Tool 02 · Cost
Construction Labor Burden Calculator
Calculate loaded employee cost, cost per productive hour, and a billable rate from your own payroll, insurance, benefit, and utilization assumptions.
- Math shown
- Local calculation
- No signup
Live calculator
Enter your numbers
Your result
Per productive hour at the entered margin.
- Loaded paid-hour cost
- $39.18
- Cost per productive hour
- $48.98
- Burden above wage
- 39.9%
Planning estimate based only on the values above. Inputs remain in this browser and are not submitted.
Method
How the calculation works
- Loaded cost = wage × (1 + payroll% + workers' comp% + other%) + benefits/hour
- Productive-hour cost = loaded cost ÷ utilization
- Billable rate = productive-hour cost ÷ (1 − target margin)
Worked example
At $28/hour, 25.65% wage-based burden, $4/hour benefits, 80% utilization, and 25% margin, the model shows the rate needed for each productive hour.
Read the full methodologyKnow the boundary
What this estimate does not decide
- Use actual classifications, policies, benefits, and payroll records.
- Overtime premiums, union rules, state taxes, and company overhead are separate unless included explicitly.
Questions
Labor burden FAQ
Why divide by utilization?
Paid time that cannot be billed still has to be recovered by the hours customers can be charged for.
Does labor burden include overhead?
Not in this model. Company overhead belongs in the overhead-recovery calculation unless your accounting policy classifies an item here.