Business
Equipment operating cost per hour
Price an operating hour from the costs you enter: depreciation, fuel, maintenance and repairs, optional annual overhead, and optional operator labor. Add a billing rate to compare it with the listed hourly cost. Results are estimates based on your inputs, not accounting or tax advice. The prefilled values are illustrative; replace them with your own.
Live calculator
Enter your details
Equipment Operating Cost Per Hour Calculator
Estimate equipment cost per operating hour from depreciation, fuel, maintenance, optional overhead, and labor.
Inputs used
Results
Billing rate - entered hourly costs, before other expenses and taxes.
(Billing rate - total cost) ÷ billing rate × 100.
- Depreciation: ($25,000.00 - $5,000.00) ÷ 5,000 lifetime hours = $4.00/hr.
- Fuel: 2 gal/hr × $3.50/gal = $7.00/hr.
- Maintenance and repair: entered $5.00/hr.
- Annual fixed overhead: $1,200.00 ÷ 600 hr/year = $2.00/hr.
- Operator labor: entered $25.00/hr.
- Total: $4.00 + $7.00 + $5.00 + $2.00 + $25.00 = $43.00/hr.
- Billing rate: $65.00/hr - $43.00/hr cost = $22.00/hr gross; $22.00 ÷ $65.00 × 100 = 33.85% margin.
- Dollar outputs round to cents; margin uses the unrounded total.
Additional notes
Your estimate
Results
Billing rate - entered hourly costs, before other expenses and taxes.
(Billing rate - total cost) ÷ billing rate × 100.
- Depreciation: ($25,000.00 - $5,000.00) ÷ 5,000 lifetime hours = $4.00/hr.
- Fuel: 2 gal/hr × $3.50/gal = $7.00/hr.
- Maintenance and repair: entered $5.00/hr.
- Annual fixed overhead: $1,200.00 ÷ 600 hr/year = $2.00/hr.
- Operator labor: entered $25.00/hr.
- Total: $4.00 + $7.00 + $5.00 + $2.00 + $25.00 = $43.00/hr.
- Billing rate: $65.00/hr - $43.00/hr cost = $22.00/hr gross; $22.00 ÷ $65.00 × 100 = 33.85% margin.
- Dollar outputs round to cents; margin uses the unrounded total.
The math, plainly
How it works
- 01
Depreciation per hour is (purchase or replacement cost - expected resale value) divided by lifetime operating hours.
- 02
Fuel cost per hour is fuel consumed per hour multiplied by fuel price per gallon. Add your maintenance and repair cost per operating hour.
- 03
Optional annual fixed overhead is divided by annual operating hours. Optional operator labor is added per hour; leave optional costs at $0 to exclude them.
- 04
Total operating cost per hour is the sum of the displayed components. If you enter a billing rate, gross dollars per hour equal billing rate minus listed costs; margin is gross dollars divided by billing rate.
Try a real scenario
Illustrative machine estimate
Inputs$25,000 cost, $5,000 resale, 5,000 lifetime hours; 2 gal/hr at $3.50/gal; $5/hr maintenance; $1,200 annual overhead over 600 hours; $25/hr labor; $65/hr billing rate.
Result$43.00 estimated operating cost per hour. After the listed costs, gross dollars are $22.00/hr and margin is 33.85%.
More from Amazon
More options for this calculator
Engine hour meter (paid link)
Track operating hours to update lifetime and annual-hour estimates.
Equipment maintenance logbook (paid link)
Keep service and repair notes together as you update hourly maintenance cost.
Grease gun (paid link)
A maintenance tool for equipment with grease fittings.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.