FREE CALCULATOR

Labor Burden Calculator for Commercial Contractors

Calculate your true hourly labor cost. Know your real burden rate before you quote.

Labor Cost Inputs

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Results

Enter your labor cost inputs above.

Commercial Contractor Example

Journeyman electrician, full burden, 10% non-billable time

Base hourly wage$38.00
Payroll tax (7.65%)$2.91
Workers' compensation (9%)$3.42
Benefits cost /hr$5.50
PTO / holiday (4.5%)$1.71
Training / admin (3.5%)$1.33
Non-billable time (10%)Applied
True Burdened Hourly Cost$58.74
Recommended Billable Rate (25% markup)$73.43

Key insight: Quoting at $38/hr loses money. Your real cost is $58.74/hr. With 25% markup, you need to charge $73.43/hr.

Why This Matters

Hourly wage is not your true labor cost.

Every burden layer—payroll tax, workers' compensation, benefits, PTO, training, admin time—adds to what you actually pay. Non-billable hours spread those costs across fewer billable hours, pushing your true cost even higher.

Contractors who quote from base wage consistently underprice. They think they're profitable while silently eroding margin. When you know your true burdened cost, you quote with confidence.

FROM ONE CALCULATION TO COMPANY-WIDE QUOTE CONTROL

This calculator fixes one labor-cost assumption.

Quoteloc ensures your team quotes from the right labor-cost basis every time. Stop underpricing. Enforce true cost across every estimate.

WITHOUT QUOTELOC

Each estimator guesses at true burden

WITH QUOTELOC

Standardize true labor cost, protect every quote

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