Find the hourly rate that covers your pay, self-employment tax or FICA, time off, unbillable hours and overhead, and still leaves a profit. For yourself or for each person on your crew.
Defaults are a starting point, not advice: use your own figures. Free, no sign-up, nothing is sent anywhere.
Other countries: Australia · New Zealand · United States. More: profit margin calculator and the invoice generator.
Because you can’t bill every hour you work, and the business pays costs a wage doesn’t: vehicle, tools, insurance, phone, accounts, and leave. A $45 wage often needs a charge-out rate of $90 to $130 to break even and make a profit, depending on how many hours are billable.
Most tradies bill 60–80% of the hours they work. The rest goes on quoting, travel, buying materials, admin and call-backs. Being honest about this number matters more than anything else in the calculator.
Self-employment tax is 15.3% (12.4% Social Security plus 2.9% Medicare) on net earnings. An employee would pay half and the employer the other half, so the calculator adds 7.65%, the employer-equivalent half, as a business cost of paying yourself.
Employers pay 7.65% FICA (6.2% Social Security and 1.45% Medicare) on wages, plus workers’ compensation insurance and federal and state unemployment taxes, which vary by state. Add those under "Other on-costs".
Websidyn builds fast, good-looking websites for small businesses, with your hours, photos and reviews, set up to show on Google and in AI answers.
Book a 20-min chator email hello@websidyn.com