Calculator
Employee Burden and Fully Loaded Labor Rate Calculator
A technician paid $32 an hour does not cost $32 an hour. Payroll taxes, workers' compensation, benefits, paid time off, and unbillable hours push the real number well past $45.
2,080 for full time.
FICA, FUTA, SUTA blended.
Drive time, shop time, callbacks, warranty.
Results
- Annual cost of the employee
- $86,674
- Billable hours per year
- 1598
- Fully loaded billable hourly cost
- $54.24
- Burden over wage
- 69.5%
- Cost per paid hour
- $41.67
Wages $66,560 + taxes $5,990 + WC $4,326 + benefits $7,800 + retirement $1,997
The number that belongs in the estimate.
Illustrative only. Tax and workers' compensation rates vary by state and classification; use your actual rates.
Labor burden is the most under-counted cost in the trades and in service businesses. Estimators price labor at the wage rate, or the wage rate plus a guess, and the job-cost report later reveals that labor came in 30 percent over. It did not. It was priced 30 percent under.
This calculator builds the fully loaded hourly cost from the wage up: employer payroll taxes, workers' compensation, health and retirement benefits, paid time off and holidays, training and meetings, and the share of paid hours that are not billable. The result is the number that belongs in your estimate and your job-cost system.
How to read the result
- Annual labor cost equals wages plus employer taxes, workers' compensation, and benefits.
- Billable hours equals paid hours minus PTO, holidays, training, and other non-billable time.
- Fully loaded hourly rate equals annual labor cost divided by billable hours.
- Burden percentage equals (fully loaded rate minus wage rate) divided by wage rate.
FAQ
Questions about this calculator
What payroll tax rate should I use?
Employer FICA is a fixed percentage of wages up to the Social Security wage base, plus Medicare with no cap, plus federal and state unemployment on the first portion of wages. A blended 8 to 10 percent is a common planning figure; your payroll provider can give you the exact rate.
Where do I find my workers' comp rate?
On your policy, by classification code, expressed per $100 of payroll. Rates vary widely by trade and state. Use the rate for the classification the employee actually works in, adjusted by your experience modifier.
Should I include vehicle and tool costs?
Not in labor burden. Those belong in equipment or overhead depending on how you allocate them. Keeping them separate lets you see labor burden clearly and price equipment usage on its own.
Keep reading
From the number to the decision
The service that acts on this result, the articles that explain it, and the industries where it matters most.
Services
- Fractional ControllerRecurring accounting leadership for companies whose books are almost right, almost on time, and almost trusted. We make them right, on time, and trusted.
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Insights
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Industries
- ConstructionJob costing the field trusts, a WIP schedule your bonding agent believes, and a cash forecast that sees the payroll before it leaves. Finance leadership for contractors doing $3M to $50M.
- General ContractorsMost of the money on a general contractor's income statement belongs to someone else. Finance leadership that keeps the pass-through moving, protects the fee, and gets the surety what it needs before it asks.
- HVACService and replacement are two businesses sharing a truck. Finance leadership that reports them separately, forecasts the shoulder season, and turns ServiceTitan data into numbers a lender or buyer will believe.
Calculators
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Financial assessment
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