FieldHive calculator
Trade Business Overhead Calculator
Add up what it really costs to run your business for a year — then see it per month, per working day and per chargeable hour, so you know how much your rates have to recover.
Start Free
See how FieldHive works
No email address required · Not financial or tax advice
Your yearly overheads
Enter the annual cost of running the business — a best estimate is fine. Leave anything that does not apply at 0.
Turn it into a rate
To recover overheads in your prices, spread them across the days and hours you can actually charge for.
A practical guide, not tax or accounting advice. Figures exclude VAT.
Was this calculator useful?
We keep our trade calculators free to use — no sign-up, no email form and no pop-ups. If it helped, an honest review helps us improve these tools and helps other trade businesses find them.
Reviews are optional. Please only review based on your genuine experience.
Overheads
The costs you pay whether you work or not
The van, the insurance, the phone, the accountant — they cost the same in a quiet week as a busy one. If your rates do not recover them, the business slowly runs at a loss.
Most trades know their day rate but not what it actually costs to keep the business running. That is how a fully-booked year can still end with nothing left over.
This calculator adds up your yearly overheads, then shows them per month, per working day and per chargeable hour — the figure your rates have to cover before wages and profit.
What you see
Overheads in the numbers that matter
Enter your costs once and the calculator breaks them down every way you need.
Annual overhead total
Monthly overhead cost
Cost per working day
Cost per chargeable hour
Chargeable hours per year
Worked example
From a yearly total to an hourly cost
A solo trade with 12,000 of overheads, working 232 days and billing 6 hours a day.
Annual overheads
12,000
Per month
1,000
Working days a year
232
Chargeable hours (232 x 6)
1,392
Per working day
51.72
Per chargeable hour
8.62
Per hour
Overheads hide in every hour you bill
Spread across the hours you can actually charge for, overheads become a real cost per hour — before you have paid yourself a penny.
That per-hour figure is the amount every billed hour has to cover just to keep the lights on. Add your wage and a margin on top and you have a rate that genuinely pays.
Don’t miss any
The costs trades forget
It is easy to remember the van and insurance and forget the rest — but the small ones add up to real money over a year.
Software and subscriptions, PPE and small-tool replacement, phone and broadband, marketing, bank charges, training and certifications, accountancy — none feel big on their own, but together they can be a big slice of your overheads.
Stay connected
Keep your costs and your prices in step
This calculator sets the number. FieldHive keeps your pricing in one place, so when your costs change you can update your rates across every quote.
That makes it easier to protect your margin as the business grows and costs rise — one connected record from enquiry to final payment.
Enquiry
Quote
Job
Invoice
Payment
Start Free
See how FieldHive works
Who it is for
Who is this calculator for?
Sole traders working out their running costs
Trades reviewing rates against rising costs
New businesses planning their first year
Small teams checking overhead recovery
It is a practical guide, not tax, accounting or financial advice, and it works in figures excluding VAT.
Related tools
Turn overheads into a rate
Use these alongside your overhead figure.
FAQ
Trade business overhead questions
Common questions about working out and recovering overheads.
Get started
Know what your business really costs
Add up your overheads, see the cost per hour, and build it into rates that cover everything — with FieldHive keeping it connected.
Start Free
See how FieldHive works
