FREE EMPLOYEE TRUE COST CALCULATOR
Employee True Cost Calculator for Trades
An employee costs far more than their wage. Add employer National Insurance, pension and on-costs, take out the days and hours they can’t charge, and see the one number that decides your pricing: the true cost per chargeable hour.
No account or email required · Built for owners and estimators in UK trade businesses
Pay
Employer on-costs (£/year)
Time & utilisation
True cost per chargeable hour
£27.18/ chargeable hr
This is your cost floor — set a charge-out rate above it to make a margin.
UK 2026/27 defaults (employer NI 15% over £5,000; pension 3% on £6,240–£50,270), all editable. Employment Allowance (£10,500/yr, business-level) not netted off. Estimate only — check current HMRC rates.
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Where the money goes
Salary is the smallest part of the bill
A £32,000 tradesperson does not cost £32,000 — the wage is only the part you see on the payslip.
On 2026/27 rates you also pay employer National Insurance of about £4,050 and an auto-enrolment pension of about £770, plus the on-costs a trade job needs: PPE, tools, a phone, training and often a share of a van.
This calculator brings those costs together, before you count a single non-productive hour.
One employee. One true cost.
How to
How the true cost adds up
1
Start with the gross pay
Enter the employee’s gross annual salary — the figure before tax and National Insurance. The calculator works in pounds on UK 2026/27 rates.
2
Add the employer costs
Employer National Insurance, the workplace pension, and the on-costs a trade job needs: PPE, tools, a phone, training and a share of the van.
3
Take out non-chargeable time
What’s in it
What you’re really paying for
The salary is only the visible part. These are the costs that turn a wage into the true cost of employing someone.
Gross salary
Employer NI
Workplace pension
PPE & workwear
Tools
Van share
Phone & training
Non-productive time
Each one adds to the true annual cost — and to the cost of every hour you can charge.
Chargeable hours
The number most calculators miss
You do not invoice a year — you invoice hours.
Take out holiday, sick and training days, then the travel, yard and admin time that never goes on a customer’s bill, and the true cost is spread across far fewer hours than the salary suggests.
Example: a £32,000 employee costing about £38,600 a year, with roughly 222 productive days at 80% billable, works out at about £27 for every hour you can actually charge. That is your cost floor.
On-costs
Count every on-cost, not just the wage
PPE, workwear, tools, a phone, training and often a share of a van are real costs of employing a tradesperson. Add the ones that apply and they go straight into the true cost.
Cost vs rate
Cost is not the same as your charge-out rate
Your cost is what the employee costs you. Your charge-out rate is what you bill. For a £32,000 employee:
True cost
About £38,600 a year, or roughly £27 for every chargeable hour once non-productive time is out.
Charge-out rate
Must sit above £27 an hour to cover overheads and leave a profit. The gap between the two is your margin.
Work out the cost floor here, then set your charge-out rate above it.
What it shows
A clear cost breakdown
See the total annual cost, the cost per chargeable hour, and how much the on-costs add on top of the salary — so nothing is hidden.
True annual cost
Cost per chargeable hour
On-cost uplift %
Stay connected
From the rate to the quote, in one place
A calculator prices one person. The harder part is using that rate consistently on the real jobs you quote, schedule and invoice.
FieldHive keeps your customers, reusable pricing, quotes, bookings and invoices connected — so the charge-out rate you set here is reused on every job instead of being rebuilt from memory.
Enquiry
Quote
Job
Invoice
Payment
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Who it is for
Who is this calculator for?
Owners costing a hire before they take someone on
Small and growing trade businesses pricing work against real labour cost
Estimators setting charge-out rates above cost
Owners checking whether an employee earns their keep
Electricians, plumbers, builders, HVAC, landscaping and maintenance
It is a costing and pricing aid — not payroll software, a personal take-home-pay calculator, or a CIS or tax-rebate tool.
Related tools
Build the supporting figures
Use these alongside the employee true cost calculator.
True Labour Cost Calculator
Work out the internal hourly cost of labour.
Calculate labour cost
Site Labour Uplift Calculator
Adjust labour time for access, restrictions, interruptions and reduced productivity.
Review the site uplift
Material Markup & Margin Calculator
Build the true cost of materials and the selling price.
Price materials
Quote Profit Margin Calculator
Check the gross profit and margin on a job.
Check the margin
FAQ
Employee cost, answered
Common questions about the true cost of an employee for a UK trade business.
Get started
Know what your people cost, then price above it
Work out the true cost per chargeable hour, then set a charge-out rate above it. FieldHive keeps your pricing, quotes and invoices connected as the business grows.
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