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What a painter's hour really costs

Pay, plus taxes, comp, benefits, and the hours that aren't on a job.

A painter paid $25 an hour costs more than $25 an hour of painting:

  1. Payroll taxes (Social Security, Medicare, unemployment): about 10% of pay.
  2. Workers' comp: often 5 to 12% of pay for painters, by state.
  3. Benefits: health insurance, retirement, paid time off, per hour.
  4. Time on jobs: painters are paid for driving, loading, store runs, and rain days. If 8 of every 10 paid hours are on a job, each job hour carries the other 2.

$25 × 1.18 for taxes and comp is $29.50, and divided by 80% time on jobs it's about $36.88 per hour on a job. That's the number Brushline uses, shown with How did we get this? on the crew step. Contractors (1099) cost what you pay them.