Home Services Flat-Rate Price Builder
Build flat-rate prices from loaded tech cost, truck cost, parts markup, and target margin, and see which tasks are underpriced.
Example scenario—not a forecast or verified benchmark. Enable JavaScript to edit inputs, view charts, save locally and export your analysis.
Example inputs
- Average technician wage
- 32
- Payroll burden and benefits
- 30
- Billable hours per tech per year
- 1,300
- Annual cost per truck
- 18,000
- Annual company overhead
- 700,000
- Field technicians
- 12
- Parts markup multiplier
- 2
- Target net profit margin
- 20
- Tasks to price
- [{"name":"Capacitor replacement","hours":0.75,"parts":25,"currentPrice":225},{"name":"Condenser fan motor","hours":1.5,"parts":140,"currentPrice":525},{"name":"Refrigerant leak search","hours":2,"parts":20,"currentPrice":340},{"name":"Furnace igniter","hours":1,"parts":45,"currentPrice":250},{"name":"Drain line clear + treatment","hours":0.75,"parts":10,"currentPrice":175}]
Example results
Your billable hour really costs $125, so flat rates need about $157 per labor hour plus marked-up parts to net 20%; 3 of 5 tasks are underpriced, led by Condenser fan motor ($59.90 short).
- Loaded cost per billable hour
- $125
- Labor rate needed at target margin
- $157
- Labor cost per billable hour
- $66.56
- Truck cost per billable hour
- $13.85
- Overhead per billable hour
- $44.87
- Tasks priced below target
- 3
- Average price gap on priced tasks
- 1.6%
What stands out
True cost of a billable hour: $125
Labor $66.56 + truck $13.85 + overhead $44.87. The $32/hr wage is only 25.5% of it, because about 38% of paid hours are not billable.
3 of 5 tasks are priced below a 20% margin
Condenser fan motor is $59.90 under (current $525 vs. $585). Across the list, prices are 1.6% below target on average.
Next actions
- Update condenser fan motor, refrigerant leak search, furnace igniter first; they carry the biggest gaps to target.
- Price every new task with one formula: (book hours x $125 + parts x 2) / (1 - 20%), and round up to a clean price point.
- Time 20 real jobs per task to validate book hours; book hours that are too short are the most common hidden underpricing.
- Recalculate the hourly cost every January and after any wage, fuel, or insurance change.
Model assumptions & limitations
- Price per task = (book hours x loaded hourly cost incl. truck and overhead + parts cost x parts markup) / (1 - target margin).
- Loaded labor assumes 2,080 paid hours per tech per year; cost is spread over billable hours only.
- Overhead is spread evenly across all technicians' billable hours.
- Target margin and parts markup defaults are common rules of thumb for residential service; verify against your market and competitors.
- Current margin = (current price - labor, truck, overhead, and parts cost) / current price.