For U.S. home-service businesses
What does an employee really cost?
Free calculators, templates and straight software advice for cleaning, landscaping, handyman and HVAC businesses. Built for the stretch between working alone and running a real team.
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$24.57/hour
is what they actually cost you, or about $49,133 a year at 40 hours a week.
That is wages plus employer payroll taxes and workers' comp. The full calculator adds paid time off, equipment and overhead, and lets you pick your state.
Run the full numbersWhich one sounds like you?
Pick the closest. Each one starts with a free tool, not a sales pitch.
“I think I need to hire someone.”
Find out what they actually cost before you make an offer, then what has to happen to pay them legally.
Start with the cost“I have a crew and it is getting messy.”
Work out whether you need software yet or whether a free checklist still covers it. Half the time it does.
Find out what you need“I am busy but the money is not there.”
Price a job properly and see the number below which you are working for free. Most people are surprised.
Check a jobUnderneath all of it
The part that never stops
Once someone is on your payroll, this runs in the background forever, whatever stage you are at. It is also the part where we sell you nothing, because there is nothing to sell.
Deadlines and filings
Four 941s, a 940, W-2s in January, and a deposit every month. The deposits are the ones people miss.
What it costs you
The true cost of an employee, and the state rates that change it by more than most owners expect.
How we make money
We will tell you not to buy software
Most comparison sites get paid when you sign up for something, so they never have a reason to tell you a spreadsheet would do. We get paid the same way, so here is the rule we hold ourselves to. If a free template solves your problem at your current size, we say so and hand you the template.
Two of our tools are built to return the answer "buy nothing yet". Our alternatives pages name products we earn no commission on when those are the better pick. Every page states which products on it pay us.
Everything here
The whole set, in the order it usually bites
Free to use, nothing gated.
Hire
You are about to take on employee number one.
Schedule
You are sending people to jobs you will not be on.
Operate
The work needs doing the same way whether you are there or not.
Run jobs
The day starts changing after it has begun.
Price and get paid
You are quoting work and waiting on money.