Labour Rate Calculator
Charging your staff out at cost is the fastest way to go broke. Enter a few numbers and we'll work out the hourly rate you need to bill — covering super & leave, your overheads, lost productivity and your profit — so every hour on site actually makes money.
Your numbers
The base wage you're charged for this person, before on-costs.
Rent, vehicles, insurance, admin wages, software, tools — everything not billed directly to a job.
How many people the overheads are spread across.
Added on top of your true cost. This is your reward for the risk of running the job.
Recommended charge-out rate
$108.74
per hour, per worker (excl. GST)
A guide only. Add GST when you invoice, and review your real overheads and productive hours each year.
How the calculation works
Five steps from the wage you pay to the rate you should charge.
Load the wage for on-costs
The base hourly rate is multiplied by 1.4 to cover superannuation, sick leave, annual leave and other employee on-costs you carry whether they're on the tools or not.
Spread your overheads per hour
Your annual overheads are divided by 1,672 working hours per year, then divided again by the number of workers — giving the overhead each worker needs to recover every hour.
Add them together for true cost
The loaded wage plus the overhead per hour is what one hour of that worker actually costs your business.
Adjust for real-world efficiency
Nobody bills 100% of their paid hours. Dividing the cost by 75% efficiency recovers the cost of travel, setup, rework and downtime across the hours you can actually charge.
Add your profit margin
Finally, add the profit you want on top. The result is the hourly rate to charge so the job covers everything and still leaves you a margin.
Stop guessing your labour rates
BuildLedger builds profitable rates into every estimate and quote — so you price jobs right without reaching for a spreadsheet.
No credit card required