Plumbing Employee True Cost Calculator
That $28/hr plumber actually costs you $50 to $62 per hour. See the real number before you hire.
Employee Pay
What you pay this plumbing employee per hour, before any employer costs.
Country
Mandatory employer costs change by country. Select yours.
Mandatory Employer Costs
These are required by law. You pay them on top of every dollar of wages.
Benefits You Provide
Toggle on the benefits you offer. Only include what you actually pay for.
Productivity
Not every paid hour is productive plumbing work. Factor in drive time, paperwork, breaks, and downtime.
True Employee Cost
$0
per productive hour
$0
per paid hour
$0
fully loaded annual cost
Adjust the inputs on the left to see your numbers update in real time.
📤 Share This Tool
Know someone who could use this? Send it their way.
📊 Want the full picture?
Get a free business audit in under 5 minutes
We'll show you exactly where your business is leaking revenue and what to fix first. No sales pitch. Just the numbers.
Get Your Free Growth Report →Free. Takes 5 minutes. See where you stack up against top contractors.
True Employee Cost for Plumbing Companies
You pay your plumber $28 an hour. The paycheck says $28. But by the time you add up payroll taxes, workers comp, health insurance, the van, the tools, and the PTO they earn, you are spending $50 to $62 for every hour they are on the clock.
Then there is the productivity gap. Your plumber is not billing 40 hours a week. After drive time, parts runs, estimates, and callbacks, most plumbers bill 55% to 65% of their paid hours. That means your cost per productive hour is even higher.
This calculator shows you the real number. Use it before you hire, before you set your rates, and before you wonder where the profit went.
Mandatory Employer Costs for Plumbing
Mandatory employer costs for a plumber add 18% to 22% on top of wages before you offer a single benefit. Employer FICA is 7.65% on every dollar. State unemployment adds 2% to 4%. Workers comp for plumbing runs 3% to 6% depending on your state and claims history. On a $28/hr plumber, those mandatory costs add $5.00 to $6.15 per hour. That is $10,400 to $12,800 per year in costs you cannot avoid.
The Productivity Gap in Plumbing
Plumbing has one of the widest productivity gaps in the trades. Your plumber is on the clock for 8 hours but they are only at a customer home doing billable work for 4.5 to 5.5 of those hours. The rest is drive time between calls, supply house trips for parts, writing up invoices, callbacks on warranty work, and time spent giving estimates that do not close. If your total cost per plumber is $110,000/yr and they produce 1,250 billable hours, your real cost is $88 per hour of productive work.
Tips for Plumbing Employee Costing
- Stock your vans with the 50 most common parts. Every supply house run burns 45 to 90 minutes of paid time. That is $40 to $80 in lost productive labor per trip.
- Track your callback rate. If 5% of jobs require a return visit, that is 5% of your labor working for free. The cost comes straight out of your margins.
- A $700/month service van adds $4.04 to your hourly cost per plumber. If you are not including truck costs in your labor burden, you are underpricing every call.
- When you set flat rates, divide your total annual cost per plumber by productive hours, not paid hours. That gives you the real number your rates need to cover.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a plumber really cost per hour to employ?
A plumber making $28 per hour actually costs $50 to $62 per hour when you add employer FICA at 7.65%, workers comp at 3% to 6%, health insurance, PTO, van costs at $700 to $1,100 per month, and tools. The burden multiplier for plumbing is typically 1.8x to 2.2x base wages. On a $28/hr plumber, your true cost runs $50 to $62 per hour before overhead or profit.
What is the labor burden rate for plumbing companies?
Plumbing labor burden runs 25% to 35% for mandatory costs (FICA, unemployment, workers comp). Total burden including benefits, van, and tools reaches 80% to 120% of base wages. A plumber at $28/hr with full benefits and a service van costs $50 to $62/hr. Companies that skip tracking burden often underprice service calls by $30 to $50 per call.
What is workers comp for plumbers?
Workers comp for plumbers typically runs 3% to 6% of gross payroll. Rates depend on your state, claims history, and whether the work is residential or commercial. A $28/hr plumber with a 4.5% workers comp rate costs you $1.26/hr for that single line item. That is $2,620 per year per plumber just for injury insurance.
What percentage of a plumber time is actually billable?
Most plumbing companies see 55% to 65% of paid hours as billable. A plumber paid for 2,080 hours per year typically produces 1,150 to 1,350 billable hours. Drive time between calls, parts supply house runs, callbacks, estimates, and paperwork eat the rest. If a plumber costs $110,000 per year total and bills 1,250 hours, the real cost is $88 per productive hour.
How do you calculate the fully burdened cost of a plumber?
Take annual gross pay ($28/hr times 2,080 hours = $58,240). Add mandatory costs: FICA ($4,455), FUTA ($350), state unemployment ($1,572), workers comp ($2,620). Add benefits: health insurance ($7,200/yr), PTO ($2,330), van ($9,600/yr), tools ($2,400/yr). Total: roughly $88,770 per year. Divide by 1,250 productive hours and the real cost is about $71 per productive hour.
Knowing Your Numbers Is Step One
This calculator shows you one piece. The Growth Report shows you the full picture: where you're leaking revenue, what to fix first, and how contractors like you are growing past the ceiling.