Free Contractor Payroll Tool
Overtime Pay Calculator
Enter the hours your crew actually worked, day by day, and get straight time, time-and-a-half, and double time — with the daily overtime rules for California, Alaska, Nevada, and Colorado built in, plus the bonus-into-regular-rate calculation most payroll gets wrong.
Built by SubcontractorHub — the software contractors use to quote, finance, and run every job.
Production, safety, or attendance bonus — must be folded into the regular rate
FLSA requires 1.5× over 40 hours per workweek. No daily overtime requirement.
Gross pay this week
$1,664
48 hrs over 5 days · regular rate $32.00 · $128 of that is overtime premium
- Straight time: 40 hrs — $1,280
- Overtime at 1.5×: 8 hrs — $384
- Double time at 2×: 0 hrs — $0
- Annualised at this pace: $86,528
General guidance based on the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and the named state rules, not legal or payroll advice. Overtime law has genuine complexity this tool does not model — collective bargaining agreements, prevailing wage and certified payroll on public work, fluctuating workweek arrangements, exemption tests, and per diem treatment. Confirm anything consequential with a payroll professional or employment counsel.
The Rule Most Contractors Get Wrong
Overtime is 1.5 times the regular rate — not 1.5 times the base hourly wage. Those are different numbers whenever an employee receives a non-discretionary bonus, a shift differential, or production pay in the same week.
The regular rate is total straight-time compensation divided by total hours worked. So a $200 safety bonus in a 50-hour week raises the regular rate by $4 an hour, which raises every overtime hour by $6. Pay overtime on the base rate instead and you have underpaid — a wage-and-hour exposure that compounds quietly across a crew and a season.
Bonuses that must be included: production, attendance, safety, and anything promised in advance to induce performance. Excluded: genuinely discretionary gifts, and most premium pay already paid at 1.5× or more.
Daily Overtime: Only a Few States Have It
Federal law contains no daily overtime requirement. A ten-hour Tuesday triggers nothing federally, as long as the week stays under 40 hours. Four states change that:
| Jurisdiction | 1.5× after | 2× after |
|---|---|---|
| Federal / most states (FLSA only) | 40 hrs/week | not required |
| California | 8 hrs/day or 40 hrs/week | 12 hrs/day |
| Alaska | 8 hrs/day or 40 hrs/week | not required |
| Nevada | 8 hrs/day or 40 hrs/week | not required |
| Colorado | 12 hrs/day or 40 hrs/week | not required |
Where a state daily rule and the federal weekly rule both apply, they do not stack — the employee gets whichever produces more pay. That is how this calculator resolves it. California also has a separate 7th-consecutive-day rule that the tool flags but does not fully model.
Why This Matters More in the Trades
Construction runs on uneven weeks in a way most industries do not. Storm response, shutdowns and turnarounds, weather catch-up, and inspection deadlines all produce 50- and 60-hour weeks, and overtime becomes a large fraction of both a worker's income and a contractor's labour cost.
For a worker, that means published wage data understates what the job actually pays — BLS figures are straight-time base wage and exclude overtime premium entirely. Our trade salary comparison shows the base medians; a heavy-overtime year can sit well above them.
For a contractor, overtime is where labour estimates quietly break. Our labor burden calculator covers the rest of the gap between wage and true cost — base wage is typically only about 70% of what an employee costs you.
Common Ways Overtime Goes Wrong
- Paying OT on base rate rather than regular rate. The single most frequent error. Any non-discretionary bonus in the week changes the maths.
- Assuming salary means exempt. It does not. Exemption requires both a salary threshold and a duties test, and most field roles — including working foremen — fail the duties test.
- Averaging hours across two weeks. Overtime is calculated per workweek. You cannot offset a 50-hour week against a 30-hour one.
- Treating travel time as unpaid. Travel between job sites during the workday is generally compensable, and it counts toward the 40-hour threshold.
- Missing certified payroll requirements. On public work, prevailing wage and certified payroll reporting are separate obligations with their own overtime rules.
From Spreadsheet Math to One Platform
Getting overtime right at scale is a systems problem, not an arithmetic one — multi-rate crews, apprentice tiers, and certified payroll are exactly where general accounting packages fall over. Construction payroll software handles that, and SubcontractorHub keeps the job data it depends on in one place.
Book a DemoFrequently Asked Questions
How is overtime pay calculated?
Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, overtime is 1.5 times the regular rate of pay for all hours worked beyond 40 in a workweek. The critical detail is that the multiplier applies to the regular rate, not the base hourly wage — the regular rate must include non-discretionary bonuses, shift differentials, and most production or piece-rate pay. A handful of states add daily overtime on top, and where both a state and federal rule apply, the employee receives whichever produces more pay.
Which states have daily overtime?
California, Alaska, Nevada, and Colorado are the main ones. California requires 1.5x over 8 hours a day and 2x over 12 hours a day, plus special rules for a 7th consecutive workday. Alaska requires 1.5x over 8 hours a day for employers with four or more employees. Nevada requires 1.5x over 8 hours in a 24-hour period for employees earning under 1.5x the state minimum wage. Colorado requires 1.5x over 12 hours a day or 12 consecutive hours. Everywhere else, only the federal 40-hour weekly rule applies.
Does a bonus change my overtime rate?
Yes, if it is non-discretionary. Production bonuses, attendance bonuses, safety bonuses, and shift differentials must be folded into the regular rate before the overtime multiplier is applied, which raises the value of every overtime hour. Truly discretionary gifts — an unannounced holiday bonus, for example — are excluded. This is one of the most commonly mishandled parts of construction payroll, and getting it wrong understates overtime owed.
Do contractors have to pay overtime to salaried employees?
Usually yes. Paying a salary does not by itself make an employee exempt from overtime — exemption depends on both a salary threshold and the actual duties performed. Most field roles, including foremen who primarily perform manual work, do not qualify for the executive or administrative exemptions. Misclassifying working foremen as exempt is a frequent and expensive error in construction. Check current federal and state thresholds with a payroll or employment law professional before treating anyone as exempt.
Is double time required by law?
Federal law never requires double time. California is the significant exception, requiring 2x over 12 hours in a day and 2x beyond 8 hours on a 7th consecutive workday. Anywhere else, double time on Sundays or holidays is a matter of company policy or a collective bargaining agreement, not a legal minimum.
Sources & Disclaimer
Based on the federal Fair Labor Standards Act overtime provisions and the daily overtime rules of California, Alaska, Nevada, and Colorado as generally applied. This is educational guidance, not legal or payroll advice. It does not model collective bargaining agreements, prevailing wage or certified payroll on public projects, the fluctuating workweek method, exemption duties tests, per diem treatment, or California's 7th-consecutive-day premium. State rules change; verify current requirements and confirm anything consequential with a payroll professional or employment counsel before relying on it.
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SubcontractorHub is where contractors run the sales side of the business these numbers describe — leads, quotes, embedded financing, and the job pipeline in one place, so close rate and margin stop living in a spreadsheet. This tool is free to use; the platform is here if you want a closer look.
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