Calculator
Plumbing Labor Cost Calculator
See what the labor on a job really costs — enter your plumbers' base wage, labor burden, hours, and crew size to get the total burdened labor cost, the loaded cost per hour, and labor as a percent of the job price. Free, no signup.
Free
Loaded hourly cost$40.20
$40.20/hr loaded3 crew-hrs
Total labor cost for this job
$121
$90 wages + $31 burden
Add a job price to see labor as a % of the sale
Cost per worker3 hr each × $40.20
$121Cost at a glance
Total labor cost
$121Loaded hourly cost × total crew-hours
Loaded hourly cost
$40.20Base wage + 34.0% burden
Total crew-hours
33 hr × 1 worker
Base wage cost
$90Before any burden — what shows on the paycheck
Labor burden cost
$31Payroll taxes, workers’ comp, and benefits on this job
Where the labor dollar goes
- Base wages: $90
- Labor burden: $31
Base wages are only part of the cost — the burden (taxes, comp, benefits) is the piece most owners forget when they price a job.
Industry benchmarks
- Plumber wage
- $26–42/hr base
- Typical labor burden
- 30–40% of wages
- Loaded cost
- $43–50/hr journeyman
- Labor % of revenue
- 20–33% target
Plumbing loaded cost ≈ base wage × 1.30–1.40
What you'll get
Enter wage and burden
Add the base hourly wage and your labor burden % — payroll taxes, workers’ comp, and benefits as a share of wages. Build the burden number in the Employee Cost Calculator if you don’t know it.
Add hours and crew
Enter the hours each worker spends on the job (including setup and cleanup) and how many workers are on it at that wage.
See the total and the labor share
Get the total burdened labor cost, the loaded cost per hour and per worker, and — if you add the job price — labor as a percent of the sale against the 25–35% benchmark.
How it works
- 1
Enter wage and burden
Add the base hourly wage and your labor burden % — payroll taxes, workers’ comp, and benefits as a share of wages. Build the burden number in the Employee Cost Calculator if you don’t know it.
- 2
Add hours and crew
Enter the hours each worker spends on the job (including setup and cleanup) and how many workers are on it at that wage.
- 3
See the total and the labor share
Get the total burdened labor cost, the loaded cost per hour and per worker, and — if you add the job price — labor as a percent of the sale against the 25–35% benchmark.
How plumbing contractors calculate labor cost per job
The labor on a job costs far more than the wage on the paycheck. The real number is the loaded (burdened) hourly cost — base wage plus payroll taxes, workers’ comp, and benefits — multiplied by the hours worked and the crew size. Skip the burden and you will underprice every job by 25–40%, because that is the share of wages the burden usually adds.
This calculator uses the standard job-labor-cost formula: loaded hourly cost = base wage × (1 + labor burden %), then total labor cost = loaded cost × hours × crew. It also shows labor as a percent of the job price so you can check it against the 25–35% most healthy home-service shops target. It is distinct from the Labor Rate Calculator (which sets a billable $/hr) and the Employee Cost Calculator (which builds the per-person annual cost and the burden % this tool asks for). Use all three together to price labor accurately.
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View statesLabor Cost Calculator FAQs
How do I calculate labor cost for a plumbing job?
Multiply the loaded hourly cost by the total crew-hours. Loaded hourly cost = base wage × (1 + labor burden %). Example: a $30/hr wage at 35% burden is $40.50/hr loaded; a 2-worker crew for 4 hours each is 8 crew-hours, so 8 × $40.50 = $324 total labor cost. Add materials and overhead separately to price the whole job.
How is this different from the Labor Rate and Employee Cost calculators?
The Employee Cost Calculator builds the fully-burdened cost of a person (per year and per hour) and the burden %. The Labor Rate Calculator turns that into a billable $/hr to charge customers. This Labor Cost Calculator uses your cost per hour to total the labor on one job — hours × crew × loaded rate. Cost, not price.
What labor burden percentage should I use?
For most home-service trades, labor burden runs 25–40% of base wages — payroll taxes (~9–10%), workers’ comp (varies by trade and state), plus benefits. Use the Employee Cost Calculator to build your exact number, then enter it here.
What percent of a job should labor be?
Most healthy home-service shops keep labor around 25–35% of the job price, leaving room for materials, overhead, and profit. If labor is pushing past 40% of the price, the job is likely under-priced or over-crewed — raise the price or tighten the hours.
