Construction labor cost calculator
Compare a crew scenario using your own role counts, hourly rates, regular and overtime hours, burden percentages and fixed costs. Use one currency and one common planning period for every role.
The starting row is fictional. Edit it or remove it and add your own records. Inputs stay in this browser session and are not automatically saved or transmitted. Export the reviewed CSV to keep a copy.
How crew labor cost is calculated
For each role, wages equal headcount multiplied by the hourly rate and the entered regular-plus-weighted-overtime hours. Burden is applied to those wages, and fixed per-worker costs are added. The effective hourly cost divides the total by actual entered crew-hours.
How to use the worksheet
- Choose one planning period and currency.
- Enter each role’s headcount, rate and regular/overtime hours.
- Enter the overtime multiplier, burden and fixed costs that apply to your estimate.
- Calculate, compare the role totals and check the assumptions before exporting.
A worked example
For an illustrative crew of 2 people at 30 per hour, each working 40 regular hours and no overtime, wages are 2,400. With entered burden of 20% and fixed cost of 100 per person, the total is 3,080 across 80 crew-hours, or 38.50 per hour. These are fictional inputs, not recommended rates.
What to check before using the output
The entered burden applies to both regular and overtime wages. Zero hours produce no effective hourly rate. This is estimating arithmetic, not payroll, tax, prevailing-wage or employment-law guidance. No wage or statutory multiplier is prescribed.
Choose the cost basis before entering the crew
Use the same planning period and currency for every role. Enter regular and overtime hours per worker, not the hours for the whole crew. Set the overtime multiplier from your estimate's actual basis. The calculator weights overtime wages by that multiplier but counts the underlying hours once when calculating effective hourly cost.
Avoid counting labor burden twice
The burden percentage is an input for costs you choose to estimate as a percentage of wages, such as applicable benefits, insurance or employer costs. The calculator applies that percentage to both regular and overtime wages. Put separate fixed costs in the per-worker field only if they are not already included in the wage rate or burden. Obtain the applicable rates from your payroll, finance or estimating records.
Read the effective hourly cost with its assumptions
Effective hourly cost spreads the entered total over the crew-hours in this scenario. It is useful for comparing otherwise consistent estimates; it does not measure installed output or productivity. A smaller crew-hour total can increase the effective rate when fixed costs stay the same. Keep the assumption set with the exported CSV so another reviewer can reproduce the result.