Construction Labor Burden Calculator
Workers comp, small tools, and prevailing wage push construction burden past 30%. Price the job with the real number.
Pre-filled with construction estimates: workers comp 6.0%, benefits 10.0%, 10 PTO days, overhead 8.0%. Edit any field below.
Social Security + Medicare (7.65%)
Federal unemployment (effective 0.6%)
Health, retirement, etc.
$41.63/hr
Fully burdened rate
38.8%
Burden added
$86,580
Annual cost
Burden breakdown
A $41.63/hr fully burdened rate is real money per placement. Skillora's AI screens every candidate so you only pay for the right ones.
Estimates only, using editable 2025 US defaults. Tax and insurance rates vary by employer, classification, and locality. Verify with a licensed accountant before relying on these figures.
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A carpenter on $28 an hour costs a contractor almost $39 an hour once workers comp, payroll taxes, benefits, and small tools are counted. That gap is the labor burden, and in construction it runs higher than in almost any office industry. This construction labor burden calculator starts from trade defaults instead of the generic 18% most estimators use, so a bid built on it covers the crew.
Why labor burden is different in construction
Workers compensation is the reason construction burden is different. NCCI assigns a class code to each type of work, and the rates spread widely: clerical staff at a contractor pay a fraction of one percent of payroll, while roofing, structural steel, and excavation classes can run into double digits. A general contractor with a mixed crew often lands between 3% and 15% of payroll for workers comp alone, and the calculator pre-fills a 6% midpoint estimate.
Prevailing wage changes the benefits line. On Davis-Bacon and state prevailing-wage jobs, the wage determination sets an hourly fringe amount the contractor must pay in cash or into bona fide benefit plans. Union agreements do the same through hourly contributions to health, pension, and training funds. The 10% benefits default fits an open-shop contractor; on a prevailing-wage or union job, replace it with the fringe rate from the wage determination or the collective bargaining agreement.
Then there is the time nobody bills. Crews travel between sites, wait on inspections, and lose hours to weather. Small tools, PPE, and safety training get consumed by the job but rarely appear as a line item. The 8% overhead default covers those. Contractors who track it properly often find it higher.
Worked example with construction defaults
Take a carpenter at $28.00 an hour. Add employer FICA at 7.65%, FUTA at 0.6%, state unemployment at the 2.7% US default, workers comp at 6.0%, benefits at 10.0%, and 11.8% for overhead plus 10 PTO days. Total burden is 38.8%, so the fully burdened rate is $38.85 an hour, or $80,808 a year on 2,080 hours against $58,240 of base wages.
| Role (pay estimate) | Pay rate | Burden | Fully burdened | Annual cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carpenter | $28.00/hr | 38.8% | $38.85/hr | $80,808 |
| Electrician | $32.00/hr | 38.8% | $44.40/hr | $92,352 |
| Construction laborer | $21.00/hr | 38.8% | $29.14/hr | $60,606 |
Pay rates are rounded estimates near national medians, and the SUI line uses the US default. Open a state page from the labor burden by state list to swap in a local SUI estimate, then enter your own class rate for workers comp.
What drives the range
Class code mix
Workers comp follows the class code of the work performed, not the company. A crew that frames and roofs carries a far higher rate than one that hangs drywall. Split payroll by class code and weight the rate, or the burden will be wrong by several points.
Experience modification rate
Your EMR multiplies the base class rate. A contractor with an EMR of 0.85 pays 15% less than the manual rate; one at 1.20 pays 20% more. Enter your actual modified rate rather than the manual rate when you can.
Prevailing wage and union fringe
Fringe requirements on public work are set per hour, not as a percentage. Convert the hourly fringe to a percentage of the base wage before entering it as benefits. A $10 fringe on a $30 wage is a 33% benefits load, not 10%.
Seasonality and unemployment claims
Winter layoffs drive unemployment claims, and claims drive the SUI experience rate. Contractors in cold-weather states often carry SUI rates well above the new-employer estimate. Check the rate notice from your state workforce agency.
Construction burden defaults
| Input | Default | Typical spread (estimate) |
|---|---|---|
| Workers comp (% of payroll) | 6.0% | 3.0% to 15.0% by class code |
| Benefits (% of wages) | 10.0% | Health and retirement only |
| Paid time off | 10 days | 3.8% of a 2,080-hour year |
| Overhead (% of wages) | 8.0% | Entered as 11.8% with PTO |
| Typical total burden | 38.8% | 30% to 45% |
Sources: benefits share from the BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation release; workers comp variation from NCCI class codes and state rating bureaus; pay estimates near BLS OEWS medians. PTO, overhead, and the burden range are estimates, not published figures.
- BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC): benefits share of total compensation by industry
- NCCI class codes and state workers compensation rating bureaus: rate variation by classification
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS): median hourly wages by occupation
- PTO, overhead, and burden range defaults are Skillora estimates from staffing practice, not published figures
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Labor burden calculator with the generic US defaults, and labor burden by state for local SUI estimates in all 50 states and DC.
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