Fully Loaded Labor Cost per Hour:
Monthly Trend + Service Type Breakdown

How to Calculate Fully Loaded Labor Cost per Hour in Excel

Before you can price jobs profitably, you need to know your fully loaded labor cost per hour. This metric shows the true cost of one hour of labor, including wages, payroll taxes, benefits, equipment, vehicles, training, and overhead. Once you know this number, you can confidently price jobs, set margins, and understand profitability by month and by service type.

1. Understand the Fully Loaded Labor Cost Components

Your fully loaded labor cost includes:

• Hourly wage
  
• Payroll taxes
  
• Benefits
  
• Training costs
  
• Vehicle and equipment costs
  
• Overhead allocation
  

The fully loaded labor cost is calculated as:

• Hourly pay + payroll taxes
  
• Plus all additional labor-related overhead
  

This total is already calculated in the dataset using simple sum formulas.

2. Account for Paid Hours vs Billable Hours

Not every paid hour is billable. To get accurate labor costs:

• Paid Hours represent total hours worked
  
• Billable Hours represent hours charged to customers
  

You calculate:

• Fully Loaded Cost per Paid Hour
  
• Fully Loaded Cost per Billable Hour
  

This is done by dividing total fully loaded labor cost by each hour type.

3. Create a List of Months

• Type January in the first cell
  
• Drag down to December
  

This creates the structure for monthly analysis.

4. Extract the Month from Dates

To group labor costs by month:

• Use the TEXT() function on the date column
  
• Format as “MMMM” to extract full month names (January, February, etc.)
  

This allows you to summarize labor data by month.

5. Calculate Monthly Fully Loaded Labor Cost

• Use SUMIFS() to sum fully loaded labor cost
  
• Criteria: Month equals January, February, etc.
  

Steps:

• Set the sum range to Fully Loaded Labor Cost
  
• Set the criteria range to the Month column
  
• Set the criteria to the month name
  

Format the result as currency and center-align for readability.

6. Calculate Monthly Paid Hours and Billable Hours

Repeat the same SUMIFS() process for:

• Paid Hours
  
• Billable Hours
  

This ensures both hour types align with the same monthly totals.

7. Calculate Fully Loaded Cost per Hour

Create two calculations:

• Fully Loaded Cost per Paid Hour
  
• Fully Loaded Cost per Billable Hour
  

Formula:

• Fully Loaded Labor Cost ÷ Paid Hours
  
• Fully Loaded Labor Cost ÷ Billable Hours
  

Format as currency and fill formulas down using Ctrl + D.

8. Create the Monthly Labor Cost Chart

• Highlight Month and both hourly cost columns
  
• Go to Insert → Recommended Charts
  
• Select a line or column chart
  

To improve visibility:

• Adjust the Y-axis minimum (for example, set to 40 instead of 0)
  
• Add data labels if desired
  
• Remove decimals to reduce visual noise
  

This chart shows how labor cost per hour changes month to month.

9. Analyze Labor Cost by Service Type

To break labor cost down by service or job type:

• Use UNIQUE() on the Service Type column
  
• Paste values to remove formulas
  
• Use the same SUMIFS() logic as before
  
• Change the criteria range from Month to Service Type
  

This produces fully loaded labor cost per hour by service category.

10. Create the Service Type Labor Cost Chart

• Highlight Service Type and hourly cost values
  
• Insert a bar or column chart
  
• Sort values from highest to lowest for clarity
  
• Optionally adjust axis minimum to emphasize differences
  

This helps identify which services are most labor-intensive.

Result

You now have:

• Fully loaded labor cost per hour by month
  
• Fully loaded labor cost per hour by service type
  
• Clear visuals showing labor efficiency and cost trends
  

With this information, you can price jobs accurately, protect margins, and understand where labor costs impact profitability the most.