HVAC hourly rate calculator: find your true break-even rate
Most HVAC contractors charge what competitors charge — and competitors are often losing money. This calculator starts from your real costs.
Your real costs
What you must charge
Starter price book (at target rate)
| Service | Hrs | Price |
|---|
USD labor estimates only. Service times and starting inputs are examples; exclude materials and taxes. Review before quoting.
Add materials and prepare a customer quote →
Build an HVAC labor rate from your own costs
Annual owner pay plus annual overhead, divided by billable hours, gives the hourly cost-recovery rate. Divide that rate by (1 − target margin) to calculate the target labor rate. These are planning estimates, not local market rates.
Account for seasonal workload
Use billable hours averaged across busy and quiet weeks. Include truck costs, insurance, tools, software and other overhead once. Materials, equipment, refrigerant, permits and taxes are not included in these labor-only examples.
Example, not a recommended rate
The sample inputs total $117,600 across 1,200 billable hours: $98/hour to cover the entered costs, or about $109/hour at a 10% target margin. Replace every sample input with your records. Include payroll costs in overhead if they are not already in your pay figure.
Before quoting a job
The service durations below are editable starting assumptions in the CSV, not industry standards. Check access, diagnosis, equipment specifications, travel and the number of technicians. Review actual completed jobs to refine your times.