Labour Cost Calculator Canada 2026
Price construction labour for any trade, in any Canadian province, in seconds. The calculator adds the real 2026 employer burden, CPP, EI, vacation, statutory holidays and WCB, so you get the fully loaded rate you can actually bid on. Free, instant, and built for all 13 provinces and territories.
Construction labour cost calculator
Work out what labour actually costs on a Canadian project. Pick a trade and province and the rate fills itself in, then either enter your hours or estimate them from the project size. The calculator stacks the real 2026 employer burden, namely CPP, EI, vacation, statutory holidays and WCB, into a fully loaded rate.
Auto-filled from the trade and province. Edit it to match your own crew.
Production rate is per labour-hour and is a starter value. Adjust it to your crew's real output for the best result.
Adjust the 2026 rates ▾
- ✓The wage is never the cost. A $32 carpenter in Ontario runs closer to $40 loaded once CPP, EI, vacation, stat pay and WCB are stacked on top.
- ✓Canada's 2026 employer burden adds 18% to 22% by default, up to 35%+ on union work. Quebec switches to QPP and QPIP automatically.
- ✓The calculator covers 35 trades and all 13 provinces. Wage and burden both adjust by province so you get a correct number, not a national average.
- ✓When a bid has to hold, a verified estimate lands within 3% to 5% of actual cost, back in 10 to 48 hours.
Price the loaded cost, not the wage
Here's the trap that sinks bids: the wage is not the cost. A carpenter at a $32 base wage in Ontario doesn't cost you $32. Add CPP, EI, vacation, stat pay and WCB and that carpenter runs closer to $40 an hour in Ontario, $42 in Alberta, closer to $35 in Nova Scotia. Same worker. Real number.
Price the wage and skip the burden, and you've underbid before the crew shows up. Sound familiar? Most contractors know this in their gut. The calculator just does the math for you, every line, so nothing gets missed. No guessing involved.
What's built into your loaded rate
The calculator stacks the 2026 employer burden on top of the base wage. These are the verified figures, straight from the Canada Revenue Agency, Retraite Québec, and the provincial workers' comp boards:
- ✓CPP at 5.95% on earnings to $74,600, plus CPP2 at 4% above that. The employer matches it, every paycheque.
- ✓EI at 2.282% (that's 1.4 times the employee rate) on insurable earnings to $68,900.
- ✓Vacation pay at 4%, rising to 6% after a set number of years.
- ✓Statutory holiday pay, roughly another 3.5% to 4% for the 9 to 11 paid days a year nobody's on site.
- ✓WCB, WSIB or CNESST, a premium per $100 of payroll that runs from about $2 to $8 in construction, depending on the trade and your claims history.
Add it up and the loaded burden sits in the 18% to 22% range by default. That's the thing. Toggle union benefits on and it can push toward 35% or more. Quebec works on its own system, QPP at 6.30%, QPIP at 0.60%, and a lower EI rate, so the calculator switches that math automatically the moment you select it.
Roofers and concrete workers typically carry higher WCB rates than finish carpenters or painters. Always edit the WCB field to your actual rate. A roofer and a finish carpenter don't pay the same.
Built for every trade and every province
The calculator covers 35 trades across all 13 provinces and territories. Whatever you're estimating, wherever you build, it's in there.
Pricing a painter in Ontario? Pick "Painter" and "Ontario" and you get an Ontario painter's loaded rate. Drywall in Alberta? Concrete finishing in B.C.? Plumbing in Manitoba? Same tool, different trade, different province, correct number every time. Labourers, framers, electricians, plumbers, HVAC techs, masons, roofers, glaziers, sprinkler fitters, and so on.
Two reasons the province matters. The wage moves, an electrician costs more in Alberta than in Nova Scotia, and the calculator adjusts the base rate using Job Bank medians and provincial ICI schedules. And the burden moves, since every province sets its own WCB rate and Quebec runs on QPP instead of CPP. Remember the burden breakdown above? That whole stack changes when you cross a provincial border. So an Ontario number and a Saskatchewan number come out right, not averaged.
Building across the country? See where we work on our Canada service locations page.
Two ways to get your number
You don't always know the hours. The calculator handles both cases.
Know the hours
Enter the crew size and hours directly. Three framers, two days, done. Add overtime at 1.5 times if there's any. Quick when the scope is clear.
Know the project size
Switch to "Estimate from project size," pick the task, and enter the quantity in metric or imperial. The calculator uses production rates to turn your square metres, fixtures or linear metres into hours, then prices them. Works for homeowners too.
