Calculator

What an hour of labor costs your shop.

Enter your technicians' pay, the hours you bill and what the shop costs each month. It works out what a billed hour costs you and the rate your target margin needs. Nothing is saved or sent.

Bay 01

Your shop

Technicians

Everyone who works in the bay. Count yourself if you turn wrenches.

Hours a week each is paid

The scheduled week for one technician, not the hours billed.

Wage per hour

What a technician earns an hour. If they earn different amounts, use the average. If you work in the bay, use your hourly cost: what an hour of your time costs the business.

Payroll taxes and benefits, % of pay

A percentage added on top of pay. Leave blank for none.

Hours billed a week, all technicians together

Hours on invoices, not hours on the clock. Scarab OS counts this as a share of paid time that gets billed; the result shows yours.

Costs each month

Leave a box blank for a cost you do not pay. Say at least one, even none.

Pay to staff who are not technicians

A month of pay for the counter, a manager or yourself, before taxes and benefits.

Rent or mortgage

Utilities

Insurance

Tools and equipment payments

Software and subscriptions

Other

Anything else it costs to keep the doors open. Not parts bought for a customer's car.

Margin

Margin you aim for, %

Optional. Gives the rate that margin needs.

Bay 02

What the number means

A billed hour costs what the shop spends in a month divided by the hours it bills in a month. This counts every cost against labor hours alone, so profit on parts is not taken off it. The rate for a margin is that cost divided by one less the margin: a billed hour that costs $60.00 needs $120.00 an hour for a 50% margin. Neither figure is a price to charge. They are your own numbers worked through.

Bay 03

How it is worked out

Technician pay a month: technicians × hours a week × 4.33 weeks × wage per hour.
Payroll taxes and benefits: that pay, and the pay to other staff, each plus the percentage.
Cost a month: technician pay and other staff, with taxes and benefits, plus the running costs.
Hours billed a month: hours billed a week × 4.33.
What a billed hour costs: cost a month ÷ hours billed a month.
Rate for a margin: what a billed hour costs ÷ (1 − the margin).

The same figure, from your own books

In Scarab OS, Reports › All reports › Shop rate works this out from your technicians' pay and hours, your running costs and the time that gets billed, each time you open it. Only the owner sees it.

Working out one job instead? See the estimate margin calculator.

Pricing