The Repair Labor Rate Calculator

Enter last month's numbers. The math is shown line by line so you can check it. Nothing you type leaves this page.

1. Tech wages paid last month ($) All bench labor, including your own pay for the hours you spend on repairs. 2. Payroll taxes and benefits (% of wages) The employer share of Social Security and Medicare alone is 7.65 percent. Add unemployment, workers comp, and any benefits you pay. Legally required benefits alone run about 10 cents on every wage dollar. 3. All other monthly operating costs ($) Rent, utilities, insurance, software, tools, marketing. Leave parts out; parts are their own chapter. 4. Hours you actually billed last month Invoiced hours, not hours the shop was open. This is your real utilization. 5. Target operating margin (%) Your choice, not a benchmark. The TCA has not published a benchmark for labor rate, utilization, or operating margin.

Optional: conservative monthly parts gross profit credit ($) Run the calculator without this first. Parts margin is real, but it is a cushion, not a plan.

Optional: your current posted labor rate ($/hr)

Line 1: Fully loaded labor cost

Line 2: Total monthly cost your labor must cover

Line 3: After the parts gross profit credit

Line 4: Required labor revenue at your target margin

Your labor rate floor

The floor is what last month's numbers say you need per billed hour before your target margin means anything. If your market ceiling sits below this floor, the math has not failed. It has told you something nobody else will.