RHACOVA

Free contractor tool

True Job Cost Calculator

Most jobs do not lose money on the big line. They lose it on the dump run, the delivery, the permit and the two hours nobody wrote down. Add every class separately and see the real number.

Job costs

Leave a class empty if it does not apply. Example figures are loaded so the totals are visible on first visit.

Everything you buy into the job, including taxes you pay at the counter.

Field hours × your loaded labor rate — not the wage.

Rentals, machine time, fuel for the job.

What the subs invoice you, not what you resell it for.

Dumpster, dump fees, hauling.

Permits, inspections, licensing fees tied to this job.

Getting people and material to site, and back.

Anything else caused by this job alone.

Overhead on this job

Your result

True job costDirect cost plus the overhead you allocated$15,764.00
Direct cost$14,075.00
Allocated overheadShown on its own line, never folded into another class$1,689.00

What is inside the direct cost

Material$4,200.00
Loaded labor$6,800.00
Equipment$450.00
Subcontractors$1,500.00
Disposal$375.00
Permits and fees$260.00
Mobilization and delivery$310.00
Other direct costs$180.00

This is cost, and only cost. No markup, no margin and no profit is anywhere in this number.

Why this number?

trueJobCost = sum(costClasses) + allocatedOverhead

Inputs

material
$4,200.00
loaded_labor
$6,800.00
equipment
$450.00
subcontractor
$1,500.00
disposal
$375.00
permits_fees
$260.00
mobilization_delivery
$310.00
other_direct
$180.00
overheadMethod
percent_of_direct_cost

Results

directCost
$14,075.00
allocatedOverhead
$1,689.00
trueJobCost
$15,764.00

Formula jobcost.trueJobCost · engine shared.jobcost@1.0.0 · cost-classes-and-variance · rounding half-even to 2 decimals.

Turn this cost into a price

Build the same job as an estimate, line by line, and RHACOVA carries the cost through to a price and a profit. These calculator numbers aren't copied over — you enter the job's costs in the estimate.

Start an estimate

What “true” means here

True job cost is every dollar the job causes you to spend. Not the material invoice alone, and not the crew's wages alone. If the job would not have happened, the cost would not have happened — then it belongs in this total.

The cost classes, and why separate

  • Material — purchased into the work.
  • Loaded labor — hours at your burdened labor cost, never at the bare wage.
  • Equipment — rentals, machine time, fuel.
  • Subcontractors — what they invoice you.
  • Disposal — dumpsters, dump fees, hauling.
  • Permits and fees — the paperwork nobody estimates.
  • Mobilization and delivery — getting there, and getting the material there.
  • Other direct costs — everything else this job caused.

Keeping them apart is what lets you compare a finished job with the estimate later and see which class moved.

Overhead is a choice, not a default

Some contractors carry overhead inside job cost; others recover it in the price and keep job cost purely direct. Both work as long as you only do it once. This calculator never adds overhead unless you pick a method, and when you do it appears on its own line — so a job cost can never quietly contain office rent you also marked up.

  • True job cost = sum of the cost classes + allocated overhead
  • Percent method: overhead = direct cost × recovery rate
  • Per hour method: overhead = overhead per hour × labor hours

Worked example

A remodel with $4200 of material, $6800 of loaded labor, $1500 of subs and the small costs that usually get forgotten — $375 disposal, $260 permits, $310 delivery:

  • Direct cost: $14,075.00
  • With 12% overhead allocated: $15,764.00 ($1,689.00 of overhead)
  • Without allocating overhead: $14,075.00

The small classes together are larger than the equipment line. That is the whole point of listing them.

Common mistakes

  • Costing labor at the wage. Use the loaded rate, or the job is understated before you start.
  • Hiding overhead inside material or labor. You can no longer tell what moved when the job goes sideways.
  • Counting a sub at what you charge for them. The sub's invoice is the cost; the difference is your margin.
  • Skipping disposal, permits and delivery because they are “small”. Together they routinely beat the equipment line.
  • Calling this number a price. A cost with nothing added is a break-even, and break-even pays nobody.

Related decisions

Learn the method