Calculator
Labor Rate Calculator
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HVAC Labor Rate Calculator
Find your true billable hourly rate — enter base wages, payroll taxes, workers’ comp, benefits, team billable hours, and annual overhead to get break-even and target rates with full burden breakdown. Free, no signup.
Free
Residential · HVAC3 techs3,432 billable hrs/yr
Your billable hourly rate
$138.63/hr
At 20.0% net margin · HVAC residential service: $85–$150/hr billable
Within industry range
Rate summary
Break-even rate
$110.91/hrCovers labor + overhead, $0 profit
Burdened labor
$67.20/hrWages + burden per billable hour
Overhead recovery
$43.71/hr$150,000 annual ÷ 3,432 hrs
Net profit / hr
$27.73/hrAt 20.0% target margin
Burden multiplier
1.32×Employment cost ÷ wages (taxes + benefits). Typical: 1.25–1.45×
How your rate is built
Per billable hour
- Burdened labor: $67
- Overhead recovery: $44
- Net profit: $28
Labor burden
- Base wages: $51
- Labor burden (taxes, comp, benefits): $16
Total annual labor cost: $230,630 · Burdened wage $36.96/paid hr
Uses the divisor method — divide break-even by (1 − margin%), not simple markup. A 20% margin on $100 cost is $125/hr, not $120.
Margin scenarios
- 15% net$19.57/hr profit$130.48/hr
- 20% net · your target$27.73/hr profit$138.63/hr
- 25% net$36.97/hr profit$147.88/hr
Residential benchmarks
- Billable rate range
- $85–$150/hr
- Burden multiplier
- 1.25–1.45×
- Billable efficiency
- 50–60% of paid hours
- Paid hours / tech
- 2,080 hrs/yr (52 × 40)
What you'll get
Enter technician wages and burden
Add base hourly pay, employer payroll taxes, workers’ comp rate, health benefits, and vehicle or tool costs per field tech.
Set team capacity and billable hours
Enter how many techs you employ, paid hours per week, work weeks per year, and billable efficiency — the share of paid time actually billed to customers.
Add overhead and profit target
Enter annual business overhead (rent, office, insurance, marketing — not tech payroll) and your target net profit margin.
Get your billable rate
See burdened labor per hour, overhead recovery, break-even rate, and target billable rate at your margin — plus scenarios at 15%, 20%, and 25% net.
How it works
- 1
Enter technician wages and burden
Add base hourly pay, employer payroll taxes, workers’ comp rate, health benefits, and vehicle or tool costs per field tech.
- 2
Set team capacity and billable hours
Enter how many techs you employ, paid hours per week, work weeks per year, and billable efficiency — the share of paid time actually billed to customers.
- 3
Add overhead and profit target
Enter annual business overhead (rent, office, insurance, marketing — not tech payroll) and your target net profit margin.
- 4
Get your billable rate
See burdened labor per hour, overhead recovery, break-even rate, and target billable rate at your margin — plus scenarios at 15%, 20%, and 25% net.
Why contractors must calculate a loaded labor rate before pricing jobs
Charging your base wage as your billable rate is the fastest way to lose money. Every hour your tech is on the clock costs more than their paycheck — payroll taxes, workers’ compensation, health insurance, vehicle costs, and non-billable time (drive, paperwork, callbacks) all add up before overhead and profit.
Industry-standard pricing starts with a loaded labor rate: total annual employment cost divided by actual billable hours, plus overhead recovery per billable hour, then a profit margin applied with the divisor method (not simple markup). Use this rate in your flat-rate price book and profit margin calculator to price every job for real profitability.
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View statesLabor Rate Calculator FAQs
What is a loaded or burdened labor rate?
A loaded labor rate is the true hourly cost of employing a technician — base wage plus payroll taxes, workers’ comp, benefits, and vehicle or tool costs, allocated across billable hours. It is what you must recover on every billed hour before overhead and profit.
What is billable efficiency?
Billable efficiency is the percentage of paid hours that are actually billed to customers. Drive time, warehouse loading, paperwork, training, and warranty callbacks are paid but not billable. Most home service shops run 45–60% billable efficiency.
Why use the divisor method instead of markup?
Adding 20% markup to $100 cost gives $120 — only 16.7% margin on the sale price. The divisor method divides $100 by 0.80 to get $125 — a true 20% net margin. This is how accountants and ServiceTitan-style calculators compute profitable billable rates.
What billable rate should HVAC, plumbing, and electrical contractors charge?
Rates vary by region and shop size, but residential service benchmarks are roughly $85–$150/hr for HVAC, $90–$130/hr for plumbing, and $95–$165/hr for electrical. Your loaded rate calculator result should land in or above these ranges after overhead and profit.
Is this labor rate calculator free?
Yes. Every tool on CloseCrew is free for contractors — no account required. Use it alongside the Profit Margin Calculator to validate job-level pricing against your loaded rate.
