Most contractors carry around a "loaded labor multiplier" in their head: 1.4x, 1.5x, "double the wage and call it good." Few can explain where the number comes from. When it's wrong, the contract loses money on every billable hour, every shift, for the life of the contract.
This article walks through how to build a fully-loaded labor rate from scratch using a worked example, and explains where every cost component comes from so you can source accurate numbers for your own business.