For Every Trade · Pricing
Contractor Labor Rate Calculator
Your break-even hourly rate and the rate you should actually charge, from overhead, take-home goal, and real billable hours.
Free Tools & Calculators
Free tools for
the trades. No email required.
Eight calculators and four printable templates for the napkin-math moments. No signup, no email wall, no trial that expires. They are not a substitute for proper takeoffs or code-based sizing, but for working out what to charge and what something costs you, they will save you time. Built by a working electrician.
Bookmark this page. New tools get added as I build them.
Start Here · For Every Trade
Contractor Labor Rate Calculator
The one number every other price you quote depends on. Put in your overhead, your take-home goal, your real billable hours, self-employment tax, profit margin, and material markup. Get back your break-even rate, the rate you should actually charge, the gross revenue you need to hit it, and a line-by-line breakdown of where every dollar goes. Each input has guidance built in with real Philadelphia metro 2026 anchors.
Open the calculator →
Every free tool
Each one has its own page with the calculator, the reasoning behind the math, and the questions that come up most.
For Every Trade · Payroll
True Cost of an Employee Calculator
Labor burden done properly. What your guy costs per billable hour once taxes, workers comp, benefits, the truck, and non-billable time are counted.
For Every Trade · Service Work
Service Call & Trip Charge Calculator
What a truck roll costs you in drive time, fuel, wear, and overhead, and what to charge so it stops being free.
For Every Trade · Pricing
Markup vs. Margin Calculator
Convert between markup and margin so you stop losing money to the two words most contractors use interchangeably.
For Plumbers
Pipe Material Estimator
Estimate linear feet of pipe with a built-in waste factor so you do not run short on day two.
For HVAC
HVAC Tonnage Quick Reference
A fast cooling-capacity sanity check for the first customer conversation. Not a substitute for Manual J.
For Roofers & Carpenters
Roofing Bundle Calculator
Convert roof square footage into shingle bundle counts with waste set by roof complexity.
For Electricians
Panel Schedule Template
Free printable Excel panel schedules in 24, 30, and 42-circuit layouts, sized for the panel cover pocket.
For Every Trade · Printable PDFs
Three free printables for the truck
Calculators are for the office. These are for the truck. Three one-page PDFs you can print, fold, and keep in the glovebox: a pricing reference card, a hand-written quote form, and a matching invoice. No signup, no email, no upsell at the end.
If a file opens in your browser instead of downloading, right-click the button and choose “Save link as…” These are the same three files handed out on the direct download page, hosted here so you do not need a link to find them.
For Electricians · Excel
Panel schedule template
A clean, printable circuit directory for any standard residential panel. Three sheet sizes, 24, 30, and 42 circuits, all sized to slide straight into the panel cover label pocket. Standard residential layout, odd circuits left and even right, so it matches the panel and matches what an inspector or a future homeowner expects to see.
Three panel sizes (24 / 30 / 42 circuits) in one Excel workbook. Editable, printable, free to share with your crew.
Excel (.xlsx) · Works in Excel, Google Sheets, Numbers, and LibreOffice · ~13 KB
Print at 100% or actual size, do not use “fit to page”. Trim along the outside border and slide it into the panel cover. Sized for Square D, Eaton, Siemens, GE, and other standard residential panels. Full details and printing notes →
Also for Electricians
Master Electrician App
Instead of building one more electrician calculator here, I built a whole free app. Master Electrician has NEC code reference, AI code Q&A, photo compliance scanning, and more than ten calculators including voltage drop, conduit fill, and conductor sizing. Pro features are available by subscription for daily users. Built by the same person who built this site.
Free download · iOS & Android · masterelectricianapp.com
Free to Use, Free to Share
Link to these tools
Everything on this page is free, there is no email gate on any of it, and that is not going to change. If these are useful to your crew, your students, your local, or your audience, link to them. You do not need to ask and you do not owe me attribution, though a link back helps other people find them.
Common questions
Are these tools actually free?
Yes. Every calculator and template on this page is free to use with no account, no email, no trial, and no usage limit. I sell flat rate price books and business templates elsewhere on the site, and these tools are how most people find out I exist.
Do I have to give you my email to use them?
No. Nothing on this page is gated. There is an email list in the footer if you want to hear when new tools go up, but it is optional and the tools work the same either way.
Can I link to these or use them with my crew?
Please do. Link them, text them to your apprentice, print the results, put them on a training handout, or build them into a class. You do not need permission and you do not owe attribution, though a link back is appreciated.
Is my data stored anywhere?
No. Every calculator runs in your browser. Nothing you type is sent to a server, saved, or associated with you, which also means nothing carries over if you close the tab.
Who built these?
A licensed master electrician and foreman working in the Philadelphia area. The defaults and the guidance notes come from running actual jobs and an actual contracting business, not from a software company guessing at what the trade looks like.
Can you build a calculator I need?
Often, yes. Most of the tools here exist because somebody asked for them. Send me a note with what you are trying to work out and I will tell you honestly whether I can build it.
More tools coming.
If there is a calculator or template you wish existed, let me know. Most of these got built because someone asked. Send me a note.