# Technician Utilization Calculator

Technician utilization is the share of paid hours a tech spends on customer jobs: hours on jobs ÷ paid hours. Efficiency is hours billed ÷ hours on jobs. A tech paid 45 hours a week who works 27 on jobs is 60% utilized; billing 30 hours makes them 111% efficient.

## Key takeaways

- Utilization = hours on customer jobs ÷ paid hours.
- Efficiency = hours billed (or flat-rate hours sold) ÷ hours on jobs. Over 100% means the tech beat book time.
- Productivity = hours billed ÷ paid hours = utilization × efficiency. It's the number that drives revenue.
- A few extra job hours per tech per week is often worth more than a price increase, and needs no new hire.

## What is technician utilization?

Technician utilization measures how much of the time you pay a tech for is spent working on customer jobs. The rest goes to driving, parts runs, waiting on dispatch, shop time and callbacks. Because you pay for all of it, every unbilled hour has to be covered by the hours you do bill. See [technician utilization](https://www.brix.so/learn/technician-utilization) and [billable hours](https://www.brix.so/learn/billable-hours) for definitions.

**Formulas**

```
Utilization = J ÷ P    Efficiency = B ÷ J    Productivity = B ÷ P
```

Where:
- P = paid hours (clock-in to clock-out)
- J = hours clocked on customer jobs
- B = hours billed: flat-rate book hours sold, or hours invoiced on time and materials

## How to calculate technician utilization

1. **Pull paid hours from payroll.** Use a few normal weeks, not the busiest week of summer. Include overtime.
2. **Pull hours on jobs from timesheets.** Only time clocked to a customer job counts. If techs don't clock in and out by job, start there; you can't manage what you can't see.
3. **Pull billed hours from invoices.** On flat rate, add up the book hours of every task sold. On time and materials, add up hours invoiced.
4. **Divide.** Job hours ÷ paid hours is utilization. Billed hours ÷ job hours is efficiency. Billed ÷ paid is productivity.
5. **Price the gap.** Extra job hours needed to hit your target × efficiency × your bill rate × techs × weeks is what the gap costs you each year.

> **Worked example: four service techs**
>
> Each tech is paid 45 hours a week and clocks 27 on jobs: **60% utilization**. They sell 30 flat-rate hours a week, so **efficiency is 111.1%** and productivity 66.7%.
>
> At $150 per billed hour, each tech brings in $4,500 a week, or $900,000 a year across 4 techs over 50 weeks.
>
> Getting to 75% utilization takes 6.75 more job hours per tech per week. At the same efficiency that's 7.5 billed hours, worth **$225,000 a year** with the same four techs and trucks.

## Where do unbilled hours go?

In the example, each tech has 18 paid hours a week that aren't on a job. Here's an illustrative breakdown and the fix for each.

**Illustrative week: paid hours not spent on jobs**

| Where the time goes | Hours per week | How to win it back |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Driving between jobs | 7 | Tighter zones and routing; booking jobs near each other |
| Supply-house and parts runs | 4 | Better truck stock; parts ordered before the job |
| Waiting on dispatch, gaps in the schedule | 3 | Answering every call; filling cancellations fast |
| Shop time, loading, meetings | 2.5 | Short morning huddle; load trucks the night before |
| Callbacks (unbilled return trips) | 1.5 | First-time fixes; checklists before leaving the job |
| Total | 18 |  |

_Example breakdown, not a benchmark. Your timesheets will show your own pattern._

## Utilization by trade

**What limits utilization in each trade**

| Trade | Biggest drain on billable time | Lever |
| --- | --- | --- |
| HVAC | Seasonal swings: idle shoulder months, overbooked peaks | Maintenance agreements to fill spring and fall |
| Plumbing | Drive time and parts runs on emergency calls | Truck stock and zoned dispatch |
| Electrical | Return trips for permits, inspections and parts | Pre-job material lists; inspection scheduling |
| Pest control and lawn care | Route density | Selling neighbors on the same route |
| Garage door | Wrong parts on the truck for the door | Photos and model numbers collected at booking |
| Cleaning | Travel between homes and gaps from cancellations | Tight zones and a waitlist to fill gaps |

