Tools
Things to run at the counter
Worksheets and checklists a shop can work through this week.
Each tool is a page you can work through at the counter or at the desk with your own numbers: a calculator, a worksheet or a checklist, with the math written out so you can check it. The time each one takes is on its card.
They are written for shop owners and service writers, and none of them asks you to sign up.
Average repair order calculator
Turn a revenue target into a per-ticket number at your car count, and see what the same goal would cost in extra cars instead.
August 8, 20265 min calculatorEffective labor rate calculator
Work out what an hour of shop time is worth after discounts and unbilled hours, then read the gap against the rate posted at your counter.
August 8, 20265 min calculatorAuto repair estimate builder demo
Price four sample jobs off one inspection at your own labor rate and parts markup, with the source printed on every line.
August 8, 20264 min calculatorMarkup vs margin calculator
A 40% markup is a 28.6% margin. Convert one into the other, price a part both ways, and see the gross profit each answer leaves.
August 8, 202610 min calculatorParts matrix calculator
Build a sliding parts matrix band by band, see the margin each markup leaves, and price any part against the table you just built.
August 8, 20268 min calculatorShop break-even calculator
How many billed hours a month before the shop is making money, split across your working days and the technicians turning them.
August 8, 20266 min calculatorTechnician efficiency calculator
Billed hours over clocked hours, with productivity worked separately, plus what one point of efficiency is worth in dollars.
August 8, 202620 min checklistEstimate turnaround checklist
Measure your own inspection-to-estimate time across thirty tickets and find which step is eating the afternoon.
July 31, 2026Elsewhere
Guides
Reference pages on labor time, parts, and the counter workflow around them.
Compare
Where one approach beats the other at the counter, and under what conditions.
Integrations
Mechanica works inside Tekmetric, Shop-Ware, Shopmonkey, Mitchell 1, Protractor, AutoLeap, Fullbay, R.O. Writer, Shop Boss and Torque360.
Glossary
Counter vocabulary defined once, in the register a service writer uses.
Blog
What we learn writing estimating software for auto repair shops.