Last updated October 31, 2026

How much to charge for carpentry work in 2026

The hourly rate a one-truck carpenter needs to charge, built from what carpenters actually earn, a price list for 13 common jobs with the arithmetic shown, what moves the number, and the mistakes that cost the most.

Short answer: a one-truck carpentry business that pays its owner what the median carpenter earns, carries normal overhead, and keeps a 20 percent margin needs about $80 an hour. To pay yourself like the top quarter of carpenters, charge about $90. Top ten percent, $105. Below $70 you are subsidizing the customer with your own wages. Every number on this page is built from published wage data and a model you can see, and the price list further down uses the $90 rate.

Carpentry is the widest trade on this site, from hanging a door to framing an addition, and the wage data reflects a skill spread to match: the top ten percent of carpenters earn $48 an hour as employees. A finish carpenter who installs crown and built-ins is selling a different hour than a framer, and the rate should say so. The model here is a single rate; a carpenter who does both should keep two.

Carpentry pricing lives on the linear foot and the piece. Trim per foot, doors per opening, decks per square foot, framing per square foot of wall or floor. The customer rarely has a reference number for carpentry the way they do for flooring or roofing, which means the bid teaches them what it costs, and a clear bid with quantities on every line is both the price and the sales pitch.

What carpenters earn, and what that means for your rate

The Bureau of Labor Statistics counted 670,090 people working as carpenters in its May 2025 survey and published what they are paid. That is the wage an employer pays an employee, which is the floor for what an owner-operator should pay themselves. A rate is built on top of it: the hidden cost of an hour of labor, the overhead of running a truck, the hours you cannot bill, and a margin. The model here uses a 22% labor load for payroll taxes, workers comp and the liability share, $30,000 a year of overhead for the truck, insurance, phone, software, tools and licenses, 1,100 billable hours a year, and a 20% margin. Change any input and the rate moves; the hourly rate calculator runs it with your numbers.

If you pay yourself like the	BLS wage	Loaded	Overhead per hour	Rate to charge
Bottom quarter	$23	$28	$27	$70
Median	$29	$36	$27	$80
Top quarter	$37	$45	$27	$90
Top ten percent	$48	$59	$27	$105

Rate = (wage × 1.22 + $30,000 ÷ 1,100) ÷ (1 − 0.2), rounded to $5. Wages: BLS OEWS May 2025, carpenters, national.

Overhead of $30,000 covers a truck, a trailer for materials, saws and nailers, a compressor, ladders and insurance. Lumber prices moved sharply through 2024 and 2025 and tariffs on Canadian softwood changed again in 2025, so material lines are quoted from this week's yard price and bids on big jobs expire in 14 days. The rate is per carpenter; a helper on framing or decks is a second labor line.

A carpentry price list, with the math

Flat prices for the jobs carpenters quote most, built the same way every time: hours at the $90 rate, plus materials at cost with a 30 percent markup, rounded to $5. The hours and material costs are example inputs for a typical job in a typical market, stated so you can swap in your own. A job with a crew of two doubles the labor line. Prices assume standard materials, normal access and existing conditions that are plumb and square enough to work with. Old houses add hours everywhere and the bid should say so.

Job	Labor	Materials at cost	Price	What it assumes
Install baseboard, per linear foot	0.06 h	$2	$10	Primed MDF or pine, nailed and caulked; paint extra
Install crown molding, per linear foot	0.12 h	$3	$15	Single piece, coped corners
Hang a prehung interior door	2.5 h	$170	$445	Hollow core, casing both sides, hardware
Hang a prehung exterior door	5 h	$520	$1,125	Fiberglass, flashed and sealed, lockset
Install window casing, per window	1.25 h	$35	$160	Four-piece casing, stool and apron extra
Build a closet shelf and rod, per linear foot	0.3 h	$9	$40	Melamine or painted pine
Build built-in bookshelves, per linear foot of width	6 h	$180	$775	Floor to ceiling, painted plywood, face frame
Frame a non-bearing interior wall, per linear foot	0.6 h	$14	$70	2x4 at 16 in., plates, no drywall
Frame an exterior wall, per linear foot	1 h	$38	$140	2x6, sheathing, house wrap
Install a pocket door kit	7 h	$330	$1,060	Wall opened and reframed, door and hardware; drywall patch by others
Replace rotten fascia, per linear foot	0.25 h	$5	$30	1x8 primed, caulked
Build a basic deck, per sq ft	0.25 h	$22	$50	Treated frame, 5/4 treated decking, no rail; see decks guide
Attic stair installation	4 h	$280	$725	Opening exists or is framed in a non-bearing bay

Price = hours × $90 + materials × 1.3. Trip or diagnostic fees, permits and disposal are extra lines.

