Staff Cost Per Deal Calculator

The fully loaded cost of an employee is well above their salary — employer taxes, pension, holiday cover, training and equipment all sit on top, commonly adding twenty to thirty percent. Add the desk they occupy and the real figure is higher again.

Expressed per completed deal and as a share of the average fee, it becomes the number that tells you whether the team size and the fee level are compatible.

The calculation

Fully loaded cost = salary plus employer on-costs, plus any commission paid, plus the desk they occupy. Divide by the deals they complete for a cost per transaction, and compare that against the average fee to see what proportion of each fee goes on the person who earned it.

Worked example

A 32,000 salary with 20% on-costs is 38,400, plus a 9,575 desk is 47,975 a year. Across 24 deals that is 1,999 per deal, or 44.4% of a 4,500 average fee. They generate 108,000 of fee income against 47,975 of cost, contributing 60,025 toward the rest of the business.

Where the ratio breaks

If the cost per deal approaches half the fee, the remaining half has to cover marketing, management, premises and profit. That is why average fee and deals per head matter more than headcount — adding people without either improving is how an agency grows into a loss.

Frequently asked questions