FREE COMMERCIAL CLEANING TOOL

Commercial Cleaning Labor Cost Calculator

Calculate your loaded labor cost per paid hour using your own hourly wage and payroll burden assumptions.

Free No sign-up Uses your own labor assumptions

LABOR COST INPUTS

Calculate Your Loaded Labor Cost

Enter the hourly wage and the payroll burden percentage you want reflected in your labor cost.

/ hour

The base hourly wage paid to the worker.

%

Include the employer-side payroll costs you want reflected, such as payroll taxes, workers’ compensation, insurance, benefits, or other labor-related burden.

No industry-standard burden rate is assumed. Use your own business numbers.

LABOR COST BASICS

What Is Loaded Labor Cost in Commercial Cleaning?

Loaded labor cost is the cost of a paid labor hour after adding the employer-side payroll burden that your business chooses to include. It is different from the worker's base hourly wage.

For example, paying a cleaner $20 per hour does not necessarily mean that the labor hour costs the business only $20. If the business applies a 15% payroll burden to that wage, the loaded labor cost would be $23 per paid hour.

The percentages used in examples on this page are illustrative only. ContractGauge does not assume or recommend a universal payroll burden rate.

THE FORMULA

How to Calculate Loaded Labor Cost per Hour

Loaded Labor Cost Hourly Wage × (1 + Payroll Burden Rate)

Illustrative example

Hourly wage $20.00
Payroll burden 15%
Loaded labor cost $23.00 / hour

PAYROLL BURDEN

What Can Payroll Burden Include?

Payroll burden can include employer-side labor costs that sit on top of the employee's base wage. The exact costs included depend on the business.

Payroll Taxes

Employer-side payroll taxes that the business chooses to include in its labor-cost calculation.

Workers' Compensation

Workers' compensation costs attributable to paid labor, when applicable to the business.

Employer-Paid Insurance

Insurance costs paid by the employer that are treated as part of labor burden.

Employee Benefits

Employer-paid benefits that the business includes when estimating its true labor cost.

Other Labor-Related Costs

Other employer-side costs that the business intentionally includes in its payroll burden assumption.

Include only the costs that apply to your business and that you choose to treat as payroll burden.

PRICING IMPACT

Why Loaded Labor Cost Matters When Pricing Cleaning Contracts

Labor is one of the costs that can affect the profitability of a commercial cleaning account. If a bid is built using only the base wage while employer-side labor costs are excluded, the labor assumption used in the bid may be incomplete.

For example, if the base wage is $20 per hour and the loaded labor cost is $23 per hour, the difference is $3 for every paid labor hour under those assumptions.

Once you know the loaded labor cost you want to use, you can carry that assumption into the Commercial Cleaning Bid Calculator and combine it with the other costs of the account.

QUICK COMPARISON

Hourly Wage vs. Loaded Labor Cost

Hourly Wage

The worker's base hourly pay before employer-side payroll burden is added.

Payroll Burden

The additional employer-side labor costs the business chooses to include.

Loaded Labor Cost

The base hourly wage plus the payroll burden included in the calculation.

FAQ

Commercial Cleaning Labor Cost Calculator FAQ

What is loaded labor cost?

Loaded labor cost is the base hourly wage plus the employer-side payroll burden included by the business.

Is payroll burden the same for every cleaning business?

No. The costs a business includes in payroll burden can differ. This calculator does not assume a universal payroll burden rate.

Should supplies be included in loaded labor cost?

This calculator treats loaded labor cost as a labor calculation only. Supplies, equipment, overhead, and other account costs should be considered separately when pricing a cleaning contract.

Does this calculator use a standard payroll burden rate?

No. You enter the payroll burden assumption you want to use. ContractGauge does not provide or assume a universal rate for commercial cleaning businesses.

What should I do after calculating loaded labor cost?

You can use the loaded labor cost as one of your own assumptions when estimating a cleaning account. The Commercial Cleaning Bid Calculator can help you combine labor with other account costs and a target margin.