Business Costs
How to enter your clinic's fixed operating costs — rent, utilities, payroll, software, and everything else that keeps the lights on.
What are "business costs" in Nabu?
Business costs (also called fixed costs or overhead) are the expenses your clinic pays every month regardless of how many clients you see. These are the bills you'd still pay even if you didn't perform a single service.
Examples:
- Rent or lease payments
- Utilities (electricity, water, internet)
- Software subscriptions (your booking software, EMR, etc.)
- Insurance (malpractice, general liability, workers' comp)
- Cleaning services
- Front-desk or admin payroll
- Owner's salary or draw
- Loan or equipment financing payments
Why does Nabu need these? These costs need to be spread across your services to calculate true profitability. If you pay $8,000/month in rent but ignore that when calculating how much a facial costs, your profit margins will look a lot better than they really are.
The Business Profile
The first part of Business Costs is the Business Profile — information about your physical operation that helps Nabu estimate capacity.
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Working days per month | How many days your clinic is open. Most clinics are open 22–26 days. |
| Open hours per day | Your typical operating hours (e.g., 9am–6pm = 9 hours) |
| Treatment rooms | The number of rooms used for services (not waiting rooms or offices) |
These numbers affect overhead allocation — specifically, "per treatment room minute" calculations that spread fixed costs across services based on how much room time they use.
Entering your costs
Each cost item has these fields:
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Name | A short description (e.g., "Studio Rent" or "Mangomint Subscription") |
| Category | The type of cost — choose from Rent, Utilities, Payroll, Software, Insurance, Marketing, Equipment, Supplies, Cleaning, Debt/Loan, Owner Draw, Professional Services, or Other |
| Monthly amount | How much you pay per month. If it's an annual payment, divide by 12. |
| Start date | When this cost began |
| End date | If this is a temporary cost (like a lease that ends), enter the end date. Leave blank for ongoing costs. |
Common questions
Do I include provider payroll here? No. Provider compensation rules are entered in the People & Payroll section, not here. The "Payroll" category in Business Costs is for non-provider payroll — front-desk staff, admin, cleaning crew, and similar roles that don't directly generate revenue.
What if a cost changes month to month? Enter the average or typical monthly amount. Nabu uses a monthly figure to estimate annual overhead. You can update it anytime if rates change significantly.
What about costs that are partly variable (like supplies)? Consumable supplies that are tied to specific services should go in Products & Supplies, not here. Business Costs is for expenses that don't change based on how many clients you see.
I don't know exact numbers — can I use estimates? Absolutely. Rough estimates are better than leaving fields blank. Even if your rent estimate is off by 10%, it still gives you far more accurate margins than ignoring it entirely. You can refine the numbers anytime.
What is "owner draw"? If you're the owner and you pay yourself from the business (rather than a formal salary), that's an owner draw. Including it in your costs makes your profitability picture more honest — the business is paying for your time, and that should show up in the cost structure.
What about debt payments? Loan payments for equipment (lasers, hydrafacial machines, etc.) can go in the Equipment section OR here as a Debt/Loan cost. We recommend the Equipment section for device-specific financing, since it lets you allocate that cost to the specific services that use the equipment.
How business costs affect your numbers
Once you enter your costs, Nabu includes them in every financial calculation:
- Overhead per appointment — your total fixed costs divided by estimated monthly appointments
- Service profitability — each service carries a share of overhead based on your allocation method
- Break-even analysis — Nabu can calculate how many appointments you need per month to cover your costs
The more complete and accurate your business costs are, the more useful these calculations become.
Confirming this section
When you're done entering your costs, click Mark as reviewed at the bottom of the page. This tells Nabu that the data is ready to use and removes the task from your Start Guide.