THE RAPID QUOTE PROFIT GENERATOR
Built by The Lawn & Snow Pro for Lawn Care Pros.
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Know Your Numbers

Target Man-Hour Rate Calculator

Find out what one hour of field labor needs to generate to cover your estimated business costs and hit your target profit margin.

This calculator plans for two people — you + one future employee.

I always recommend knowing your numbers before you hire. If you only build your pricing around yourself, bringing somebody into the business can simply move you out of the field without actually adding profitable capacity. By planning around you plus one field employee now, you can build a rate that is prepared for that next step. When you're ready to hire, that person should add to what the business can produce — not replace what you were already producing yourself.

Enter Your Numbers

Use your best estimates. For costs such as vehicles and equipment, think about what your business will realistically need when you have two people working in the field.

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Treat your own field labor as a real business cost, even if you currently take owner draws rather than an hourly wage.
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Use a realistic hourly wage for the type of employee you would need to work alongside you.
Include holidays, sick time, training, shop time, maintenance and other working hours that can't be directly charged to a customer.
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Allow for additional labor-related costs such as payroll taxes, workers' compensation, insurance and benefits.
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Insurance, software, accounting, advertising, phones, office costs, licenses and other general business expenses.
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Fuel, maintenance, repairs, truck and trailer expenses, equipment costs and an allowance for replacement or depreciation. Think ahead to the equipment your two-person operation will require.
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This is margin, not markup. Profit is calculated after the modeled costs above are recovered.

Your Estimate

Complete all of the fields to calculate your rate.

Estimated Break-Even Man-Hour Rate
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Your Target Man-Hour Rate
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This is the estimated amount each individual chargeable man-hour needs to generate. It is calculated using the modeled costs of a two-person field operation: you plus one employee.
2-Person Crew-Hour Target — If both people are working for one clock hour, this is approximately what the business needs to generate during that hour.
USE THIS RATE IN THE QUOTE GENERATOR →
Practical pricing benchmark: — Your calculated man-hour rate is rounded up to the next $5 to give you a simple benchmark to use when pricing work.

How Your Rate Is Built

Annual working hours per person —
Chargeable hours per person —
Total chargeable man-hours —
Chargeable percentage —
Loaded labor cost / man-hour —
Overhead + equipment / man-hour —
DISCLAIMER This calculator is for educational purposes only and provides an estimate based solely on the information you enter. Actual labor costs, taxes, payroll burden, equipment costs, chargeable hours and overhead can vary significantly by business, state and region. Review your own records, do your own due diligence and consult qualified financial, tax or legal professionals where appropriate. This calculator does not guarantee profitability.

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