Pricing labor honestly

On most jobs the biggest line isn't materials — it's labor. It's also the line people guess at, and the guess is almost always low.

Hours, not vibes

Estimate labor the same way you estimate materials: from a production rate — how much one worker gets done in an hour. Hanging drywall runs about 35–45 ft² per hour. Multiply the quantity by the rate to get hours.

500 ft² of drywall at 40 ft²/hour = 12.5 hours of hanging.

The wage is not the cost

Here's where estimates bleed. A worker you pay $25/hour does not cost you $25/hour. On top of the wage you carry:

• Payroll taxes — Social Security, Medicare, unemployment
• Workers' comp and liability insurance
• Paid time that isn't billable — travel, setup, cleanup

Add it up and the loaded (or "burdened") rate is often 1.4 to 1.8× the wage. That $25 wage is really $35–$45 out of your pocket.

Use the loaded rate, always

12.5 hours of drywall at a $40 loaded rate = $500 in labor — not the $312 you'd get from the bare $25 wage. Estimate at the wage and you've quietly donated the burden to your client. Estimate at the loaded rate and the job pays for the people doing it.