Solar & battery
Solar Installer Labor Cost Calculator
Works installer labour cost, where the burden and the licensed trades matter.
Result
A planning estimate, not a quote. Access, the age of the equipment, what is found once it is opened up and local labour rates all move the real figure, sometimes a long way.
Get a Free Business AuditHow the calculation works
Crew hours at burdened rates, with the burden covering payroll taxes, workers compensation, insurance, paid time and training. Solar labour includes licensed electrical work at a higher rate than general installation labour, so a single blended rate misprices jobs with different electrical content.
What moves the number
- Burdened rates by trade, not a single blended rate.
- Workers compensation rate, which reflects roof work.
- Hours by task.
- Travel and mobilisation time.
Where this one goes wrong
Workers compensation for solar installation reflects roof and height exposure and is accordingly not cheap, which means the burden on installation labour is heavier than for ground-level trades and pricing from the wage understates it significantly. Using separate burdened rates for licensed electrical and general installation labour is also what makes a job with heavy electrical content price correctly, since a blended rate systematically underprices those and overprices simple ones.
Before you quote
- Use separate burdened rates for licensed and general labour.
- Apply the actual workers compensation rate for roof work.
- Include travel and mobilisation hours.
Where the rules come from
Questions
About this calculator
Why is solar labour burden so high?
Workers compensation reflects roof and height exposure and is accordingly expensive, on top of payroll taxes, insurance, paid time and training. Pricing from the wage rather than the burdened rate understates the cost of every hour significantly.
Should electrical and installation labour be rated separately?
Yes, because licensed electrical work costs more per hour. A single blended rate systematically underprices jobs with heavy electrical content and overprices simple ones, and the error is invisible until the job-level margins are compared.
Is travel time billable?
It has to be recovered somewhere, whether as billable hours or inside the rate. What causes problems is treating it as neither, since crews travelling between sites and to suppliers consume real paid hours that produce nothing directly.
The formula
total = hours x people x rate + parts + call-out, then sales tax
Put this calculator on your site
Free to embed. Paste this where you want it to appear. It stays up to date automatically because it loads from BDEVY.
Please keep the attribution line. It is the only thing we ask in return.
How to use this calculator
- Hours on site (h). Enter your own figure; the page starts at 32 h.
- People needed. Enter your own figure; the page starts at 1.
- Labour rate charged ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $105.
- Parts and materials ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $12,500.
- Call-out or diagnostic fee ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $95.
- Sales tax (%). Leave at zero if you are quoting before tax.
The result updates as you type, so you can try a figure, see what it does to estimated total, 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 |
|---|---|
| Hours on site | 32 h |
| People needed | 1 |
| Labour rate charged | $105 |
| Parts and materials | $12,500 |
| Call-out or diagnostic fee | $95 |
| Sales tax | 0% |
What comes out
| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| Estimated total main result | $15,955 |
| Labour | $3,360 |
| Before tax | $15,955 |
| Sales tax | $0 |
About $15,955: $3,360 of labour, $12,500 of parts and a $95 call-out.
How sensitive the answer is
Holding everything else steady and changing only labour rate charged, this is what happens to estimated total. It is worth knowing which of your inputs the answer actually hinges on, and which barely move it.
| Labour rate charged ($) | Estimated total |
|---|---|
| $53 | $14,291 |
| $79 | $15,123 |
| $105 example above | $15,955 |
| $158 | $17,651 |
| $210 | $19,315 |
Every other input is held at the example value while this one changes, which is not how a real job behaves. Treat it as a guide to which number matters most, not as five separate quotes.
What each figure means
- Hours on site (h)
- Measured in h, between 0 and 400, starting at 32 h.
- People needed
- A number, between 0 and 40, starting at 1.
- Labour rate charged ($)
- A money amount, starting at $105.
- Parts and materials ($)
- A money amount, starting at $12,500.
- Call-out or diagnostic fee ($)
- A money amount, starting at $95.
- Sales tax (%)
- Leave at zero if you are quoting before tax.
What the results tell you
| Result | What it is |
|---|---|
| Estimated total | The headline result. A money figure. |
| Labour | A money figure. |
| Before tax | A money figure. |
| Sales tax | A money figure. |
A design still needs a site visit
Output and sizing figures use the assumptions you enter, not measured irradiance, shading or roof orientation at your address. Real production depends on all three, plus inverter behaviour and local interconnection rules.
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.