What to Charge an Hour to Make $75,000 a Year
Charge at least
$91.77 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 year75000 $
- 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$91.77 per hour
| Hours worked a year | 1,920 |
|---|---|
| Billable hours at 70% | 1,344 |
| Pay plus overhead to cover | $111,000.00 |
| Break even rate | $82.59 /hrat this rate you make zero profit |
| With 10% profit margin | $91.77 /hr |
| Day rate, 8 hours | $734.13 |
| Revenue this implies | $123,333.33 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% | $128.47 per hour | 960 |
| 60% | $107.06 per hour | 1,152 |
| 70% | $91.77 per hour | 1,344 |
| 80% | $80.30 per hour | 1,536 |
| 90% | $71.37 per hour | 1,728 |
What else matters here
Pay of $75,000 with $36,000 of overhead is $111,000 across 1,344 billable hours. Break even is $82.59 an hour and the rate to quote is $91.77, which is $734.13 a day.
Fifteen thousand more pay than the $60,000 page costs $12.40 an hour more on the rate, not $7.21. Every dollar of pay has to arrive through a billable hour, and only 70 percent of your hours are billable, so raises to yourself cost the rate about 1.4 times what the arithmetic suggests.
Overhead is the figure most worth checking here. Insurance, the truck, the phone, software, the accountant, advertising and the part of the year you were not working all belong in it. Contractors who think their overhead is $10,000 usually have not counted the 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 $75,000 a year?
$91.77 an hour at 1,344 billable hours a year, with $36,000 of overhead and 10 percent profit. Break even is $82.59.
Is 70 percent billable realistic?
For a one man operation it is optimistic. Estimating, driving, buying material, chasing payment and answering the phone are all real hours nobody pays for. Many solo contractors land between 50 and 60 percent. The comparison table on this page shows what each level does to the rate.
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.