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How to Calculate Time & Cost to a Work Order

Learn to add hourly/labor rates to specific technicians and automatically calculate the cost!

Updated over 2 weeks ago

Available On: Starter, Professional and Business Plus


UpKeep gives you full visibility into the true cost of a work order by calculating labor, parts, and any additional costs you enter manually. This helps your team track maintenance expenses with clarity and accuracy.


What Is Included in the Total Cost?

Cost Type

Where It Comes From

Labor

Time logged × hourly rate (user or WO-level)

Parts

Cost of inventory items used

Additional Cost

Manually entered expenses (e.g. service fees, rentals)

UpKeep automatically calculates the total cost as soon as these inputs are entered.


How to add an Hourly Rate to a User

NOTE: Hourly rates cannot be set upon a team basis within UpKeep, only individual users.

  1. Navigate to your People & Teams section

  2. Click into any one of your existing users

  3. Then, click on the Edit button to edit that user's details

  4. Enter the Hourly Rate

  5. Select Save Changes


How to Add an Hourly Rate to Vendors/Customers

  1. Navigate to the Vendors & Customers section

  2. Click into any existing Vendor or Customer

  3. Then click Edit

  4. Add the Hourly Rate

  5. Finally, click Save Changes once you're done!


How to Calculate the Hourly Rate Using the Recorded Time

This is automatically calculated for you!

However, you will need to toggle on the setting to do this. Only admins will be able to turn this ON or OFF.

  1. Navigate to the Settings page

  2. Under General Settings > Work Orders, make sure "Include Labor Costs in the Total Cost" is toggled ON (blue).


Add Labor Time Manually

To manually log labor time on a work order:

  1. Go to the Work Order

  2. Scroll to the Labor section

  3. Click Add Time or select Labor

  4. Select Add Time

  5. Choose the user, enter duration, and category

  6. Click Save


Add Parts and Additional Costs

  • Parts: Logged from inventory on the WO. The system uses the unit price to calculate total part cost

  • Additional Cost: Used for expenses not tied to time or inventory.

    • Examples: External vendor charges, equipment rentals, permit fees.

    • Enter under the Additional Cost section


Example: Total Cost Breakdown

Let’s say:

  • Technician A logs 2 hours at $25/hour

  • Technician B logs 1.5 hours at $35/hour

Labor Cost:

  • A = 2 hrs × $25 = $50

  • B = 1.5 hrs × $35 = $52.50

  • Total Labor = $102.50

Add:

  • Parts Used = $30

  • Additional Cost = $20

✅ Total Work Order Cost =

$102.50 (Labor) + $30 (Parts) + $20 (Additional) = $152.50


Where to View the Breakdown

  • On the Work Order:

    • Labor Tab: Shows per-user breakdown of time and cost

    • Cost Tab: Shows all of the Additional Costs

    • Parts Tab: Shows all of the parts costs/quantities

  • Work Order Exports: Include labor, parts, and additional costs for analytics

  • UpKeep Analytics: Use the Time and Cost report!

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