Step 1: Technician Pay & Hours
| Hourly wage ⓘ×The technician's base hourly pay rate, before taxes, comp, or benefits are added. | |
| Paid hours per year ⓘ×Total hours the technician is paid for in a year, including PTO and holidays. A standard full time schedule is 2,080 hours (40 hours times 52 weeks). | |
| Annual Wage Cost | $0 |
Step 2: Payroll Burden & Benefits
These are real costs on top of wages that most contractors underestimate. Adjust the percentages to match your actual state and workers' comp class code rates.
| Burden Category | Rate / Amount | Annual Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Payroll taxes (FICA, FUTA, SUTA) ⓘ×Employer-paid payroll taxes as a percent of wages: Social Security, Medicare, federal and state unemployment. Roughly 8 to 10% is typical, but check your actual state rate. | % | $0 |
| Workers' compensation ⓘ×Workers' comp as a percent of wages for field technicians. Field labor class codes run meaningfully higher than office staff. Use your actual policy rate for this class code. | % | $0 |
| Health insurance / benefits ⓘ×Employer-paid dollar amount per year for health insurance and other benefits for this technician. Enter a flat annual dollar figure, not a percentage. | $0 | |
| Total Annual Cost to Company | $0 |
Step 3: Non-Billable Time
The technician is paid for all hours above, but not all of those hours are billable to a customer. This step finds how many hours actually generate revenue.
| Non-Billable Category | Hours / Year |
|---|---|
| PTO, holidays & sick time ⓘ×Paid time off, holidays, and sick days. These hours are already paid for in Step 1, so they only reduce billable hours here, not cost again. | |
| Training & certifications ⓘ×Paid hours spent in training, manufacturer certification courses, and continuing education. | |
| Drive time between jobs ⓘ×Paid time spent driving between the shop and job sites, or between calls, that isn't billed to a customer. | |
| Meetings & admin time ⓘ×Morning huddles, safety meetings, paperwork, and other administrative time that isn't billable. | |
| Callbacks & warranty work ⓘ×Time spent on warranty repairs and callbacks that isn't billed to the customer a second time. | |
| Downtime between calls ⓘ×Gaps in the schedule where the technician is paid but not actively on a billable job. | |
| Total Non-Billable Hours | 0 |
| Paid Hours per Year | 0 |
| Less: Total Non-Billable Hours | 0 |
| Billable Hours per Year | 0 |
Utilization Rate
Billable Hours ÷ Paid Hours. A common target range for field technicians is 65% to 80%. Below that, a large share of paid time is not generating revenue.
Enter your numbers above to see your utilization rate.
Step 4: True Hourly Labor Cost
True Hourly Labor Cost = Total Annual Cost to Company ÷ Billable Hours per Year
True Hourly Labor Cost
$0.00
This is what an hour of this technician's time actually costs the company, once wages, burden, benefits, and non-billable time are all accounted for. It is almost always higher than the hourly wage alone.
Step 5: Suggested Minimum Billable Rate
Carry over the Required Gross Margin percentage from the Overhead Percentage Worksheet to see the minimum rate that must be charged per labor hour to cover overhead and hit your profit target.
| Required Gross Margin % (from Overhead Worksheet, Step 4) ⓘ×This is the Required Gross Margin percentage calculated on the Overhead Percentage Worksheet: Overhead % plus Desired Net Profit %. Enter that same number here. | % |
Suggested Billable Rate = True Hourly Labor Cost ÷ (1 − Required Gross Margin %)
Suggested Minimum Billable Rate
$0.00
This is the labor-only rate. Materials, equipment markup, and dispatch fees still need to be added on top when pricing an actual job.