Apply the May 2025 BLS national employee wage reference for a selected occupation to your own headcount, hours, and days. This is a comparison baseline—not a contractor rate recommendation.
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, Table 1, May 2025. SOC 13-1121. The source is an employee wage estimate and does not include contractor overhead, equipment, travel, insurance, union terms, overtime requirements, or other project-specific economics.
Use this as a public labor-market reference against your real job budget. If your actual contractor or crew rates differ, that does not mean the rates are wrong: independent work can price in different economics than employee wages. Geography, experience, schedule pressure, kit fees, insurance, travel, nonbillable time, licensing, union agreements, and other terms can all matter.