_Common patterns, not measured rates._

## Common utilization mistakes

- **Counting drive time as job time.** It's paid, and it might be billed through a trip fee, but it isn't time on the job. Track it separately so you can see it.
- **Confusing utilization and efficiency.** A tech can be 90% utilized and still slow (low efficiency), or fast but sitting idle (low utilization). You need both numbers.
- **Chasing 100%.** Some non-job time is necessary: training, truck maintenance, safety. Set a realistic target from your own best weeks.
- **Measuring the team, not the tech.** The average hides the tech who needs coaching and the one who should be training others.
- **Not pricing for it.** Your hourly rate has to be built on billable hours, not paid hours. See the [contractor hourly rate calculator](https://www.brix.so/tools/contractor-hourly-rate-calculator).

BRIX answers every call and books it into open slots, assigns the right tech based on skills, location and availability, and tracks crew timesheets, so more paid hours turn into billed hours.

- [AI receptionist](https://www.brix.so/features/ai-receptionist): Answers every call 24/7, qualifies the caller, books the job and texts back anyone it misses.
- [Scheduling and dispatch](https://www.brix.so/features/scheduling-dispatch): Assigns the right crew to the right job based on skills, location and availability.
- [Crew timesheets](https://www.brix.so/#use-cases): Clock-ins, job hours and payroll-ready timesheets.

## Frequently asked questions

### How do you calculate technician utilization?

Divide the hours a tech spends on customer jobs by the hours you pay them for. A tech paid 45 hours who spends 27 on jobs is 60% utilized. Use timesheets clocked by job, not estimates.

### What is the difference between utilization and efficiency?

Utilization measures how much paid time is spent on jobs. Efficiency measures how much the tech bills for the time spent on jobs: on flat rate, book hours sold ÷ hours actually worked. A fast tech can be over 100% efficient while still poorly utilized if the schedule has gaps.

### What is a good technician utilization rate?

Set a target from your own best weeks rather than an industry figure, since trade, service area and job mix change what's possible. Then track each tech against it weekly. Every point you add spreads the same wages and overhead over more billed hours.

### What is technician productivity?

Productivity is billed hours divided by paid hours, which equals utilization times efficiency. It's the single number that ties a tech's paid time to revenue, so it's the best one for comparing techs.

### How can I improve technician utilization?

Answer every call so the schedule stays full, zone and route jobs to cut drive time, stock trucks to avoid parts runs, collect model numbers and photos when booking, and reduce callbacks. Track it weekly so you see the effect.

### Should drive time be billable?

Drive time is paid, so it has to be recovered somewhere: in a trip or dispatch fee, built into flat-rate prices, or in your hourly rate. Either way, track it separately from job time so you can see and reduce it.

## Related

- [What Is Technician Utilization?](https://www.brix.so/learn/technician-utilization)
- [What Are Billable Hours?](https://www.brix.so/learn/billable-hours)
- [What Is Dispatching?](https://www.brix.so/learn/dispatching)
- [What Is First-Time Fix Rate?](https://www.brix.so/learn/first-time-fix-rate)
- [How Much to Charge per Hour as a Contractor](https://www.brix.so/tools/contractor-hourly-rate-calculator)
- [Gross Profit per Truck Calculator](https://www.brix.so/tools/gross-profit-per-truck-calculator)
- [Flat Rate Pricing Calculator](https://www.brix.so/tools/flat-rate-pricing-calculator)
- [Scheduling and Dispatch Software That Puts the Right Crew on Every Job](https://www.brix.so/features/scheduling-dispatch)
- [Maintenance Agreement Pricing Calculator](https://www.brix.so/tools/maintenance-agreement-calculator)
- [Markup and Margin Calculator](https://www.brix.so/tools/markup-margin-calculator)

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Written by BRIX Editorial Team. Last updated 2026-10-12.
Canonical: https://www.brix.so/tools/technician-utilization-calculator