Overview
Most contractors pick their hourly rate by guessing. This calculator runs the actual math — direct labor, labor burden, overhead allocation, profit target, and realistic billable hours — and outputs your true break-even rate and profitable target rate. It's the single most important number in your business, and most contractors have it wrong.
What's inside
- Direct labor cost input
- Labor burden calculator (payroll tax, workers comp, insurance, PTO, benefits)
- Overhead allocation worksheet
- Billable hours per week assumptions
- Profit margin targeting
- Outputs: break-even rate + profitable target rate
- Editable Excel workbook (opens in Google Sheets too)
- Feeds directly into all Tradesman Office flat rate price books
Who it's for
Every single trade contractor. If you don't know your true hourly rate, everything downstream — your quotes, your flat rate pricing, your profit margins — is built on a guess.
Works best with
Tradesman Office products are designed to work together. Each one feeds into the next — so what you buy here compounds instead of sitting alone in a folder.
- Electrician Flat Rate Price Book — Plug your calculated rate into a Flat Rate Price Book
- Flat Rate Options Presentation Template — Present quotes in 3 tiers with the Options Presentation
See the full system on our How It All Works page.
Why buy from Tradesman Office
Every product in the shop is built by a working electrician — someone who actually uses these tools on real job sites. That means they're calibrated to the problems contractors actually face, not the problems a software designer guessed at from a spreadsheet.
- Excel-first. Buy once, own forever. No subscription, no vendor lock-in.
- Works on any device. Excel, Google Sheets, iPad — wherever you quote from.
- Part of a complete system. Every product here works with the others. See the full flow on our How It All Works page.
- Fast support. Message through Etsy and get a response from the founder within one business day.