DockDash
Free tool

Hourly rate calculator for marine service businesses

The lowest hourly rate that still pays you what you want after insurance, harbor permits, the truck, fuel, gear, taxes and all the hours nobody pays for. Then the same number as a per-foot rate for a typical boat.

By the DockDash teamLast reviewed How we research
What you want to earn
/ yr

After business costs and tax.

% of profit

Self-employment tax plus income tax. Ask your accountant for your number.

% of revenue

0 if customers pay by check or bank transfer.

Yearly overhead
  1. / yr
  2. / yr
  3. / yr
  4. / yr
  5. / yr
  6. / yr
  7. / yr
Total overhead: $19,000.00 a year
Your time
hrs

Everything: jobs, driving, quoting, buying parts, paperwork.

weeks

Leave out vacation, holidays, sick days and bad-weather weeks.

%

The hours you can actually charge for.

Per-foot equivalent (optional)
ft
min

Time on that boat, not counting the drive.

Minimum hourly rate

$81.79 / hr

1,248 billable hours a year

Per-foot equivalent

$2.34 / ft

For a 35 ft boat at 60 min

Revenue needed

$102,062

$8,505 a month, $2,126 a working week

Where the money goes

Take-home pay
$60,000
Tax set-aside
$20,000
Overhead
$19,000
Card and payment fees
$3,062
Revenue needed per year
$102,062
Boats per year at your time per boat
1,248

How this works

These are your numbers, not market prices. The defaults are a worked example so the tool shows something useful; they are not what anyone charges in your area. Replace them with your own rates and costs.

  1. Profit needed = take-home pay ÷ (1 − tax set-aside %). Tax is charged on profit, after business costs, so the set-aside is applied to profit, not to revenue.
  2. Revenue needed = (overhead + profit needed) ÷ (1 − card and payment fees %).
  3. Billable hours = hours per week × weeks per year × billable share.
  4. Minimum hourly rate = revenue needed ÷ billable hours, rounded up to the cent.
  5. Per-foot equivalent = minimum hourly rate × billable hours per boat ÷ typical boat length, rounded up to the cent.

The example: $60,000 take-home with a 25% tax set-aside needs $80,000 of profit. Add $19,000 of overhead and 3% card fees and you need $102,062 of revenue. At 40 hours a week, 48 weeks a year and 65% billable, that is 1,248 billable hours, so the minimum is $81.79 an hour. One hour on a 35 ft boat at that rate is $2.34 a foot.

The inputs that matter most

  • Billable share. Driving between marinas, waiting on gates and dockmasters, buying parts, quoting and invoicing all take hours you can't bill. Track a few weeks and use your real share. Dropping from 75% to 60% raises the minimum rate by a quarter.
  • Tax set-aside. Self-employment tax alone is 15.3% (12.4% Social Security plus 2.9% Medicare), on top of federal and California income tax.[1] The 25% in the example is an illustration, not advice. Your accountant can give you a better figure.
  • Insurance and permits. Marinas set their own vendor insurance minimums and permit fees, so the overhead depends on where you work. The marina vendor requirements and permit planner list what harbors publish.
  • Weeks per year. Leave out vacation, holidays, sick days, and the weeks when weather or the season keeps you off the water.

This is a floor, not a price. It covers your costs and the pay you chose. What the market pays in your harbor can be higher or lower; the published price pages show what businesses list publicly.

Related guides and tools

Sources

  1. Internal Revenue Service. Self-Employment Tax (Social Security and Medicare Taxes) (October 30, 2026). Accessed November 11, 2026