Free tool
Job cost calculator
price it before you quote it.
Enter what the job actually costs you — labor, materials, and overhead — then set the margin you need. Everything runs in your browser; nothing is stored or sent.
Job inputs
hrs
$/hr
Wage plus taxes, insurance, and vehicle.
$
%
Offcuts, breakage, and returns.
$/hr
Annual overhead divided by billable hours.
%
What to charge
Labor cost$720
Materials with waste$1,320
Overhead recovery$352
Total cost$2,392
Profit at this price$598
Quote this job at$2,990
That is a 20.0% net margin — $187 per labor hour sold.
How this works
Why the price is not just cost plus a percentage
- Loaded labor rate means the true cost of an hour: wage plus payroll taxes, insurance, benefits, vehicle, and tools. It usually lands 30-60% above the raw wage.
- Overhead per hour is your annual fixed costs — insurance, software, office, advertising, admin time — divided by the hours you realistically sell in a year. Leave it out and a busy year can still end flat.
- Target margin is applied as a margin, not a markup: cost is divided by (1 - margin). Multiplying cost by the margin instead would leave you short on every job.
- The waste factor covers offcuts, breakage, and the trip back to the supplier. Trades working with sheet or linear material usually need a higher figure than service trades.
Do this once, not on every quote.
SimpliPilot stores your rates and services so every estimate is priced correctly by default.
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