Hourly rate calculator for contractors
Enter the income you want to earn, what the business costs to run in a year, and the hours you can actually bill. You get the hourly rate that covers all of it.
Free, and you don't need an account. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
What you want and what it costs
Your time
Your hourly rate
Enter the income you want in a year to see the rate.
How it works
- The money the business has to bring in over a year is the income you want plus your yearly business costs.
- Billable hours are the hours you can charge for in a week times the weeks you work in a year. Driving, quoting, buying materials and paperwork are not billable, so this is lower than the hours you are busy.
- The hourly rate is the money needed divided by the billable hours.
- The weekly figure is the money needed spread over the weeks you work, so you can see what a normal week has to bring in.
Tips
- Count every business cost: insurance, the truck and fuel, tools, software, phone, advertising, and a little for repairs.
- Enter the income you want before tax, and set tax aside from what you earn.
- Be honest about billable hours. Part of every working week goes on things you can't charge for, and the rate has to cover them.
- Take out the weeks you won't work, such as holidays, sick days and slow spells.
Or let QuoteDash do the sums
QuoteDash keeps your rates on a price list and what each one costs you on a cost list your customers never see, so every quote shows the profit before you send it.
Create your accountFree for 14 days, no card needed. Then $29/month.
Questions
- What counts as a billable hour?
- An hour you can charge a customer for, usually time spent doing the work. Quoting, driving between jobs, buying supplies and doing paperwork take real time but usually aren't billed, so leave them out of the hours.
- Should my business costs include materials?
- Not if you charge materials to the customer on each job. Use this for the costs that sit behind every job, such as insurance, the truck and tools, and charge materials separately.
- Is this the rate I put on every quote?
- It is the rate your year needs to work out. Your quotes also have to reflect the job, the market and what customers will pay, so treat it as a floor to check against.
- What if I work with a helper?
- Add the helper's pay to the yearly costs, and add their hours to the billable hours you can bill in a week.