Labour cost-to-bid calculator
Build a labour basis of estimate from categories, hours, and rates, and see the burdened cost and blended rate before fee goes on top.
| Labour category | Hours | Rate | Burdened | Remove |
|---|---|---|---|---|
$21,824 | ||||
$101,376 |
From the wrap rate calculator.
On burdened cost.
Basis of estimate
Total price
$133,056
Total hours
1,120
Blended rate
$118.80/hr
- Direct labour
- $56,000
- Burdened cost
- $123,200
- Fee
- $9,856
- Price
- $133,056
This models a straightforward labour buildup. It does not handle escalation across option years, subcontractor pass-through, materials, travel, or a multi-pool indirect structure. Use it to shape an estimate, not as the price volume itself.
Most services bids are decided by the labour estimate: how many hours, at what mix of seniority, at what rates. Everything else is comparatively small. The value of writing it out by category is that it makes the staffing assumption visible, which is what an evaluator is really assessing when they look at your price.
Start from the work, not from the budget
Hours should come from the scope, not from a target price.
Build the estimate by asking what has to be done, who has to do it, and how long it takes. Then compare the total against what you believe the buyer expects to pay. Working the other way, starting from a target and dividing backwards, produces an estimate that cannot be defended when an evaluator asks how you arrived at the staffing.
Where the two numbers do not meet, the honest options are to change the delivery approach, change the labour mix, or decline the bid. Cutting hours to reach a number while keeping the same technical promise is how a won contract becomes a loss.
The mix matters more than the rates
Seniority is the biggest lever in a labour estimate.
Moving hours between categories changes the total far more than negotiating a rate. A plan that loads senior staff onto routine work prices badly and usually reads as inefficient. A plan that puts junior staff on work the solicitation says requires experience fails on the technical side instead.
The blended rate is a useful sanity check here. It is the total price divided by the total hours, and it tells you what the buyer effectively pays per hour across the whole engagement. Comparing it against what similar work has been awarded at is a faster reality check than reviewing each line.
- Hours by category, taken from the scope
- Rates that your payroll actually supports
- A wrap rate consistent with your indirect structure
- A blended rate you can compare against awards
Make the price match the technical volume
Evaluators check, and a mismatch damages both.
If the technical response describes a named project manager at half time and the price carries a quarter of an hour, the inconsistency undermines both volumes. Where the two are evaluated by different people, a mismatch is exactly the kind of finding that gets written into a weakness.
Keep the staffing plan as the single source and let both volumes draw from it. Where an assumption is doing real work in the estimate, such as an assumed government-provided facility or a specified response time, state it in both places.
What this calculator leaves out
A real price volume carries more than labour.
Option year escalation, subcontractor costs and their pass-through treatment, materials, travel, and a multi-pool indirect structure all belong in a full price volume and none of them are modelled here. Neither are the pricing templates a solicitation usually mandates, which frequently dictate the format your numbers must arrive in.
Treat this as the step before the spreadsheet: it gets the shape of the estimate right and shows the blended rate early, when there is still time to change the approach.
Stop tracking this by hand
Captivaq watches procurement sources against your capabilities and keeps the dates, documents, and decisions for each opportunity in one place.
Build a matching profileRelated resources
Wrap rate calculator
Work out the multiplier this estimate applies to direct labour.
Evaluation score simulator
Test what a price change does to your combined score.
Writing a winning bid
Keeping the price and technical volumes consistent.
Bid / no-bid scorecard
Decide whether the estimate is worth building at all.
Questions people ask
What is a basis of estimate?
The record of how you arrived at your price: the labour categories, the hours for each, the rates, and the assumptions behind them. Solicitations often ask for it, and it is what lets you defend the price when an evaluator asks how the staffing was derived.
What is a blended rate?
Total price divided by total hours, giving the effective hourly cost to the buyer across the whole engagement. It is a quick way to compare your estimate against comparable awards without reviewing every line.
Should hours be built from the scope or from a target price?
From the scope. An estimate derived backwards from a target cannot be defended when an evaluator asks how the staffing was determined, and it usually means delivering at a loss if the bid wins.
Does this handle option years?
No. Escalation across option periods, subcontractor pass-through, materials, and travel all belong in a full price volume. This tool shapes the labour core of the estimate before that work starts.