HVAC
HVAC Estimate Calculator
Price a whole HVAC job the way the estimate should be built: equipment, materials, burdened labour, permits and overhead, then a selling price set from the margin you actually want.
Result
Labour is burdened here, not waged: payroll taxes, workers' comp, insurance, PTO and benefits ride on top of the hourly rate, and 25–35% is a common range. Calculate yours from last year's payroll rather than assuming. This model recovers overhead in the whole-job margin, so do not also load overhead into the labour rate. That recovers it twice and prices you out of the market.
Read how to estimate an HVAC jobQuestions
About this calculator
Why does the price use margin instead of markup?
Because margin is what a P&L reports. Markup is profit over cost; margin is profit over the selling price. A 40% markup produces a 28.6% margin, so pricing by markup while budgeting by margin leaves you short on every job.
What should I put in the burden field?
Divide last year's total labour cost (wages plus payroll taxes, workers' comp, liability insurance, PTO and benefits) by wages alone, then subtract one. Most residential shops land between 25% and 35%.
Does this include overhead?
Yes, in the margin. The target margin covers overhead and profit together. If your labour rate already has overhead baked into it, use a lower target here or you will double-recover.
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