Free tool

Service Job Cost & Trip Charge Calculator

Work out what a technician really costs per job hour, your truck and overhead per job, what one job costs, and the trip charge and diagnostic fee that cover a visit — for plumbing, HVAC, electrical and other home service shops.

The fields start with the made-up example from our job-costing guide. Replace them with your own numbers; everything below recalculates as you type.

1. What one tech costs you

2. Truck and overhead

3. Your rates

Loaded labor per job hour$45.87
Loaded labor per paid hour$35.29
Truck per trip$20.00
Overhead per job hour$37.50
Cost per job hour (labor + overhead)$83.37
Hourly rate at a 20% margin, before truck and materials$104.22

4. Trip charge and diagnostic fee

Cost of a trip$61.69
Trip charge at your margin$77.11
Cost of a diagnostic visit$103.37
Diagnostic fee at your margin$129.22

Round up to a price you can say on the phone, and check it against a month of real visits.

5. One job, costed

Labor: 3.5 hours incl. drive × $45.87$160.55
Truck, one trip$20.00
Materials + other$735.00
Callback reserve$4.44
Overhead on the job$131.25
Total cost of the job$1,051.24
Price at a 20% margin$1,314.05

A 20% markup would charge $1,261.49 instead — less profit than you think, because markup is a share of cost and margin is a share of price.

Priced right? Now run the calls.

Jobsite doesn't do this math for you — this calculator does. Jobsite's Home Services Suite runs the work you price: service calls on a dispatch board, good/better/best estimates customers sign on the tech's phone or from an emailed link, and invoices they pay by card or bank transfer from a link. It's $49 a month with 25 worker-days included, then $1 per additional worker-day, month to month.

Try it on sample dataHome Services Suite on the platform →

Frequently asked questions

What is a loaded labor rate?

A loaded labor rate is what a technician costs you per hour of work you can charge for. Add payroll taxes, insurance, benefits, paid time off and tools to the wage, then divide by the hours spent on customer jobs (drive included) instead of paid hours. In the example, a $28-an-hour tech works out to about $46 per job hour.

How do I calculate a trip charge or diagnostic fee?

Multiply the time the fee covers (the drive, plus diagnosis time for a diagnostic fee) by your cost per job hour — loaded labor plus overhead — add your truck cost per trip, then divide by one minus your target margin. With the example numbers, that's about $77 for a 30-minute trip and $129 for a one-hour diagnostic visit before rounding.

Should I price with a markup or a margin?

A margin. Markup is profit as a share of cost; margin is profit as a share of price. A 20% markup leaves only about 17% of the price as profit. To keep 20% of the price, divide the cost by 0.80.

How often should I redo these numbers?

At least once a year, and whenever a big cost changes — a raise, a new hire, a new truck or an insurance renewal. A shop that priced right two years ago and never checked may be underpriced today.

Read the full guide: Job costing for small service shops →