How to use the calculator
Four steps. Under a minute (usually faster).
- Pick the trade and province. The base wage fills in. Flip the union toggle on for union work.
- Choose how to get hours. Known hours, or estimate from project size.
- Check the burden. It's preset with 2026 rates. Edit any of it to match your payroll.
- Pick whose number you want. "My cost to employ" shows what the crew costs you. "What I'll be charged" adds overhead and profit, the billed rate a client pays.
Need the verified number?
Busy contractors, if you'd rather have a verified labour number on real plans, send us your plans and we'll handle the rest. That's it.
Send us your plans →What the calculator can't see
Let's be straight. This gets you a strong budget number. Solid, reliable, quick. But it doesn't replace a takeoff.
- ×Productivity gaps. A worker on the clock is productive roughly 65% to 80% of the time once you count setup, cleanup, weather and waiting on materials.
- ×Missing contingency. The 5% to 10% most estimators build in for the scope changes and surprises that always show up.
- ×Supervision and equipment. The foreman's time, the lifts, the small tools. All ride on top of trade labour.
- ×Scope detail in the drawings. The odd condition that adds 30 hours nobody saw. The calculator prices a task. It can't read the plans.
That's where a real estimate earns its keep. Our senior estimators follow AACE and ASPE standards, run takeoffs in PlanSwift and Bluebeam Revu, and price against current 2026 supplier and RSMeans data. The result lands within 3% to 5% of actual cost, back in 10 to 48 hours. Use the calculator to plan. Bring us in when the bid has to hold. We've priced labour for 4,100+ contractors across Canada over 16 years. The numbers have to be right. They really have to be.
Labour is where projects quietly bleed, on residential and commercial work alike. We get it. A verified construction cost estimate keeps the number honest from bid to closeout. Plain and simple.
Questions contractors ask
Is the labour cost calculator free?
Yes. Use it as much as you want, no sign-up required. Pick a trade and province, enter your hours or project size, and it gives you the loaded labour rate and total cost. If you want a verified, bid-ready number on real plans, that's where our estimators come in.
How do you calculate labour cost in construction?
Multiply the labour-hours by the worker's hourly wage, then add the labour burden, the employer's share of CPP, EI, vacation, statutory holidays and WCB. In Canada that burden adds about 18% to 22% by default on top of the wage in 2026. The result is your fully loaded labour cost, which is the number your bid should use. The calculator above does all of it once you pick a trade and province.
What does the loaded labour rate include?
The base wage plus every employer cost on top: CPP at 5.95%, EI at 2.282%, vacation pay at 4% or 6%, statutory holiday pay, and the provincial WCB premium. In Quebec it swaps to QPP at 6.30%, QPIP and the lower Quebec EI rate. The loaded rate is the true cost of putting that worker on site, usually 18% to 22% above the wage by default.
Does it work for my trade and province?
It covers 35 trades across all 13 provinces and territories, so yes. Painting in Ontario, drywall in Alberta, concrete in B.C., plumbing in Manitoba, you name it. The wage and the burden both adjust to where you build. Set the trade and province at the top of the calculator and the number's yours.
What's the difference between a worker's wage and the billed rate?
The wage is what the worker earns. The billed rate is what a contractor charges a client, which is the wage plus burden plus overhead and profit. That's why a plumber at a $34 base wage, loaded with the 2026 burden and marked up with overhead and profit, can appear on an invoice anywhere from $50 to $70 per hour depending on the contractor's overhead structure.
How much of a construction budget is labour?
Usually 20% to 40% of total project cost. Residential new builds run around 30% to 35%, remodels push 35% to 45% with all the demolition and detail, and commercial builds trend 20% to 30%. If labour creeps past 50% on a standard build, something's off, either materials are missing from the estimate or productivity is low.
How accurate is the calculator?
The burden math is exact, built on verified 2026 CRA and provincial rates. The wages and production rates are solid starting points you can edit to your own crew. It's a budget tool, not a quote. For a number within 3% to 5% of actual cost, send us the plans and we'll run a full takeoff.
How is overtime priced into labour cost?
Overtime is usually 1.5 times the base wage, and the burden rides on top, so fully burdened overtime can run 1.6 to 1.7 times the regular loaded rate. Running constant overtime to hit a deadline is one of the fastest ways to burn margin. The calculator lets you add overtime hours and set the multiplier so the number stays honest.