This is a sample. The free price book builder prices the full carpentry book, 35 jobs, with your own wage, overhead and margin, and gives you the PDF for the truck and the spreadsheet that keeps the formulas.

What moves the price

Finish versus rough. Finish carpentry is slower and the material is unforgiving. Keep a finish rate and a framing rate, or at least different hour estimates per foot.
The house. A 1920s house with no square corner takes twice the trim hours of a 2015 house. Say on the bid that the price assumes existing conditions are workable.
Material. Stain-grade oak and paint-grade MDF are different worlds. Quote the material as a line and offer the upgrade as an option.
Lumber prices. Quote from this week's yard price, and put a 14-day expiration on anything with a lot of lumber in it.
Paint and drywall. Carpentry leaves work for other trades. The bid says whether the trim arrives painted, who patches the drywall, and who paints. Unsaid, it is assumed to be you.

Hourly, flat rate, or by the unit

Per linear foot for trim, per opening for doors and windows, per square foot for framing and decks, per linear foot of width for built-ins. Each unit price is built from hours at your rate plus material, and the bid shows quantities so a change is a line, not a renegotiation.

Hourly with a minimum for repair carpentry, where the rot goes until it stops. Say the rate and give a not-to-exceed. Day rate for a punch list of carpentry items. A written job price with a deposit for anything over two days, with material ordered against the deposit.

A worked carpentry bid

Trim out a 1,400 square foot house: baseboard throughout, casing on nine windows, crown in three rooms. Baseboard: 440 linear feet at 0.06 hours and $1.80. Casing: 9 windows at 1.25 hours and $35. Crown: 120 linear feet at 0.12 hours and $2.60. About 52 hours at the top-quarter rate from the table, one carpenter for a week and a half. Material at cost, marked up 30 percent, paint-grade, delivered. Caulked and nail-holes filled; painting by others, stated. A third down for material.

The sample trim carpentry estimate shows the finished bid. Note the line that says painting is not included: it is the one most carpentry bids forget and most customers assume.

The pricing mistakes that cost the most

One rate for framing and finish. The built-in that took three days at the framing rate was free work.
Not stating who paints. A customer who thought painted trim was included is a customer who feels cheated.
Pricing a 1920s house like new construction.
Lumber quoted from memory in a year when the price changed twice.

Writing the price into a bid that gets signed

The number is half the job. The other half is a bid the customer can say yes to from their phone: the scope in lines, one price, the deposit and payment terms, the warranty, a date it expires, and a signature. The free carpentry estimate template is laid out that way in PDF, Word and Excel, and How to bid carpentry jobs covers the scope lines that keep you out of arguments. If you want the typing done for you, BidWriter Pro turns your notes into a clean bid your customer signs on their phone, with the deposit paid by card. $29 a month, 30 days free.

Sources and method

Wages: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, Carpenters, national percentile hourly wages and employment.
Rate model: labor load 1.22, overhead $30,000 a year, 1,100 billable hours, 20% margin. Hours and material costs in the price list are example inputs, not survey data. Prices are examples, not advice for your market.

Questions contractors ask

How much do carpenters charge per hour in 2026?

Built from BLS wages, a one-truck carpenter paying themselves the median wage needs about $80 an hour and $90 to earn like the top quarter of the trade. Finish carpenters commonly bill above framing rates because the hours per foot are higher and the material is unforgiving.

How much should I charge to install baseboard?

Per linear foot, about 0.06 hours plus material: $4 to $8 a foot installed for paint-grade is common, more for stain-grade and tall profiles, painting extra.

How much should I charge to hang a door?

An interior prehung is about two and a half hours plus the door and hardware, commonly $350 to $600 installed. An exterior door is twice the hours and the door costs more.

Should I charge hourly for carpentry repairs?

Yes, with a minimum and a not-to-exceed, because rot and old framing cannot be scoped until they are open. Everything that can be measured is priced by the unit.

How do I price built-ins?

Per linear foot of width for a standard floor-to-ceiling painted unit, about six hours and $180 of material per foot, which lands $800 to $1,400 per foot installed in most markets. Stain-grade and custom details price above that.

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