Budget
Total cash you can put into projects this period.
Return you would require from the same money. 10 to 15 is common.
Project 1
What it is, for example Convection oven.
Purchase, installation and training.
Savings or extra profit per year, net of running costs.
How long the benefit lasts, 1 to 40.
Resale or residual value after those years. Zero if none.
Projects sharing a group name are alternatives: at most one is chosen. Leave blank otherwise.
Yes means it is included whatever its value.
Project 2
What it is, for example Convection oven.
Purchase, installation and training.
Savings or extra profit per year, net of running costs.
How long the benefit lasts, 1 to 40.
Resale or residual value after those years. Zero if none.
Projects sharing a group name are alternatives: at most one is chosen. Leave blank otherwise.
Yes means it is included whatever its value.
Project 3
What it is, for example Convection oven.
Purchase, installation and training.
Savings or extra profit per year, net of running costs.
How long the benefit lasts, 1 to 40.
Resale or residual value after those years. Zero if none.
Projects sharing a group name are alternatives: at most one is chosen. Leave blank otherwise.
Yes means it is included whatever its value.
Project 4
What it is, for example Convection oven.
Purchase, installation and training.
Savings or extra profit per year, net of running costs.
How long the benefit lasts, 1 to 40.
Resale or residual value after those years. Zero if none.
Projects sharing a group name are alternatives: at most one is chosen. Leave blank otherwise.
Yes means it is included whatever its value.
Project 5
What it is, for example Convection oven.
Purchase, installation and training.
Savings or extra profit per year, net of running costs.
How long the benefit lasts, 1 to 40.
Resale or residual value after those years. Zero if none.
Projects sharing a group name are alternatives: at most one is chosen. Leave blank otherwise.
Yes means it is included whatever its value.
Project 6
What it is, for example Convection oven.
Purchase, installation and training.
Savings or extra profit per year, net of running costs.
How long the benefit lasts, 1 to 40.
Resale or residual value after those years. Zero if none.
Projects sharing a group name are alternatives: at most one is chosen. Leave blank otherwise.
Yes means it is included whatever its value.
Project 7
What it is, for example Convection oven.
Purchase, installation and training.
Savings or extra profit per year, net of running costs.
How long the benefit lasts, 1 to 40.
Resale or residual value after those years. Zero if none.
Projects sharing a group name are alternatives: at most one is chosen. Leave blank otherwise.
Yes means it is included whatever its value.
Project 8
What it is, for example Convection oven.
Purchase, installation and training.
Savings or extra profit per year, net of running costs.
How long the benefit lasts, 1 to 40.
Resale or residual value after those years. Zero if none.
Projects sharing a group name are alternatives: at most one is chosen. Leave blank otherwise.
Yes means it is included whatever its value.
Project 9
What it is, for example Convection oven.
Purchase, installation and training.
Savings or extra profit per year, net of running costs.
How long the benefit lasts, 1 to 40.
Resale or residual value after those years. Zero if none.
Projects sharing a group name are alternatives: at most one is chosen. Leave blank otherwise.
Yes means it is included whatever its value.
Project 10
What it is, for example Convection oven.
Purchase, installation and training.
Savings or extra profit per year, net of running costs.
How long the benefit lasts, 1 to 40.
Resale or residual value after those years. Zero if none.
Projects sharing a group name are alternatives: at most one is chosen. Leave blank otherwise.
Yes means it is included whatever its value.
Project 11
What it is, for example Convection oven.
Purchase, installation and training.
Savings or extra profit per year, net of running costs.
How long the benefit lasts, 1 to 40.
Resale or residual value after those years. Zero if none.
Projects sharing a group name are alternatives: at most one is chosen. Leave blank otherwise.
Yes means it is included whatever its value.
Project 12
What it is, for example Convection oven.
Purchase, installation and training.
Savings or extra profit per year, net of running costs.
How long the benefit lasts, 1 to 40.
Resale or residual value after those years. Zero if none.
Projects sharing a group name are alternatives: at most one is chosen. Leave blank otherwise.
Yes means it is included whatever its value.
A project needs a cost. Leave a project blank to leave it out. Up to 12 projects.
Result
Questions owners ask
How do I decide which equipment to buy when I cannot afford everything?
Give each project a net present value: the savings or extra profit it brings each year, discounted back to today at the return you could earn elsewhere, minus what it costs. Then pick the set of projects with the highest total value that fits the budget. Ranking by payback or by return per dollar is a shortcut that can leave money unspent or skip a better combination. This tool checks every combination exactly.
What discount rate should I use?
Use the return you would demand from a risky use of the same money: the interest on a business loan, or what you would expect from putting it back into the business. 10 to 15 percent is common for a small business. The tool re-solves at 5 points higher and lower so you can see whether the answer depends on the rate.
What are options in the same group?
Give two projects the same group name, for example van, and the tool will take at most one of them. Use it for two quotes on the same machine, buy against lease, or a new against a used one.
What is a must-do project?
Something you will do whatever its value, such as a roof repair or a compliance fix. It is always included and its cost comes out of the budget first.
Does it tell me what an extra dollar of budget is worth?
Yes. It shows the next budget level at which a better set becomes affordable and how much more value that set brings, so you can decide whether to borrow, wait for a season or trim a project.
Is this financial advice?
No. It is arithmetic on figures you type. Benefits are your own estimates and are treated as certain and level each year; taxes, financing costs, depreciation and inflation are not modelled.
Not decided
Whether your benefit estimates are right, risk and uncertainty in them, taxes and depreciation, how you finance the purchase, inflation, projects that depend on one another, and spending that has to happen in a particular year. Benefits are treated as level and certain across the project's life.
Related tools: the laundromat machine payback calculator and the solar payback calculator.