Act on the result
Confirm paid hours excluded from productive capacity and the labour costs included in the loaded rate.
Educational only: Business decision support, not accounting, tax or legal advice.
Privacy: No account is required. Tool inputs and results stay in this browser. Anonymous categorical usage analytics send only governed page, tool, cluster and action identifiers; tool inputs and results are never sent. Error monitoring is disabled. Optional saved state stays only on this device.
Update policy: Reviewed when formulas or official dependencies change.
Scope: Market-neutral small-business planning using your own assumptions.
What this planner helps you decide
Best for
Trade and project businesses setting a labour charge-out rate from their own loaded cost and productive capacity.
Outputs
Loaded labour cost, productive hours, break-even rate and target-margin charge-out rate.
Start here
Enter the complete labour cost period and realistic productive hours before choosing a target margin.
Use a different tool when: Do not use this to compare quoted and actual job economics and identify overruns; use Job Costing & Margin Planner for that decision. Use this tool to set a charge-out rate from productive hours and loaded labour.
Quote & capacity
Labour Recovery Rate: loaded labour cost
Loaded labour cost, productive hours, break-even rate and target-margin charge-out rate.
Amounts use the same currency as your inputs. No currency conversion is performed.
Owner presets
Load an illustrative tradie hourly-rate scenario, then replace every hour, cost and margin assumption with your own records. This is not a market-rate benchmark.
Labour Recovery Rate
Convert paid hours, productive hours, wages, on-costs and overhead into the minimum ex-tax labour charge rate needed to protect your target margin.
Your numbers stay in this browser
Total paid labour hours for the selected period.
Hours available to recover labour and overhead through customer work.
Enter wages and employer on-costs for the same paid-hours period. Use one consistent ex-tax basis.
Enter the overhead amount assigned to these productive hours. Use one consistent ex-tax basis.
Enter the margin you want the labour charge rate to protect.
Decision result
Use the cost and recovery rows to identify the component changing the exact reconciliation.
PDF and CSV exports stay on this device. Clean page links contain no inputs.
- Productive cost per hour
- 80.00
- Minimum charge rate
- 100.00
- Productive utilisation
- 75%
Scenario comparison
Each row names the assumption axis changed from the baseline.
ScenarioResultDifference
Entered scenario100.00Baseline
Lower Target labour margin97.56-2.44
Higher Target labour margin102.562.56
Save these results, change an input, then compare the updated figures with this baseline.
The baseline is temporary in this tab and is not added to shared scenario links or generated reports.
Calculation details
View calculation detailsView the formulas and inputs used for these results.
Productive cost per hour
Productive cost per hour
(wages and on-costs + overhead to recover) ÷ productive hours80.00Result80.00
Uses only the entered market-neutral commercial records and assumptions. Raw engine precision is retained until display.
Labour Recovery Rate Planner formulas →Inputs used by these formula steps
- Productive cost per hourPaid Hours
- 160
- Productive cost per hourProductive Hours
- 120
- Productive cost per hourWages And On Costs Ex Tax
- 7,200
- Productive cost per hourOverhead To Recover Ex Tax
- 2,400
- Productive cost per hourTarget Margin
- 0.2
Minimum charge rate
Minimum charge rate
productive cost per hour ÷ (1 − target margin)100.00Result100.00
Uses only the entered market-neutral commercial records and assumptions. Raw engine precision is retained until display.
Labour Recovery Rate Planner formulas →Inputs used by these formula steps
- Minimum charge ratePaid Hours
- 160
- Minimum charge rateProductive Hours
- 120
- Minimum charge rateWages And On Costs Ex Tax
- 7,200
- Minimum charge rateOverhead To Recover Ex Tax
- 2,400
- Minimum charge rateTarget Margin
- 0.2
Productive utilisation
Productive utilisation
productive hours ÷ paid hours0.75 percentResult75%
Uses only the entered market-neutral commercial records and assumptions. Raw engine precision is retained until display.
Labour Recovery Rate Planner formulas →Inputs used by these formula steps
- Productive utilisationPaid Hours
- 160
- Productive utilisationProductive Hours
- 120
- Productive utilisationWages And On Costs Ex Tax
- 7,200
- Productive utilisationOverhead To Recover Ex Tax
- 2,400
- Productive utilisationTarget Margin
- 0.2
Inputs used
- Paid hours
- 160
- Productive hours
- 120
- Wages and on-costs
- 7,200
- Overhead to recover
- 2,400
- Target labour margin
- 0.2
Open this calculator with preset values
This calculator supports documented, shareable scenario URLs. Compatible assistants and applications can construct links using the parameters below.
Scenario links contain only allowlisted numeric and closed-choice inputs shown in the URL; Margin101 excludes free text and identifying fields. Anyone you share the URL with can read those numbers, so do not include private or identifying data.
| Parameter | Meaning | Unit | Allowed values | Presence | Default |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| overheadToRecoverExTax | Enter the overhead amount assigned to these productive hours. Use one consistent ex-tax basis. | currency units/period, ex tax | 0 to 10000000 | Required | 2400 |
| paidHours | Total paid labour hours for the selected period. | hours/period | 0.01 to 100000000 | Required | 160 |
| productiveHours | Hours available to recover labour and overhead through customer work. | hours/period | 0.01 to 100000000 | Required | 120 |
| targetMargin | Enter the margin you want the labour charge rate to protect. | decimal fraction of labour charge revenue | 0 to 0.99 | Required | 0.2 |
| wagesAndOnCostsExTax | Enter wages and employer on-costs for the same paid-hours period. Use one consistent ex-tax basis. | currency units/period, ex tax | 0 to 10000000 | Required | 7200 |
Labour Recovery Rate: loaded labour cost
A charge-out rate is only as reliable as the loaded-cost and productive-hours bases entered.
Formula summary
- Primary formula
- productive cost per hour ÷ (1 − target margin).
Data used here
- The estimate uses your inputs and the general business formula documented in the methodology.
Decision checks
Stress-test the decision
Retest fewer productive hours, higher on-costs and a lower achievable margin.
When this estimate can be misleading
- Use one consistent ex-tax commercial basis.
- Hours, utilisation, costs, rates and recovery targets are user inputs rather than defaults.
- This is educational business decision support, not accounting, tax, legal or financial advice.
- A charge-out rate is only as reliable as the loaded-cost and productive-hours bases entered.
Educational estimate, not advice. See all assumptions & limitations →
Related reading
Guides to interpret the decision and its assumptions.
- Fully Loaded Labour Cost: What Belongs in the Rate?
Bridge user-entered annual pay, employer costs, non-delivery time and overhead to productive hours without global statutory defaults.
Read guide
Frequently asked questions
How do I set a charge-out rate from productive hours and loaded labour?
Confirm paid hours excluded from productive capacity and the labour costs included in the loaded rate.
Which planning assumptions should I stress-test?
Compare a plausible alternative scenario and verify the decision-critical assumption that changes the plan most.