CalculatorsPricing
What does an hour of work really cost you?
From base hourly wage to rate, for services where you mainly deploy people. Step by step you see what each part costs and where your risk is. The example uses the Dutch cleaning sector agreement; the steps are the same in every sector.
BASE RATE, FIRST CONTRACT YEAR
€ 37.19 per hour, without allowances
2.2 times the average base hourly wage of € 16.91.
- Wages and charges for hours worked€ 24.21
- Paid hours without work€ 6.59
- Travel costs€ 1.00
- Per employee and per contract€ 2.25
- Gross margin€ 3.14
| Hour | Allowance on wages | Added | Of the base rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon–Thu after 21:30, Tue–Fri 0–6 | 30% | + € 10.43 | 28.1% |
| Weekend, Friday after 21:30, Monday 0–6 | 50% | + € 17.39 | 46.8% |
| Public holiday | 150% | + € 52.16 | 140.3% |
Why not 30%? The allowance is € 5.07 in wages per paid hour. With holiday pay, year-end bonus, premiums and pension it becomes € 7.56. You also pay the allowance during holidays and sickness: € 9.55 per hour worked. With the same mark-ups, so your gross margin stays the same: € 10.43. That is 28.1% of the base rate, because travel costs, workwear, recruitment and the site manager do not cost more in the evening.
Allowances: Dutch cleaning sector agreement art. 22.
| Per hour | Of revenue | |
|---|---|---|
| Overheads | € 1.70 | 4.6% |
| Risk | € 0.36 | 1.0% |
| Profit | € 1.08 | 2.9% |
| Gross margin | € 3.14 | 8.4% |
Across the whole contract that is € 62,861 a year. Does that match what this contract asks of your organisation?
| Year | Base wage | Cost price | Without steps | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2027 | € 16.91 | € 35.75 | € 37.19 | € 37.19 |
| 2028 | € 17.53 | € 37.02 | € 38.28 | € 38.52 |
| 2029 | € 18.11 | € 38.20 | € 39.39 | € 39.74 |
| 2030 (option) | € 18.64 | € 39.30 | € 40.54 | € 40.88 |
| 2031 (option) | € 19.20 | € 40.45 | € 41.73 | € 42.08 |
Including step progression. After 2028 using your assumption from step 6.
Work out the indexation| If | Rate | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| you forget absence and waiting time | € 34.07 | −8.4% |
| you forget public holidays | € 36.34 | −2.3% |
| absence is 1.3 points higher | € 37.75 | +1.5% |
| shifts are half as long | € 38.28 | +2.9% |
| contract hours are 40% lower | € 37.99 | +2.2% |
| all hours are on flexible contracts | € 38.42 | +3.3% |
Premiums for 2027 are provisional and the example values are made up. Have your payroll check the premiums and use your own figures. Your price remains your own responsibility.
Cost per paid hour divided by the share of hours actually worked, plus travel costs per shift divided by the shift length. Then the costs per employee and per contract, converted to hours. Overheads, risk and profit on top. Without interest or inflation discounting.
AFTER THE AWARD
Check whether your costing holds
A costing for a services contract is mostly assumptions. Write them down per site and compare them with what actually happens. Then you see in the third month that you were out, not at the annual accounts.
- The average hourly wage including allowances.
- The share of paid hours that was worked.
- Sickness absence.
- The average length of a shift.
- The cost per invoiced hour.
The method in full, with the worked example: cost per hour. How to build up the rest of your price: pricing a proposal. And how to deal with a contract term with indexation: price indexation.
Sources: Dutch cleaning sector collective agreement 2026–2028 (RAS, Dutch) · CBS sickness absence by industry (Dutch) · All knowledge articles
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