Concrete & construction
Construction Overhead Calculator
Totals construction overhead, where equipment and the yard are the large lines.
Result
Overhead is what the business costs whether or not you work. Wages for people who are on jobs belong in job cost instead, and counting them here overstates overhead and underprices everything.
Get a Free Business AuditHow the calculation works
The monthly total of what the business costs regardless of jobs: yard or premises, vehicles and equipment ownership, insurance, bonding, licensing, software, office wages and marketing. Divided by revenue it gives the overhead rate every bid has to carry.
What moves the number
- Equipment ownership, including idle equipment.
- Yard or premises.
- Insurance and bonding.
- Office and management wages.
Where this one goes wrong
Equipment owned and not used is pure overhead, and a construction business with machines sitting idle is carrying a cost that produces nothing while the ownership continues, which makes the own-or-hire decision an overhead question rather than a convenience one. Review the fleet against its utilisation. Bonding capacity and its cost are the other item specific to this sector, and both scale with the work being pursued rather than the work being done.
Before you quote
- Review equipment utilisation against its ownership cost.
- Keep crew wages in job cost, not overhead.
- Include bonding cost, which scales with pursued work.
Questions
About this calculator
Is idle equipment overhead?
Entirely. Ownership continues whether a machine works or not, which makes the own-or-hire decision an overhead question rather than a convenience one. Reviewing the fleet against its actual utilisation is where real savings sit.
Should crew wages be in overhead?
No, they are job cost since they scale with the work. Overhead is what the business costs when nobody is on site: yard, equipment ownership, insurance, bonding, licensing, office and management. Mixing them distorts every bid.
What is specific to construction overhead?
Equipment ownership and bonding. Both are substantial, both scale with the kind of work pursued rather than completed, and both are items a business can find itself carrying for work it did not win.
The formula
overhead rate = monthly overhead / monthly revenue
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How to use this calculator
- Premises per month ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $1,800.
- Office and management wages ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $5,200.
- Vehicles, fuel and maintenance ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $2,400.
- Insurance and licensing ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $900.
- Software, phones and internet ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $450.
- Marketing and advertising ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $1,500.
The result updates as you type, so you can try a figure, see what it does to overhead per month, and change it back. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere or saved.
A worked example
These are the figures the calculator opens with. Every number in the results column below is produced by the same calculation the page runs, so you can follow it through before putting your own figures in.
What goes in
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Premises per month | $1,800 |
| Office and management wages | $5,200 |
| Vehicles, fuel and maintenance | $2,400 |
| Insurance and licensing | $900 |
| Software, phones and internet | $450 |
| Marketing and advertising | $1,500 |
| Everything else | $700 |
| Monthly revenue | $57,000 |
What comes out
| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| Overhead per month main result | $12,950 |
| Overhead per year | $155,400 |
| Overhead rate | 22.7% |
| Cost of opening the doors | $588.64 |
Overhead runs $12,950 a month, 22.7% of revenue. Every working day costs $588.64 before anybody turns a wheel.
How sensitive the answer is
Holding everything else steady and changing only premises per month, this is what happens to overhead per month. It is worth knowing which of your inputs the answer actually hinges on, and which barely move it.
| Premises per month ($) | Overhead per month |
|---|---|
| $900 | $12,050 |
| $1,350 | $12,500 |
| $1,800 example above | $12,950 |
| $2,700 | $13,850 |
| $3,600 | $14,750 |
Every other input is held at the example value while this one changes, which is not how a real job behaves. Treat it as a guide to which number matters most, not as five separate quotes.
What each figure means
- Premises per month ($)
- A money amount, starting at $1,800.
- Office and management wages ($)
- A money amount, starting at $5,200.
- Vehicles, fuel and maintenance ($)
- A money amount, starting at $2,400.
- Insurance and licensing ($)
- A money amount, starting at $900.
- Software, phones and internet ($)
- A money amount, starting at $450.
- Marketing and advertising ($)
- A money amount, starting at $1,500.
- Everything else ($)
- A money amount, starting at $700.
- Monthly revenue ($)
- A money amount, starting at $57,000.
What the results tell you
| Result | What it is |
|---|---|
| Overhead per month | The headline result. A money figure. |
| Overhead per year | A money figure. |
| Overhead rate | A percentage. |
| Cost of opening the doors | A money figure. |
Order slightly more than this
Volume calculations assume a level, properly prepared base and exact dimensions. Sub-base variation, over-excavation and spillage all consume concrete, which is why most contractors add a margin. Running short mid-pour is far more expensive than a small overage.
Estimating is the easy part
The jobs you never hear about cost more than the ones you mis-measure. BDEVY builds the marketing, systems and automation that bring them in.