Free tool
What can you actually afford to pay an associate?
A percentage sounds simple until lab fees, supplies and the assistant you hired to support the new chair all land on the same P&L line. Run the whole stack before you make an offer, not after.
What this associate costs, and what's left
Starts with example numbers · nothing is sent anywhereOnce ramped up, not their first month or two while the schedule fills.
What you actually collect against what's produced, for this associate's work.
Used for the chosen structure, and for the crossover comparison either way.
The flat rate a guarantee structure pays per day worked, regardless of production.
Also used to turn the daily guarantee into a monthly figure for the crossover.
As a share of this associate's production.
As a share of this associate's production.
Assistant wages, an extra chair, software seats: anything you're adding on payroll or hard costs just to bring this associate on.
The number that matters
At $60,000 in monthly production, this associate leaves the practice $22,320 a month after pay, lab, supplies and the $9,000 you’re adding in fixed cost. Above $36,111 of monthly production, the flat guarantee costs you less than the percentage would, and this associate is currently above that line.
Pay is modeled on collections, not production, because that is what a contract can actually pay against. You cannot hand over a percentage of money that was never collected. Lab and supplies are modeled on production instead, since that cost is incurred the moment the work is done, whether or not it is ever paid. Contracts vary in what they count and how lab fees are split; have an attorney read yours before you sign it.
How to read it
The offer is a formula. Most owners negotiate it as a feeling.
Every associate negotiation eventually comes down to a number: 30% of collections, or $650 a day. Both sound reasonable in isolation. Neither tells you what’s actually left for the practice once the lab bill, the supplies and the extra assistant hour you added for this associate all come out. That’s the gap this tool closes. It puts pay, cost and contribution on the same line, so the offer is a decision instead of a guess.
The two structures are not the same bet. A percentage costs you almost nothing while the associate’s schedule is still filling, which is also exactly when a new associate feels the most exposed, because a thin schedule means a thin paycheck. A guarantee flips that: it protects the associate early and starts costing you more once they’re genuinely busy. The crossover this tool gives you is the production level where the two structures cost the same: below it, favor the percentage; above it, the guarantee is the one working against you.
None of this replaces a contract an attorney has actually read. What it does is stop you from finding out six months in that the deal you offered was never going to pay for itself. Run the number before the offer, not after the associate has already built a schedule around it.
Questions
Before you act on it.
Percentage of collections or a daily guarantee, which should I offer?
It depends where the associate's production is relative to the crossover this tool gives you. Below it, a percentage costs you less than a guarantee would: a small cut of a small number. Above it, the guarantee costs you less, because it's a flat cap on a cut that keeps growing. A new associate with a schedule still filling in is usually cheaper to guarantee; a busy one is usually cheaper to pay a percentage.
Why base pay on collections instead of production?
Because you cannot hand someone a percentage of money the practice never collected. Basing pay on production instead of collections is the single most common way owners accidentally overpay. It credits the associate for write-offs and unpaid balances that never turned into cash.
Should the associate share in the lab fees?
Plenty of contracts split them, and this tool lets you model none, half or all of it. What it cannot tell you is whether an associate will accept that term, or negotiate a higher percentage in exchange for taking it on. That's a conversation, not a calculation. Have your attorney review whatever you land on.
The contribution number is small. Does that mean I can't afford this hire?
Not necessarily. It means this associate isn't covering their own added cost yet at the production you entered. Compare it against the break-even production the tool gives you: if their expected production is close to or above that line, the math improves quickly as their schedule fills. If it's far below, the deal as structured doesn't work at their current volume.
Structuring associate pay is one piece of running the numbers. The course covers the rest.