What it's for
This overhead rate calculator worksheet turns a year of office and shop costs into a rate you can carry into a bid. The file's own definition is short: overhead is what the business spends to stay open, whether or not a job is running. You list those costs, then divide the total by your forecast of direct job cost, revenue and field labor hours for the year.
An owner or office manager fills it in when setting the year's forecast, and again when a cost changes. The file sets no target and gives no typical rate. Every result is your own costs divided by your own forecast.
Our overhead rate calculator works out the same three rates for one year without the file. Our bid price calculator asks for overhead as a percent of direct cost, which is the first rate here, and the guide to markup vs margin shows where overhead sits in a price. The worksheet stops at overhead and has no profit line. Rates for labor and machines come from the labor burden spreadsheet and the equipment cost per hour worksheet. Check the base before you copy a rate across: the construction estimate template applies its overhead rate to its job cost, a larger base than direct cost alone.
What's inside
Two sheets, both protected with no password. Pale yellow cells are yours to fill in; all other cells are locked.
Overhead is an internal sheet, so it carries our logo with no spot for yours. ANNUAL OVERHEAD has ten printed cost labels, each with a yellow amount beside it, then four blank lines where you type a name and an amount for any cost the list leaves out. Total overhead and Monthly overhead follow. YOUR YEAR takes three forecasts: Annual direct job cost, Annual revenue and Field labor hours. RATES shows Overhead as % of direct cost, Overhead as % of revenue and Overhead per field labor hour, each with a note beside it saying what it divides by. A note beside Monthly overhead says it is the total divided by 12. It prints portrait on one page.
About this template holds three steps, the example figures, the version, the license and links.
How to fill it in
- Type a yearly amount beside each printed label. Each cell takes a number, 0 or more, and a blank counts as 0.
- Use the four blank lines for anything missing, a name and a yearly amount on each. A line counts when its amount is filled, with or without a name.
- Read Total overhead, then Monthly overhead, which is the total divided by 12.
- Type the three forecasts for the same year. A rate stays blank until its forecast is above 0.
- Read the three rates. The percents show two decimals, and the hourly rate shows dollars and cents.
Three labels carry the words "not charged to jobs": owner's pay, insurance, and vehicles and fuel. A cost you already charge to a job sits in direct job cost, so leave it off this list, or the same dollars count in both places. The forecasts are yours as well. Nothing in the file checks them against your books. Use costs and forecasts for the same twelve months, so a rate does not mix one year's spending with another year's work. When a forecast changes, retype it: the matching rate follows, and the others stay as they were.
The worked example
The file opens on these ten yearly amounts. Each has an "Example: use your own figure" note, and the About tab says to replace them.
| Overhead cost | Yearly amount |
|---|---|
| Office rent and utilities | $24,000.00 |
| Office and admin salaries | $62,000.00 |
| Owner's pay not charged to jobs | $70,000.00 |
| Insurance not charged to jobs | $14,500.00 |
| Vehicles and fuel not charged to jobs | $18,000.00 |
| Phones, software and IT | $7,200.00 |
| Accounting and legal | $6,500.00 |
| Marketing and advertising | $4,800.00 |
| Licenses, dues and training | $2,300.00 |
| Small tools and shop | $3,700.00 |
| Total overhead | $213,000.00 |
| Monthly overhead | $17,750.00 |
The example forecast is $1,600,000.00 of direct job cost, $2,000,000.00 of revenue and 18,000 field labor hours.
| Rate | Result |
|---|---|
| Overhead as % of direct cost | 13.31% |
| Overhead as % of revenue | 10.65% |
| Overhead per field labor hour | $11.83 |
The first is $213,000.00 divided by $1,600,000.00, which is 13.31% after rounding. The second divides by $2,000,000.00, and the third by 18,000 hours.
Frequently asked questions
Does it calculate anything?
Yes. Total overhead, monthly overhead and the three rates are live formulas. The amounts and forecasts are yours to type.
Does it work in Google Sheets or Numbers?
Both open .xlsx files. This one has no macros, and its formulas use only IF, ROUND and SUM.
What overhead rate should I use?
The file sets no target. Each rate is your total overhead divided by your own forecast, so it moves when either one does.
Can I add more cost lines?
The sheet has ten printed lines and four blank ones. For more, unprotect the sheet (there is no password) and insert a row between two lines so the total takes it in.
Can I put my logo on it?
It carries our logo, with no spot for yours. With the protection off (there's no password), you can swap in your own.
Is it accounting or financial advice?
No. The file is arithmetic on the figures you type. It makes no loan, tax, accounting, lender or surety claim and does not check your figures against your books. It does not decide which costs count as overhead.