Calculate your hourly billing rate
How the billing rate calculator works
The calculator is a simplified billing-rate calculation based on the 5-step scheme of the Chamber of Skilled Crafts in Cottbus. The scheme works across trades. Financing and imputed costs are grouped in the Other costs field.
Step 1: Labor costs
Gross wage/h × contracted hours = gross wage/year + employer social security + trade association + levies = labor costs/journeyman × count + owner salary (if productive)
Step 2: Overheads
Workshop + vehicles + tools + insurance + office + training + other costs + owner salary (if not productive)
Step 3: Break-even rate
Total costs ÷ (journeymen × hours + master × hours × productivity rate) = price floor
Step 4: Net billing rate
Break-even × (1 + profit% + risk%)
Step 5: Gross billing rate
Net billing rate × 1.19 (incl. VAT)
| Assumption | Default |
|---|---|
| Employer social security | 21.15 % |
| Trade association contribution | 4 % |
| Levies (U1+U2+U3) | 2.5 % |
| Workshop rent/year | 14,400 EUR |
| Vehicle costs/year | 18,000 EUR |
| Tools + machinery/year | 6,000 EUR |
| Insurance/year | 4,800 EUR |
| Office + accounting + software/year | 5,400 EUR |
| Training/year | 2,400 EUR |
| Other + financing costs/year | 3,600 EUR |
* Scales automatically with the number of journeymen (source: SHK-Betriebsvergleich Bayern 2020, LFI Munich).
Source and limits
The calculator is based on the costing scheme of the Chamber of Skilled Crafts in Cottbus and simplifies financing and imputed costs into a single field. Employer social security rates reflect 2025 levels. Sick days are based on the IAB working-time calculation (Destatis 2024: 14.8 days per employee). Businesses run as GmbH should add about 20% in non-wage labor costs to the owner salary. According to HWK and Haufe, cash discounts and rebates belong in the quoted sales price, not in the billing rate.
Continue offline with your own numbers
The Excel template contains all formulas and assumptions from this calculator. Adapt it to your business.
Example calculation: plumbing business with 3 journeymen
A typical plumbing business with three journeymen, an owner/master working 60% productively, and an annual owner salary of 55,000 EUR. This is how the billing rate is composed.
Inputs
- 3 journeymen, 20 EUR/h gross wage
- 1,720 contracted hours/year
- 15 sick days/year (Destatis 2024)
- Owner/master with 60% productivity
- 55,000 EUR owner salary/year
- 1,350 productive hours/person/year
- 10% profit, 3% risk
Result
56.11 EUR /h
66.77 EUR /h
49.66 EUR /h
| Line item | Value |
|---|---|
| Gross wage/journeyman/year | 34,400 EUR |
| Labor costs/journeyman (incl. contributions) | 43,912 EUR |
| Total labor costs | 186,735 EUR |
| Overheads | 54,600 EUR |
| Total costs | 241,335 EUR |
Frequently asked questions about billing rates
Next steps
Once you know your billing rate, you can check how much your warehouse is costing you on top. Or you can read the detailed guide to billing-rate calculation.
