What to Charge an Hour to Make $70,000 a Year
Charge at least
$87.63 per hour
48 weeks, 40 hours a week, 70% of them billable, $36,000 of annual overhead and 10% profit.
How that number is worked out
These are the figures this page was built with and every line the calculator produces from them. Change anything above and all of it moves.
- What you want to earn a year70000 $
- Annual overhead: truck, insurance, phone, office, software36000 $
- Weeks you actually work48
- Hours a week on the tools40
- Percent of those hours you can bill70 %
- Profit on top, as a margin10 %
Charge at least$87.63 per hour
| Hours worked a year | 1,920 |
|---|---|
| Billable hours at 70% | 1,344 |
| Pay plus overhead to cover | $106,000.00 |
| Break even rate | $78.87 /hrat this rate you make zero profit |
| With 10% profit margin | $87.63 /hr |
| Day rate, 8 hours | $701.06 |
| Revenue this implies | $117,777.78 a year |
Billable share of the week compared
Billable percent is the whole game. Nothing else on this page moves the rate as far.
| Billable share of the week | Charge at least | Billable hours at 70% |
|---|---|---|
| 50% | $122.69 per hour | 960 |
| 60% | $102.24 per hour | 1,152 |
| 70% | $87.63 per hour | 1,344 |
| 80% | $76.68 per hour | 1,536 |
| 90% | $68.16 per hour | 1,728 |
What else matters here
Pay of $70,000 and overhead of $36,000 is $106,000 over 1,344 billable hours, so break even is $78.87 and the rate to quote is $87.63. That is $701.06 a day and $117,778 of revenue.
Nobody is matching your retirement contribution. An employee on this money usually has an employer putting three to six percent of salary into a plan on top of the salary, and that is real compensation that never shows up in a wage comparison.
Matching it is a business cost and belongs in overhead. Put $8,000 a year into a SEP IRA or a solo 401k, which is modest against the contribution limits for either, and the rate moves from $87.63 to $94.25. The reason to price it in rather than promise yourself you will fund it out of a good year is that the good year gets spent on a truck.
What this calculator assumes
- Billable percent is the whole game. Estimating, driving, buying material, chasing payment and answering the phone are all real hours that no customer pays for. 70 percent is optimistic for a one man operation.
- Profit is separate from your pay. Your pay is a cost of the business. Profit is what the business earns for carrying the risk, and it is what funds the next truck.
Questions people ask
What hourly rate do I need to make $70,000 a year?
$87.63 an hour at 1,344 billable hours a year, with $36,000 of overhead and 10 percent profit. Break even is $78.87.
Should retirement savings be in my rate?
Yes, as an overhead cost. An employer would be contributing on top of a salary, so matching that yourself is a cost of the business. Adding $8,000 a year takes this page from $87.63 to $94.25.
Is my pay the same thing as profit?
No, and mixing them is the most common reason a busy contractor has no money. Your pay is a cost of the business, the same as a wage you would pay somebody else. Profit is what the business earns for carrying the risk, and it is what buys the next truck.
The hourly rate calculator takes any dimensions you like and hands back the same list.