Quiet season check
Type in twelve months of income, your fixed costs, what you must draw, and what you already have set aside. See every month above or below the line you must clear, and the dip your year needs covering. Updates live as you type. No signup, nothing saved, nothing sent anywhere.
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Quiet season check calculator
Add your fixed costs, what you draw, and at least one month's income to see your dip.
A month above the line pays for itself. A month below it is part of the dip.
The total shortfall across every month that falls below the line — the money a cash reserve needs to hold to cover the whole quiet stretch.
The same average shortfall, read the other way: work booked in instead of savings drawn down.
This only totals the numbers you typed in. It doesn't know which months are actually busy or quiet for your trade, and it doesn't forecast next year — it reads the pattern back from the twelve months you gave it.
Want the full method behind these numbers — covering the dip, filling the quiet weeks, and selling work that repeats? Read the quiet season, or see all free tools.
Why the reserve target is a total, not an average
Adding up every month's shortfall, instead of averaging the whole year, keeps the target honest about depth. A year with one very quiet stretch and the rest merely average would look fine on a plain average, but the total shortfall still has to be covered in full before the quiet stretch ends — that total is what a cash reserve actually needs to hold.
Why runway and the extra work figure use the same number
Both read off the same average monthly shortfall across the quiet months — one shows how long money already saved covers it, the other shows how much extra invoiced work would close the same gap instead. They are two ways to close the same hole, not two separate totals.
This calculator only totals what you already know about your own year. For the method behind each of these numbers — and why a discount is the wrong way to fill a quiet week — read the quiet season.
Common questions
Where does “the line” come from?
The line is your monthly fixed costs plus the amount you told the calculator you must draw each month. That money leaves your account whether or not a job comes in. A month above the line is a busy month. A month below it is a quiet one.
Why does the reserve target come from the dip, not a round number?
A round number, such as three months of expenses, ignores how deep your own quiet stretch runs. The dip adds up the exact shortfall in your own twelve months. So the reserve target matches your pattern.
What does “runway” actually mean here?
Runway is the number of average quiet months your saved money would cover. The tool uses the average shortfall of your own quiet months. It does not promise that your quiet stretch will last that long.
What is the extra invoiced work figure for?
It is the average shortfall of one quiet month. You can cover that gap from savings, or you can invoice about this much extra work in that month. The figure shows the second option.
Does this tool know when my season actually falls?
No. The tool does arithmetic on the twelve numbers you type in. It does not know which months are busy for your trade. Type your months in the order they really run.
Want the maintenance work already on a timeline?
BizBinder doesn't forecast your income or know when your quiet season starts — that read stays yours. What it does is run a recurring invoice series once a maintenance agreement is in place, and merge a client's jobs, invoices, and notes into one timeline, so the work above is easier to act on, not something you have to reconstruct from memory.
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