement, and whether the likely payback justifies going further.