Protect your margin
Markup & profit
Job costs + margin → selling price
Open calculatorFREE PAINTING CONTRACTOR TOOL
Painting Labor Rate Calculator
Work backward from income, overhead, and billable hours to find the labor rate your painting business needs.
KNOW THE MATH
A number you can explain.
Hourly rate = (income ÷ (1 − tax allowance) + annual overhead) ÷ billable hours × (1 + profit cushion).
Our methodology & assumptions WORKED STARTING EXAMPLE
$136.94 / hr
- Daily rate at your billable hours
- $821.64
- Break-even hourly rate
- $122.27
- Billable hours per year
- 1,140 hr
- (260 − 70) days × 6 hr = 1,140 hr.
- Income allowance = $90,000.00 ÷ (1 − 22%). Add $24,000.00 overhead, then divide by billable hours.
- Add a 12% cushion to that hourly rate. This is a markup on the rate.
Before you quote
Is this a wage or a customer billing rate?
It is an owner-operator charge-out rate, with overhead and a cushion included. The job-pricing calculators ask for burdened wage cost and add overhead and margin separately. Do not transfer this rate into that cost field.
How do I count non-billable days?
Start with your available working days, then subtract vacation, holidays, sick days, quoting, administration, and gaps in the schedule. Use billable hours per day that reflect the time you can actually charge for.
Is the tax allowance a tax calculation?
No. It is a percentage you choose for income planning, applied by grossing up the income target. It does not calculate your actual tax liability or employee payroll burden.
Estimating framework: Painting Contractors Association. This tool's starting values are editable examples, not rates published by PCA.