How the payroll prep calculator works
You build a roster — each employee with a name, hourly rate, labor burden percentage, and daily hours for the week — and pick one overtime rule at the top. The calculator splits every employee’s week into regular, overtime (1.5×), and where the rule calls for it double-time (2×) hours, prices them at that employee’s rate, adds burden as a percentage of gross, and totals the true cost to the company. The whole table exports as a CSV your bookkeeper or payroll system can import.
Worked example under the federal rule: employee A earns $30.00/hour, works 9 hours a day Monday through Friday (45 hours), with 35% burden. That splits into 40 regular hours ($1,200.00) and 5 overtime hours at $45.00 ($225.00) — gross $1,425.00, burden $498.75, total cost $1,923.75. Employee B earns $25.00/hour for a straight 40 ($1,000.00 gross, $350.00 burden, $1,350.00 total). The crew’s week costs $3,273.75 against $2,425.00 of gross wages — that gap is why estimates built on base wages come up short.
Switch the rule to California and the same 9-hour days are paid differently: each day is 8 regular + 1 daily-overtime hour, so employee A’s week becomes 40 regular and 5 overtime hours by the daily rule— the same money here, but on a 4×10 schedule California owes 8 overtime hours where the federal rule owes zero. Nevada’s preset checks each employee’s rate: at $17.00/hour daily overtime applies; at $18.00 or more only the weekly rule does.
Mistakes that cost money on payroll
The classics: bidding labor at the base wage and eating the 30–45% burden; running a California, Alaska, Colorado, or Nevada crew under the federal weekly rule and underpaying daily overtime; treating the tax-withholding field as real withholding (it is a rough planning estimate — actual withholding depends on each employee’s situation); and forgetting that California hours past 12 in a day are double time, not time-and-a-half.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which overtime rules does the calculator support?
Federal (over 40 hours a week at 1.5x) plus state presets for California (over 8 hours a day at 1.5x, over 12 at 2x, then the weekly rule), Alaska (over 8 a day), Colorado (over 12 a day or over 40 a week, whichever produces more overtime), and Nevada (over 8 a day, but only for employees earning under $18.00 an hour — 1.5x the state minimum wage, checked per employee). The same engine powers the Overtime Calculator, so both tools always agree.
What is labor burden and why does it matter?
Labor burden is every employer cost beyond the base wage: payroll taxes (FICA 7.65%), workers compensation, unemployment insurance, benefits, and paid time off. Construction burden typically runs 30–45% on top of wages. Bidding with the base wage instead of the burdened rate loses money on every hour worked.
Does the calculator remember my crew?
Yes. The roster (names, rates, burden percentages) and your last-entered week are saved in your browser’s local storage and restored when you come back — nothing is sent to a server. The "Clear saved data" button removes everything.
Can I pull hours in from the Time Card tool?
Yes. In the Time Card tool’s All Cards view, "Send a week to Payroll Prep" imports every saved card for that week-ending as an employee row here. The Overtime Calculator has a matching "Send to Payroll Prep" button for a single employee’s week.