Construction Overhead Worksheet and Payment Calculator for Columbus, NE Contractors

Start with the costs that run whether or not a crew is on a site. In this invented worksheet they come to $19,000 a month, or $228,000 a year. Divided by $1,520,000 of expected direct job costs for the year (crew wages, material and subcontractors), the overhead rate is 15.0%.

A job with $84,000 of direct costs, $36,000 of it crew wages, then carries $12,600 of overhead on top. If the first progress payment arrives after several paydays, a working capital loan can bridge the crew payroll. The table works that payment out the way the calculator on this page does.

County Business Patterns counted 15 electrical contractor establishments (NAICS 238210) with paid staff in Platte County, NE in 2023, reporting 179 employees between them for the March pay period.

On a bid with $310,000 of direct costs, the same overhead share of 15.0% adds $46,500 of overhead before any profit. Where a job calls for a bid or performance bond, the surety sets its own terms; Limepeak Finance does not arrange bonds, and this worksheet leaves them out.

A contractor may want a cash cushion to carry crews and materials until the draws on a large job come in. This invented case prices a cushion as a level-payment working capital loan.

Repairs to shop equipment count as overhead because no single job pays for them. If the repair line in the worksheet climbs from $1,500 to $3,000 a month for a year, annual overhead rises to $246,000 and the rate to 16.2% of the same direct costs. Bids priced at the old rate would then fall short on every job.

A large single repair, such as rebuilding a skid steer's engine, can instead be funded and paid off over a year, which keeps the monthly overhead line steady.

Material is a direct cost, so it sits inside the base the overhead rate is applied to: $27,500 of lumber, wire and conduit for a big bid carries $4,125 of overhead at 15.0%.

Paying the supplier before the first draw can be done on a level-payment loan, priced in the table, or on a line of credit drawn and paid down as progress payments come in. The calculator on this page handles only the level-payment case; draws and paydowns are worked by hand on the line of credit page. With the figures in hand, the online request form opens a request using ranges alone, and the material cost and draw dates come up on the call.