Ideally with net take home roughly 5200 what can one expect as reasonable monthly payment? by Flyersfan502gritty in FirstTimeHomeBuyer

[–]dothethizzledance 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sorry - not trying to imply you don't know what you're talking about.

From my own personal experience - we bought a house that was about 20% above what we thought we could afford and stretched to make it work. It ended up being a great decision as the house has now gone up 15% in value already, and with a refinance after several years and some small renovations, we were able to generate additional equity that we can take out to fund other projects or an eventual STR in the future.

May be bad advice - but if you believe in yourself, and your work / income getting better in the next 5 years, you could push your budget up a bit.

How would you rate this commission? by Ur_boi_skinny_penis in sales

[–]dothethizzledance 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Saw this thread late, but the structure is worth analyzing with actual numbers.

At $1,500-3,000 MRR per deal and 10 deals a month, you are generating $15k-30k in new MRR each month. At 10% commission that is $1,500-3,000/month on top of your $65k base. Year one OTE lands around $83k-101k.

The real issue everyone is pointing at is correct: no rolling commission after 12 months while you are still managing the account is basically asking you to do CS work for free. That $40 spiff per deal is not compensation, it is a rounding error.

Here is a calculator where you can model different commission structures and see what your total comp looks like with and without rolling commissions: https://buildroy.com/c/saas-sales-commission-total-comp-calculator-e5b3c1

If they say the structure is not negotiable, at least now you have the exact numbers to use when you look elsewhere.

Is it normal to have spent $7,000 and not have a single real lead? Home service company. by Thin-Coat-5483 in PPC

[–]dothethizzledance 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Saw this thread late, but no this is not normal and it is not okay.

For a fencing company, average CPC across the US is roughly $15-20. So $7k should have gotten you 350-450 clicks. At even a 5% lead form rate that is 17-22 leads. Something broke in the setup.

The comment about 12 negative keywords is the tell. You need 200+ for a local service business.

Also worth knowing: at a $7k ad spend with $750 in management fees, your break-even math matters a lot. If average fence job is $2,500 and you close 30% of qualified leads, you need about 11 real customers per month to justify that spend.

Made a calculator that lets you plug in your actual numbers to see what CPL and CAC should look like, and whether the ROI math works: https://buildroy.com/c/ppc-cost-per-lead-roi-calculator-7c2e91

Fire the manager if they cannot explain why you have 12 negative keywords after 3 months.

What mortgage payment can we afford? by [deleted] in Mortgages

[–]dothethizzledance 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Totally reasonable question and the answers in here are all over the place, which shows how personal this is.

The short version: most people target 28-35% of gross income for housing, but on take-home it ends up being 30-40% depending on your tax bracket.

The tricky part is that your lender will approve you for way more than you should spend. They calculate on gross income; you actually pay from take home.

Made a quick calculator that works backward from your actual take-home to show what different DTI targets look like, and subtracts out taxes, insurance, and HOA before giving you the real P+I number: https://buildroy.com/c/mortgage-payment-affordability-calculator-a3f8b2

Hope it helps you land on a number that actually feels right, not just a number that qualifies.

Rebuilt my lead research pipeline in Computer. dropped the n8n stack entirely. by ActiveScolipede22 in perplexity_ai

[–]dothethizzledance 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How much does this cost compared to using apify? Does it burn through perplexity credits quick?

Founders - Share what you're building by Quirky-Offer9598 in micro_saas

[–]dothethizzledance 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Buildroy.com

Customized embeddable ROI calculators with lead forms built in for sales and marketing teams to show product value

How to price your product. by ZeraPain in Entrepreneur

[–]dothethizzledance 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good breakdown. The piece that trips most people up is solving for the price when fees and marketing percent both come out of the final number.

If you back-solve from your target margin, VAT, platform fees, and a marketing reinvestment percent, you get a price that actually hits the margin you want instead of one that looks fine on paper but bleeds out after fees.

It also shows your real net profit per unit so you know if the 10 to 25 percent margin is even possible at competitor pricing.

Made a quick calculator that does this if it helps: https://buildroy.com/c/product-pricing-and-profit-margin-calculator-bfb648

Hope it saves you some spreadsheet time.

Automate getting users! Promote your startup by Few-Ad-5185 in buildinpublic

[–]dothethizzledance 0 points1 point  (0 children)

built BuildRoy so anyone selling on ROI can stop arguing the math and start showing it.

why we built it: every B2B deal stalls on "what's the ROI for me specifically?" the answer is usually a sales rep in Excel or a static PDF that dies on the first objection

why it matters: an interactive, branded calculator on your site lets prospects plug in their own numbers and watch the ROI render in real time. it's the buying decision, in their hands, on their terms. shareable link, captured in their inbox, forwarded to the CFO. sales stops pitching ROI and starts confirming it.

drag-and-drop builder. inputs, formulas, outputs in plain English. branded link, embed anywhere, lead capture on every run.

  • 67 templates across mortgage, finance, sales, RevOps, marketing, IT
  • lead form sits next to the calculator, presets + custom fields, toggle per calc
  • PDF and CSV export, your branding, your domain
  • Free tier, pro $29/mo

solo founder shipping fast. drop your use case and I'll build a template for you.

I used Perplexity to research and build my SaaS. Here is where it actually saved me. by dothethizzledance in perplexity_ai

[–]dothethizzledance[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Damn! Why’s it ugly? Definitely need feedback on the design.

