What Is Average Ticket?

Average ticket is the average revenue a service business collects per completed job: total invoiced revenue divided by the number of jobs invoiced in the same period. An HVAC company that billed $60,800 on 160 repair calls last month had a $380 average repair ticket. Track it by job type, not as one blended number.

How do you calculate average ticket?

To calculate average ticket, divide the revenue you invoiced in a period by the number of jobs you invoiced in that same period. Use invoiced jobs, not booked appointments, and keep job types separate. If you ran 160 repair calls in a month and billed $60,800 for them, your average repair ticket was $380.

Average ticket = Revenue invoiced ÷ Number of jobs invoiced

What should you leave out of average ticket?

Leave out anything that isn't a paid job, or track it separately, so the average reflects real selling. Most owners count three kinds of visits differently.

• Warranty and callback visits at $0. Track them as a callback rate instead. Including them drags the average down and hides the real problem.
• Diagnostic-only visits. Count them, but also track how many turned into repairs. A low conversion rate from diagnostic to repair matters more than the ticket.
• Change orders. Add approved change orders to the job they belong to, not as separate tickets.

Why does average ticket matter?

Average ticket matters because it sets the value of everything that comes before the job. Every call, lead and booked appointment is worth roughly your booking rate times your average ticket. If you know that number, you know what a missed call costs and how much you can afford to spend to get one.

• Missed calls: missed calls × booking rate × average ticket is revenue walking away. The missed call calculator runs it for your shop.
• Marketing: your affordable cost per lead depends on ticket size and close rate.
• Lifetime value: first-visit ticket is only the start. Customer lifetime value adds repeat visits, maintenance and the eventual replacement.
• Tech productivity: jobs per day × average ticket is revenue per tech per day, which feeds gross profit per hour.

Average ticket by trade

Ticket size depends on the trade and the job type. The examples below are illustrative, to show how one trade can have very different tickets; they aren't industry averages. Use your own invoices.

How can you raise your average ticket?

You raise average ticket by giving customers better ways to spend more on things they actually need: options instead of one price, the whole fix instead of a patch, and maintenance that brings them back. Pushy upselling raises tickets once and loses the customer.

1. Present options. Good-better-best pricing on every repair or install lets customers choose more coverage.
2. Fix the whole problem. If the drain line will clog again, quote the fix that solves it, not just the clear-out.
3. Offer a maintenance plan on every visit. A maintenance agreement raises lifetime value even when it lowers a single ticket.
4. Price correctly. Flat-rate pricing stops techs from under-billing fast work.
5. Train on [upselling](/learn/upselling) the right way: recommend what you'd do in your own home, with photos.
6. Answer the big calls. Emergency and replacement calls carry the biggest tickets, and they're the callers least willing to wait for a callback.

Average ticket vs. revenue per job and customer lifetime value

Average ticket and revenue per job mean the same thing in most shops. Customer lifetime value is different: it's every ticket a customer pays you over the whole relationship. A $149 tune-up has a small ticket but can lead to years of repairs and an eventual replacement, so judge maintenance work on lifetime value, not ticket.

Common average ticket mistakes

• One blended number. Mixing installs and service makes the average swing with job mix.
• Counting booked jobs instead of invoiced jobs. Cancellations and no-shows inflate the job count.
• Counting $0 callbacks. Track them separately as callbacks.
• Chasing ticket, ignoring margin. A bigger ticket loaded with low-margin equipment can earn less gross profit than a smaller repair.
• Comparing with another trade's number. A plumber's ticket and a roofer's ticket aren't comparable.