Your job mix

Garland length swings month to month — that's fine

You are not predicting next month. You are setting a reference garland so the fixed cost of showing up gets spread over something realistic. Look back at your last 8–10 installs and take the middle, not the average — one 60 ft ballroom job will drag a true average up and quietly make your per-foot price too low for the 12 ft jobs you actually book most weeks.

If your work is genuinely split — small backdrops in one season, large builds in another — set this to your smaller, more common garland. That keeps short jobs profitable; big jobs still price fine because the fixed time is spread over more feet. Re-check this number once a quarter, not once a month.

What counts as monthly fixed cost

What to include: software subscriptions, phone line, website hosting, business licenses, accounting, storage, van purchase or lease payment, insurance — anything you pay every month whether or not you book a job.

What to leave out: a special event insurance policy you secure for a venue for a specific event as a one-off — that is a pass-through, not overhead. Storage at home — already handled as a write-off. Your vehicle — captured in the per-mile rate on Screen 1, so counting it here would double it.

Most decorators who work out of their home land between $29 and $300. Most decorators with a warehouse or retail location are closer to $750–$1,500+/mo.