Free civil tool · Metric · No signup
Excavator Charge-Out Calculator
An indicative plant rate check — ownership, finance, running costs, operator and overheads per hour, plus the charge-out rate your margin needs.
Example inputs are editable. Use your project values. Enter 0 where no optional allowance is intended; blank fields pause the calculation.
Your inputs
Your results
- Ownership cost
- $19.93/hr
- Running cost (fuel, servicing, repairs)
- $35.7/hr
- Operator
- $0/hr
- Overhead
- $5.56/hr
- Break-even rate
- $61.19/hr
- Target charge-out rate
- $71.99/hr
These free results do not automatically save or sync to a Fieldlink job.
How it works
- Depreciation/yr = (price − residual) ÷ life
- Finance/yr = average capital × finance %
- Ownership/hr = (depreciation + finance + insurance) ÷ annual hours
- Running/hr = servicing + repairs + fuel L/hr × fuel price
- Break-even = (ownership + running + operator) × (1 + overhead %)
- Charge-out = break-even ÷ (1 − margin %)
Worked example
$180k machine, $60k residual, 8 yrs, 1,400 hrs/yr Depreciation $15,000 + finance $8,400 + insurance $4,500 = $19.93/hr ownership + $35.70 running = $55.63 → +10 % OH = $61.19 break-even → $71.99/hr at 15 % margin
Assumptions and practical notes
Illustrative inputs, not an NZ market rate or financing advice. Use your own ownership, fuel, maintenance and annual operating hours. Operator 0 gives a rate excluding the operator, but fuel remains included; this is not automatically a dry-hire quote. Keep costs on a consistent GST basis.
Working on the full job?
Keep the equipment record and usage visible alongside your rate assumptions.