{
  "slug": "sign-shop-hourly-rate",
  "title": "Sign Shop Hourly Rate Calculator",
  "heading": "Sign Shop Hourly Shop Rate Calculator",
  "category": "financial",
  "url": "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/sign-shop-hourly-rate",
  "summary": "Back into the hourly rate your shop needs to charge to hit targets.",
  "description": "Many sign and print shops price jobs off gut feel or competitor rates without ever calculating what their own overhead requires per billable hour. This calculator takes your monthly fixed overhead (rent, insurance, equipment leases, salaried staff, utilities), a target owner profit, and your realistic billable hours per month, then computes the hourly rate needed just to break even and the rate needed to hit your profit target. Billable hours are always less than total working hours because of quoting time, material ordering, cleanup, and non-billable admin work — a shop with two production staff working 160 hours each per month might only convert 55-70% of that into billable production or install time. Getting this number right prevents the common trap of pricing jobs off cheap material cost estimates alone while quietly under-recovering the fixed cost of keeping the doors open.",
  "formula": "Breakeven rate = monthly overhead ÷ billable hours; target rate = (monthly overhead + target profit) ÷ billable hours.",
  "dateModified": "2026-09-30",
  "run_url": "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/api/public/calc?tool=sign-shop-hourly-rate",
  "inputs": [
    {
      "id": "overhead",
      "label": "Monthly fixed overhead",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 14000,
      "unit": "$",
      "min": 0,
      "max": null
    },
    {
      "id": "targetProfit",
      "label": "Target monthly owner profit",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 6000,
      "unit": "$",
      "min": 0,
      "max": null
    },
    {
      "id": "staffHours",
      "label": "Total staff hours available per month",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 320,
      "unit": null,
      "min": 1,
      "max": null
    },
    {
      "id": "billablePct",
      "label": "Billable utilization rate",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 62,
      "unit": "%",
      "min": 10,
      "max": 100
    }
  ],
  "outputs": [
    {
      "id": "targetRate",
      "label": "Hourly rate to hit profit target",
      "format": "currency",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": true
    },
    {
      "id": "breakevenRate",
      "label": "Breakeven hourly rate",
      "format": "currency",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": false
    },
    {
      "id": "billableHours",
      "label": "Billable hours per month",
      "format": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": false
    }
  ],
  "worked_example": {
    "inputs": [
      "Monthly fixed overhead: 14000 $",
      "Target monthly owner profit: 6000 $",
      "Total staff hours available per month: 320",
      "Billable utilization rate: 62 %"
    ],
    "outputs": [
      "Hourly rate to hit profit target: $100.81",
      "Breakeven hourly rate: $70.56",
      "Billable hours per month: 198"
    ]
  },
  "how_to": {
    "title": "How to use this",
    "steps": [
      "Enter monthly fixed overhead ($).",
      "Enter target monthly owner profit ($).",
      "Enter total staff hours available per month.",
      "Enter billable utilization rate (%).",
      "Read your hourly rate to hit profit target on the right — it updates as you type.",
      "Hit Share to keep the scenario or send it to someone."
    ]
  },
  "scenarios": [
    {
      "name": "Conservative",
      "description": "Lower-end numbers — what if things land soft?",
      "values": {
        "overhead": 8500,
        "targetProfit": 3500,
        "staffHours": 190,
        "billablePct": 37
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "Typical",
      "description": "Defaults — the most common real-world setup.",
      "values": {
        "overhead": 14000,
        "targetProfit": 6000,
        "staffHours": 320,
        "billablePct": 62
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "Ambitious",
      "description": "Higher-end numbers — what if things really pop?",
      "values": {
        "overhead": 22500,
        "targetProfit": 9500,
        "staffHours": 510,
        "billablePct": 99
      }
    }
  ],
  "limitations": [
    "Results are estimates before tax, fees, and inflation unless an input explicitly covers them.",
    "Rates are treated as fixed for the whole period — variable-rate products will drift from this projection.",
    "This is educational maths, not financial advice. Check anything contractual with the lender or your accountant."
  ],
  "faq": [
    {
      "q": "What's a typical billable utilization rate for a small sign shop?",
      "a": "Most shops land between 55% and 70%. Time spent on quoting, design revisions, material ordering, machine maintenance, and general admin all eat into total staff hours without generating billable output, so don't assume every clocked hour bills to a job."
    },
    {
      "q": "Does this rate apply to design time too?",
      "a": "Yes, if you bill design time separately, it should use the same rate logic — many shops undercharge for design because they think of it as 'included' rather than a real labor cost competing for the same overhead recovery."
    },
    {
      "q": "How do I know if my current pricing is below this rate?",
      "a": "Add up hours actually billed on recent invoices versus revenue collected for the same period; if the resulting effective rate is below your calculated target rate, your job pricing isn't recovering full overhead even if individual jobs look profitable on paper."
    },
    {
      "q": "Should equipment depreciation be in monthly overhead?",
      "a": "Yes — spread the purchase cost of large-format printers, laser cutters, or embroidery machines over their useful life (often 5-7 years) and include that monthly amount in overhead, since replacement cost is a real future expense your rate needs to fund."
    }
  ],
  "related": [
    "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/banner-sign-install-labor",
    "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/apparel-decoration-quote",
    "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/large-format-print-markup"
  ],
  "license": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "citation": "RevenueLab — Sign Shop Hourly Rate Calculator (https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/sign-shop-hourly-rate)"
}