Enter the base wage, statutory tax rates, workers' comp per $100 of payroll, and how you carry general liability. Add paid holidays, vacation/sick days, and annual benefits. Set billable efficiency (80% is typical), then size the crew and hours for the bid line. Press Add to Master Estimate to dispatch the burdened labor allocation.
Paid time off & benefits
Bid allocation (for the estimate line)
True burdened cost
$51.77
/HR
Bill of materials+0% waste
True cost per billable hour
+84.91% burden
Net $28.00/hr base · Waste —
Base wages
per year
Net — · Waste —
Payroll taxes (FICA + unemp.)
per year
Net — · Waste —
Workers' comp
per year
Net — · Waste —
General liability
per year
Net — · Waste —
PTO + benefits
per year
Net — · Waste —
Billable hours / year
2,080 hrs − PTO − unbillable time
Net 80% efficiency · Waste —
Cost projection
Saved on this device · No account · No cloud
+84.91% over base wage
$51.77 /hr burdened
Payroll taxes, workers' comp, liability, PTO, and benefits stack on top of every base wage a $28/hr wage typically costs $38–$42/hr to employ.
Enter the base wage, statutory tax rates, workers' comp per $100 of payroll, and how you carry general liability. Add paid holidays, vacation/sick days, and annual benefits. Set billable efficiency (80% is typical), then size the crew and hours for the bid line. Press Add to Master Estimate to dispatch the burdened labor allocation.
Billable efficiency (default 80%) shrinks the 2,080-hour year by travel, shop time, weather, and holidays before the rate is computed.
The burden % multiplier shows exactly how much to mark up raw wages so labor pays for itself on every bid.
Burdened $/hr = total annual cost ÷ billable hrs
The true employer cost of one billable hour: base wage plus payroll taxes, workers' comp, PTO, and benefits, divided by actual billable hours. It is the rate your bids must carry for labor to pay for itself.
FICA and unemployment taxes add roughly 11%, workers' comp for carpentry and roofing runs $8-$15 per $100 of payroll, PTO is paid non-production time, and only about 80% of the 2,080-hour year is billable. A +35-50% burden is normal.
80% is the industry rule of thumb - it accounts for travel between jobs, material runs, tool maintenance, safety meetings, and weather delays. Far-flung service areas may run 70-75%.
Add annual wage, taxes, comp, PTO, and benefits to get total annual cost, then divide by billable hours (2,080 x efficiency). The tool outputs the burdened $/hr and a burden % multiplier to apply to raw wages.
No - this is a bidding tool, not a tax filing. State unemployment rates, comp class codes, and benefit costs vary, so tune the inputs with your actual year-end payroll figures and confirm tax treatment with your bookkeeper.
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