Security guard cost & bid calculator
Price a guard contract in a minute: hours, headcount, overtime, labour cost, the bill rate per hour and the monthly price that hit your target margin. Free, no sign-up.
How do you calculate the cost of a security guard?
Multiply the hours of coverage by the guard's hourly pay, paying overtime hours at the overtime rate, then add payroll burden (employer taxes, insurance and workers' comp, often 20–35% of wages) and other costs. To set a bill rate, divide that total cost by (1 − your target gross margin) and by the hours billed.
Work out your cost and bill rate
Results update as you type. The link in your address bar keeps your figures, so you can bookmark or share it.
Your estimate
- Bill rate per hour
- –
- Monthly contract price
- –
- Total monthly cost
- –
- Gross profit per month
- –
- Hours per week
- –
- Hours per month
- –
- Guards needed
- – at – h/week each
- Regular / overtime hours per week
- – / –
| Item | Per month | Per billed hour |
|---|---|---|
| Regular wages | – | – |
| Overtime wages | – | – |
| Payroll burden (–) | – | – |
| Labour cost | – | – |
| Other costs | – | – |
| Total cost | – | – |
| Gross profit (– margin, – markup) | – | – |
| Contract price | – | – |
This is an estimate, not financial, tax or legal advice. It assumes 52 ÷ 12 weeks a month, hours shared evenly between guards and no paid holidays or relief cover. Check the figures against your own payroll costs and local labour laws before you bid.
Free calculator from ForceVera · forcevera.com/tools/security-guard-cost-calculator
How the calculation works
Six steps, the same ones you would do in a spreadsheet. Weeks per month are 52 ÷ 12, about 4.33.
-
Work out the hours of coverage
Multiply the hours covered each day by the days covered each week and by the number of guards on duty at the same time. Multiply weekly hours by 52 ÷ 12 (about 4.33 weeks) to get monthly hours.
Weekly hours = hours per day × days per week × guards per post. Monthly hours = weekly hours × 52 ÷ 12.
-
Estimate how many guards you need
Divide the weekly hours by the most hours one guard should work in a week and round up. The hours are shared evenly between those guards.
Guards needed = weekly hours ÷ maximum hours per guard, rounded up. Hours per guard = weekly hours ÷ guards needed.
-
Split regular and overtime hours
Any hours a guard works above the overtime threshold are overtime. If the maximum hours per guard is at or below the threshold, there is no overtime.
Overtime hours = guards needed × the larger of 0 and (hours per guard − overtime threshold). Regular hours = weekly hours − overtime hours.
-
Calculate the labour cost
Pay regular hours at the hourly rate and overtime hours at the rate times the overtime multiplier, then add payroll burden as a percentage of those wages.
Wages = regular hours × pay rate + overtime hours × pay rate × overtime multiplier. Labour cost = wages × (1 + payroll burden %).
-
Add your other costs
Add the monthly cost of equipment, uniforms, vehicles, supervision and anything else the contract needs.
Total monthly cost = monthly labour cost + other monthly costs.
-
Price for your target margin
Gross margin is a share of the price, not of the cost, so divide the cost by one minus the margin. Divide the price by the monthly hours to get the hourly bill rate.
Monthly contract price = total monthly cost ÷ (1 − target gross margin %). Bill rate per hour = monthly contract price ÷ monthly hours.
Worked example: one guard, 24/7
168 hours a week at $18 an hour, 30% burden and a 35% target margin, with no guard working more than 40 hours: 5 guards share the hours (33.6 each), so there is no overtime. Wages are 168 × $18 = $3,024 a week; with burden, $3,931.20. Over 52 ÷ 12 weeks that is $17,035.20 a month. Price = $17,035.20 ÷ 0.65 = $26,208 a month, which is $36.00 per hour over 728 hours.
Tips for bidding security contracts
- Plan relief cover. The headcount here is the minimum to fill the schedule; sickness, holidays, training and turnover usually need extra people or overtime, so check how your price holds up if you add 10–15% more hours at overtime.
- Use your real burden rate. Ask your accountant or payroll provider for employer taxes, workers' comp or employers' liability, insurance and benefits as a percentage of wages, and update it every year.
- Know your minimum bill rate before you negotiate. Run the calculator at the lowest margin you would accept and do not go below that rate to win the contract.
- Price the extras separately. Holiday coverage, short-notice extra hours, armed or supervisory posts and patrol vehicles often justify their own rates in the contract.
- Write rate increases into the contract. A clause that passes on minimum-wage and payroll-tax increases protects your margin over a multi-year deal.
- Compare the bill rate with the market. If your rate is far above or below what clients in your area pay, check your inputs before you send the bid.
Questions, answered
What is a good gross margin for a security guard contract?
Many contract security companies aim for a gross margin of roughly 20–35% on guard services, depending on the market, the size of the contract and how much supervision and equipment it needs. Gross margin has to cover your overheads (office, managers, software, insurance not charged to the contract) before any profit, so net margins are much lower.
How many guards do you need to cover a post 24/7?
A 24/7 post is 168 hours a week. At 40 hours each that is 4.2 guards, so you need 5 people to cover it without overtime, or 4 guards working 42 hours each with 2 hours of overtime. You also need relief cover for sickness, holidays and training.
What is payroll burden and what rate should I use?
Payroll burden is what you pay on top of wages: employer payroll taxes, workers' compensation or employers' liability insurance, unemployment insurance, pension contributions and benefits. It varies a lot by country, state or province, and by your claims history; 25–30% is a common starting point for security guards in the US, but use the figure from your own payroll records.
Should overtime be billed to the client?
It depends on the contract. Overtime caused by the client, such as extra hours requested at short notice, is usually billed at a higher rate. Overtime caused by your own scheduling is usually your cost, which is why this calculator includes it in the cost and spreads it across the bill rate.
Is this calculator free, and is my data saved?
It is free and needs no account. The calculation runs in your browser; your figures are not sent to ForceVera or stored. They are kept only in the page address so you can bookmark or share the estimate. The result is an estimate, not financial, tax or legal advice.
Won the contract? Bill it from approved hours
In ForceVera you set each client's bill rates by guard type, approve the hours your guards clocked, and it builds the invoice with weekly overtime and holiday rates applied. See billing and invoicing or compare plans.
Your next shift could be verified.
Get your team on ForceVera this week. Try every core feature free for 14 days, with no charge until the trial ends and no contract.
- Nothing charged during the trial
- Cancel anytime
- Your data stays yours