Resources · Tool
The Payback Map
Put a dollar figure on the work your team repeats every week. Then find the one fix that pays for itself first.
How to use this: Read the five steps once. Then put three to six tasks from your own week into the calculator. It takes about an hour. Everything runs in your browser, so nothing you enter is sent anywhere.
No list yet? Start with the 45-Minute Audit, then come back.
Why dollars, not hours
“Twenty hours a month” is easy to shrug off. “$9,600 a year” gets a decision made. Hours tell you something is slow. Dollars tell you whether fixing it is worth the money.
Most owners pick their first automation project by gut. They pick the task that annoys them most. The most annoying task is rarely the most expensive one, and it is often not the easiest to fix.
The five steps
1. Price one hour
Start with what an hour of each person’s time really costs. Pay is only part of it. Taxes, benefits, software, and a desk add about 30 percent.
The math
Yearly pay × 1.3 ÷ 2,080 = the real cost of one hour
Someone paid $56,000 a year costs you about $35 an hour. The 2,080 is a full year of 40-hour weeks.
2. List the repeat work
Ask the three questions we open every Mapping Session with.
- What does your week actually look like?
- What is the task you hate doing, but no one else can do because it lives in your head?
- If you got five hours back every week, what would you spend them on?
The first two give you the list. The third tells you what the time is worth to you. For each task, write down who does it, how many times a month, and how many minutes each time. Rough numbers are fine.
3. Do the math
The math
Times a month × minutes each ÷ 60 × hourly cost × 12 = what the task costs a year
A bookkeeper matches 300 supplier bills a month at 6 minutes each. That is 30 hours a month. At $35 an hour, it costs $12,600 a year.
4. Run the five checks
Not every expensive task is a good first project. Give each one a yes or no.
- It happens every week.
- It is the same steps every time. You could write them on one page.
- The information lives in a program, not in someone’s head.
- A mistake is cheap to catch before it goes out the door.
- You can count it. You would know if it got faster or cheaper.
Passes all 5
Build it. These pay back fastest.
Passes 3 or 4
Fix the process, then automate. It is usually one habit, like logging things in one place.
Passes 2 or fewer
Keep it with a person for now. Judgment calls and costly mistakes are not where to start.
Owners skip check five most often. If you can’t measure it, don’t build it. And the task that lives in your head from step 2? It usually lands in Fix first. That is worth knowing too.
5. Pick one and set a payback date
A machine rarely does all of a task. A person still checks the work. Most good fits land between 50 and 80 percent. If you are not sure, use 60.
The math
Yearly cost × share a machine can do = yearly savings
Take the Ready now task with the biggest savings. Divide its yearly savings by 12, then multiply by 2. That is the most a fix can cost and still pay for itself in about 60 days.
For the bookkeeper: $12,600 × 70% = $8,820 a year. That is $735 a month. A fix that costs under $1,470 pays for itself in about 60 days.
Then hold it to one rule. It is not done until it runs for two weeks with nobody touching it. The Week Six Checklist shows you how to tell.
See it on three businesses
These businesses are made up. The numbers are realistic, and every one runs through the same math as the calculator below.
A 30-person heating and plumbing company
Fifteen techs in the field. Five people in the office keep the trucks rolling and the bills paid.
| Task | Hours a month | Cost a year | Pile | Savings a year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matching supplier bills to jobs Bookkeeper · $35/hr Passes all five. The bills arrive by email and the jobs live in the field app. | 30 | $12,600 | Ready now | $8,820 |
| Following up on quotes that went quiet Office manager · $40/hr Passes all five. Won jobs are a bonus the math does not count. | 16 | $7,680 | Ready now | $4,608 |
| Answering “when will the tech get here?” calls Dispatcher · $30/hr Fails one check. Techs do not tap “on my way” in the app, so the answer lives in their heads. | 20 | $7,200 | Fix first | $5,040after the fix |
| Building tomorrow’s schedule Dispatcher · $30/hr Fails three checks. Who goes where is a judgment call, and a mistake costs a whole day. | 16.5 | $5,940 | Leave it | Not counted |
- These tasks cost
- $33,420 a year
- Ready now
- $13,428 a year
- After a fix
- $5,040 more
The read: Supplier bills win. The tech-arrival calls come next, but only after the techs start tapping “on my way.” The schedule stays with the dispatcher.
An eight-lawyer family law firm
Eight lawyers, three paralegals, and one person who runs billing.
| Task | Hours a month | Cost a year | Pile | Savings a year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Typing intake forms into the case system Paralegal · $35/hr Passes all five. Same form, same fields, every new client. | 20 | $8,400 | Ready now | $6,300 |
| Chasing clients for financial documents Paralegal · $35/hr Passes all five. The checklist is the same on every case. | 15 | $6,300 | Ready now | $5,040 |
| Turning lawyers’ time notes into bills Billing coordinator · $40/hr Fails one check. Lawyers keep time in three places: notebooks, email, and the case system. | 25 | $12,000 | Fix first | $7,200after the fix |
| First drafts of parenting plans Lawyer · $75/hr Fails three checks. Every family is different, and a mistake is expensive. | 10 | $9,000 | Leave it | Not counted |
- These tasks cost
- $35,700 a year
- Ready now
- $11,340 a year
- After a fix
- $7,200 more
The read: Billing costs the most, but it is not the first project. Get the time notes into one place, then automate. Intake goes first because it passes every check today.
A 60-person commercial builder
Four project managers running jobs, with a small office team behind them.
| Task | Hours a month | Cost a year | Pile | Savings a year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rolling daily field reports into the weekly owner report Project manager · $60/hr Passes all five. The dailies already live in the field app. Someone just retypes them. | 32 | $23,040 | Ready now | $13,824 |
| Collecting lien waivers from trade partners Project coordinator · $40/hr Passes all five. Same request, same deadline, every pay period. | 20 | $9,600 | Ready now | $6,720 |
| Putting together pay application backup Project accountant · $45/hr Fails one check. Every job files its backup a different way. | 36 | $19,440 | Fix first | $9,720after the fix |
| Comparing trade partner bids Estimator · $55/hr Fails three checks. Picking a bid takes judgment about the people, not just the price. | 20 | $13,200 | Leave it | Not counted |
- These tasks cost
- $65,280 a year
- Ready now
- $20,544 a year
- After a fix
- $9,720 more
The read: The weekly owner report wins because project manager hours cost the most. Pay app backup comes next, once every job files the same way.
Build your map
We filled in one task so you can see how it works. Change it to your own, then add more. The map ranks them as you type.
Your Payback Map
- These tasks cost
- $0
- Ready now saves
- $0
- After a fix, add
- $0
Your first pick
Add a task above to see your map.
These are estimates from the numbers you entered, not a quote. Hourly cost is yearly pay × 1.3 ÷ 2,080. Yearly figures are a month times 12.
What the math leaves out
The savings number only counts staff time. It leaves out:
- Money that comes in faster, like quotes followed up the same day.
- Mistakes that stop happening. The Manual Handoff Cost Calculator counts those.
- The hire you can hold off on as the business grows.
- Your evenings.
So treat the number as a floor, not a promise.
Where this fits
- Before: the 45-Minute Audit gives you the list of tasks.
- Going deeper: the Process Mapping Intake takes one task apart step by step.
- After: the 90-Day Build Plan turns your first pick into a real build.
- Done means done: the Week Six Checklist tells you when it can run without its builder.
Want a second set of eyes on your map?
Bring it to a free Mapping Session. We’ll check your numbers, tell you which task to start with, and what it would take. No pitch.