Burdened Labour Cost Calculator — Marawood Construction Accounting

What is burdened labour cost?

The true cost of an employee goes well beyond their base wage. Add statutory contributions (CPP, EI, WCB), benefits, and overhead — then adjust for actual productive hours — and the real cost per hour can be 30–60% higher than the wage you write on the cheque.

Why it matters for estimating

If you estimate labour at base wage and bill at base wage, you're losing money on every hour. The effective cost per productive hour is the number that belongs in your estimate — not the wage rate on the pay stub.

How Alberta Stat Holiday Pay Works

Stats not worked: The employee receives stat holiday pay equal to their average daily wage (total wages ÷ 20 for the preceding 4 weeks). This is a cost with zero productive output — the most common scenario.

Stats worked: The employee receives their regular stat pay plus either 1.5× their regular wage for hours worked on the holiday, or a regular day off with pay at a future date. For crews working through holidays, this adds significant cost.

Alberta's 9 general holidays: New Year's Day · Family Day · Good Friday · Victoria Day · Canada Day · Heritage Day · Labour Day · Thanksgiving · Remembrance Day. Some employers also observe Christmas Day (10th holiday).

Worker Profile

Worker Type

Site workers use a combined vacation + stat rate applied to gross wages — the standard Alberta construction field payroll convention.

A — Base Compensation

Base Wage Rate?Straight-time hourly wage before any deductions or employer costs.

$/hr

Alberta Construction Industry — Special Rules
Under Alberta's Employment Standards Code, construction workers are subject to specific provisions. Vacation pay is always 6% of gross wages — the 4% rate available to other employees does not apply. Stat holiday pay of 3.6% (9 stats ÷ 250 days) is added on top for a combined rate of 9.6%.

Vacation Pay

6.0%

—/hr

Stat Holiday Pay

3.6%

—/hr

Combined Rate

9.6%

—/hr

Annual Vac + Stat Cost: — based on entered wage & hours

Alberta Statutory Holidays?Alberta has 9 general holidays. Some employers also observe Boxing Day (10 total). All 9 are included by default — adjust if your employment agreement differs.

9 days

Includes: New Year's, Family Day, Good Friday, Victoria Day, Canada Day, Heritage Day, Labour Day, Thanksgiving, Remembrance Day

Paid Hours?Standard year = 2,000 hrs (40 hrs/week × 50 weeks). Enter weekly hours and the tool converts automatically. Camp schedules may be 44–84 hrs/week.

hrs/yr

Standard full-time year = 2,000 hrs

B — Statutory Contributions (2026 Alberta)

Pre-loaded with 2026 Alberta rates. Edit only if your situation differs.

CPP Employer Rate?2026 employer CPP contribution rate: 5.95%. Max pensionable earnings: $74,600.

EI Employer Rate?2026 employer EI rate: 2.282% (employee rate 1.63% × 1.4 multiplier). Max insurable earnings: $68,900.

WCB Rate (per $100 insurable)?Alberta WCB rate varies by industry subcode. Default 1.46 is typical for general construction trades. Max assessable earnings: $110,900 (2026).

per $100

C — Benefits & Allowances (Employer, $/hr)

Health & Welfare Benefit?Employer-paid health, dental, and life insurance premiums. Enter as hourly equivalent.

$/hr

Pension / RRSP Contribution?Defined contribution or RRSP matching. Enter as hourly equivalent or leave at 0 if not applicable.

$/hr

Training & Safety Tickets?First aid, safety certifications, trade tickets. Divide annual cost by annual paid hours.

$/hr

Tool Allowance?Employer-provided tools or tool allowance. Enter hourly equivalent.

$/hr

Camp / Living Out Allowance?For remote projects. Divide daily LOA rate by shift hours to get hourly equivalent.

$/hr

Travel Allowance?Daily travel allowance divided by working hours per day.

$/hr

D — Overhead & Productivity

Overhead / Indirect Burden?Supervision, site admin, small tools, consumables — costs tied to the workforce but not directly to base wages. Typically 8–15%.

Productivity Factor?Not every paid hour is a fully productive billed hour. Breaks, toolbox talks, travel between tasks, minor delays. Typical range: 0.80–0.92. A factor of 0.85 means 85% of paid hours are productive.

factor

True Labour Cost

Base Wage

—

per hour

Burdened Cost

—

before productivity adj.

Effective Cost

—

per productive hour

Burden Multiplier

—

× base wage

Cost Breakdown

Labour Rate for Job Costing & Estimating

Target Margin on Labour?The margin you want to earn on billable labour time. Applied on top of the effective hourly cost.

20%

Minimum Acceptable Margin?Your floor on competitive bids. The lowest margin you would accept on labour time.

—

True Cost Floor?The effective hourly cost — your absolute minimum. Billing below this means you are losing money on every hour worked.

—

per hour — cost only

Minimum Billable Rate?Effective cost plus minimum acceptable margin. Use this on very competitive bids — it is your floor.

—

per hour — minimum bid

Target Estimating Rate?The rate to use in your estimates and job costing system. This is what you put in your bid for this worker's time.

—

per hour — use in estimates

Overtime — Blended Rate Calculator

If your crew regularly works overtime, your true average cost per hour is higher than the straight-time rate. Enter the overtime premium and the percentage of total hours expected at overtime — the tool calculates a blended rate that accounts for which burden components scale with overtime pay and which do not.

Overtime Premium?The overtime multiplier applied to base wage. Alberta Employment Standards requires 1.5× after 8 hrs/day or 44 hrs/week. Some union agreements require 2× for certain hours.

% of Hours at Overtime?What percentage of total annual hours do you expect to be overtime? E.g. if a crew works 50-hr weeks, about 12% of their hours are overtime (6 OT hrs ÷ 50 total hrs).

10%

—

OT Wage Rate?Base wage × overtime premium. This is the gross hourly wage for overtime hours.

—

per overtime hour

OT Burdened Cost?True cost of an overtime hour — accounting for which burden components scale with the higher wage and which stay flat.

—

per overtime hour

Blended Estimating Rate?A single weighted average rate that accounts for the mix of straight-time and overtime hours. Use this rate in your estimates when overtime is expected.

—

weighted avg — use in estimates

Next Steps — Marawood Construction Accounting

Your labour cost is only one piece of the puzzle

Know your numbers. Price every job with confidence.

Getting labour cost right is foundational — but it only works if your overhead recovery, markup, and job costing system are aligned with it. Marawood works with Alberta contractors to build the financial structure that turns accurate numbers into profitable jobs.

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