Employee True Cost Calculator for Home Services

Hiring a technician who earns $25/hour does not cost you $25/hour, not even close. The true cost of a home services employee includes payroll taxes (7.65% FICA plus state unemployment), workers compensation insurance (which runs 5 to 15% of payroll for field trades), health insurance ($300 to $700/month per employee), vehicle costs allocated per tech, tools and equipment, uniforms, training, and paid time off. A technician earning $52,000/year ($25/hour) typically costs the business $70,000 to $85,000 annually, a 35 to 65% burden on top of base wages. Workers comp alone can be brutal in home services: electricians and roofers often carry rates of $8 to $15 per $100 of payroll, compared to $1 to $2 for office workers. Then there is the productivity factor. A field technician is only billable 5 to 7 hours of an 8-hour day after drive time, paperwork, and breaks. If you bill at $125/hour and your tech is billable 6 hours/day, that tech generates $750/day in revenue against a true cost of roughly $350/day (loaded). This calculator shows you the full burden so you can price your services correctly and avoid the common trap of hiring based on hourly wage alone.