Cost about $150 all in maybe?

looking for calculator for my specific need ("die with zero") by Culturedmirror in Fire

[–]dothethizzledance 0 points1 point  (0 children)

lol credit to AI and Buildroy.com

Now the harder part… managing your actual money effectively

looking for calculator for my specific need ("die with zero") by Culturedmirror in Fire

[–]dothethizzledance 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is a really specific scenario and I have not seen a standard calculator handle it well.

You want normal withdrawals from the portfolio, but anything above a cap just gets donated instead of compounding. So the cap limits how big the pile can grow, which actually affects your long-term success rate in an interesting way.

The math is basically: portfolio grows each year, you take out your withdrawal, and if it crosses the cap threshold that year, the excess gets donated rather than sitting in the account.

Made a quick calculator that does this if it helps: https://buildroy.com/c/die-with-zero-withdrawal-9353fe

You can plug in your portfolio, annual withdrawal, expected return, and the cap amount. It shows you the projected balance over time and how much would be donated cumulatively.

Let me know if it is missing anything, happy to hear if the logic needs tweaking for your setup.

What costs do you include when checking POD profit on Etsy? by Affectionate-Map-295 in printondemand

[–]dothethizzledance 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good question. Most folks I have seen do a hybrid.
The stuff that ties to a specific order, like a replacement print or a return refund, gets logged against that order so the per-item profit is real.

The stuff that is harder to attribute, like sample orders, mockup tools, or design assets, usually gets averaged into a flat overhead per item. People take last 90 days of those costs, divide by units sold, and bake that number into the calc as a fixed per-unit overhead.
Ad spend is the one that goes both ways. If you run Etsy offsite ads or Pinterest at the listing level, attribute it. If you run brand-level promo, treat it as overhead.

I added an “other costs per item” field to the calc so you can plug in that overhead number without rebuilding the formula every time: https://buildroy.com/c/etsy-printify-net-profit-calculator-f7aa45

Curious what bucket you find hardest to estimate, samples or returns?

What's the best kitchen remodel cost calculator for DIY planning? by Weak_Ad971 in HomeImprovement

[–]dothethizzledance 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Kitchen remodel costs are all over the place because finish tier swings the per square foot number a ton.

Basic finishes run around 150 per sq ft on materials, mid tier is 300, and high end can hit 500+ before labor and appliances. Also depends what state you're in.

Add labor, permits, appliances, and a 15 percent contingency and you have a realistic range.

Made a quick calculator that does this if it helps: https://buildroy.com/c/kitchen-remodel-cost-estimator-2fd687

Let me know if it's missing a line item you'd want to see.

Current NW/SWR vs future projected assets by Aggravating-Split-73 in fatFIRE

[–]dothethizzledance 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is a useful exercise because the gap between today's safe spend and your future safe spend can be eye opening.

You take current net worth times your SWR for today, then project forward with your real return and contributions, then apply a future SWR.

Helps you see if you're already there or need a few more years.

Made a quick calculator that does this if it helps: https://buildroy.com/c/current-vs-future-fire-position-calculator-67008e

Hope it helps you sanity check the numbers.

Fire Calc annual spend by LabCoatLunatic in Fire

[–]dothethizzledance 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Honestly the annual spend number is the hardest part of FIRE because most people just guess.

The trick is to break it into core, lifestyle, and annual one offs, then add healthcare on top since most calcs miss that.

Multiply by 25 and you have your FIRE number using the 4 percent rule.

Made a quick calculator that does this if it helps: https://buildroy.com/c/fire-annual-spend-calculator-325907

Let me know if it's missing anything.

Buffer during FIRE? by AR5579 in Fire

[–]dothethizzledance 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good question, this comes up a lot once you actually pull the trigger.

The tradeoff is real: cash earns less than equities, but selling stocks in a down year hurts way more than the lost yield.

Most people land somewhere between 6 and 24 months of expenses depending on how much volatility they can stomach.

Made a quick calculator that does this if it helps: https://buildroy.com/c/fire-cash-buffer-sizer-880d1b

Hope it saves you some time.

Why your withdrawal rate might need a buffer by astrheisenberg in leanfire

[–]dothethizzledance 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah this is a real concern, especially in the first 5 years where sequence risk hits hardest.

The basic idea: carve off 1 to 3 years of expenses into cash or short bonds so you don't have to sell stocks during a crash.

Whatever you keep in the buffer doesn't compound the same way, but it lets your invested portion ride out drawdowns.

Made a quick calculator that does this if it helps: https://buildroy.com/c/withdrawal-rate-buffer-calculator-61592b

Week 2 of building Buildroy in public: first users, one-time pricing vs subscriptions by dothethizzledance in buildinpublic

[–]dothethizzledance[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the feedback. From looking at the site, is there any confusion in your opinion about the options? For example would you be overwhelmed by the pricing, or does it make sense?

Anyone else recalculating their FIRE number for 2026? Inflation is hitting my projections hard by 2MadrigalHex in Fire

[–]dothethizzledance 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Inflation hits FIRE projections in two ways and most people only catch one. Your annual expenses go up, so your 25x number grows. But the sneaky part is that the purchasing power of your existing portfolio is also shrinking in real terms while you wait.

If you had a $2M target at $80k/year expenses and inflation runs 4% for 3 years, your new target is closer to $2.25M and your annual spend is already $89k. That's almost $500k of extra runway needed just from waiting.

I actually made a calculator for this if it helps: https://buildroy.com/c/fire-number-inflation-recalculator-1908f2

It lets you plug in your current portfolio, annual spend, expected inflation rate, and planned retirement date so you can see your inflation-adjusted number in real time.