Burdened Hourly Rate Calculator
Most contractors bill below their true cost and wonder why they're not making money. This calculator shows what you actually need to charge per hour to stay profitable. No email required.
What's a burdened labor rate?
Your burdened labor rate is the true cost of an hour of your technician's time — wage plus payroll taxes, benefits, insurance, and a share of overhead. It's almost always 2-3x the base hourly wage. Charging below this number means you're losing money on every billable hour.
Base wage before benefits and payroll taxes.
Employer FICA, workers comp, health insurance, PTO. Typical: 20-30%.
Everything that isn't direct labor or COGS.
Percent of paid hours that are billable. Industry avg: 55-70%.
Profit margin above burdened cost. 30-40% is typical for healthy trades.
You should charge at least
$82/hr
to cover burdened cost + 35% gross margin.
Burdened cost per hour
$61/hr
Wage loaded ($34) + overhead per hour ($27)
Profit per billable hour
$21
Billable hours / tech / yr
1,352
Annual profit per tech
$28,765
Team annual profit
$143,823
How this works
Burdened cost = hourly wage × (1 + benefits %) + annual overhead ÷ (techs × 2,080 × utilization). Then we add your target margin to get the rate you should bill. Every contractor underestimates overhead per hour — this is the number that kills margins.
Track every billable hour automatically.
Kaldr Tech logs time on site, tracks utilization, and calculates true job profitability in real time — free. $0/month, 3.5% + 30¢ per transaction.