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Cost ratios and labor burden

Break your costs into labor, materials, and subs, and understand why burden matters more than wage rate.

1 min read·Updated July 11, 2026
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Overview

Underneath margin sit the cost ratios that drive it: labor, materials, and subcontractors. The one operators most often misread is labor, because the true cost is the burdened cost, not the wage.

Where to find it

Open Costs from the sidebar at iq.verinode.ai/costs, or open the cost-ratio breakdown beneath your margin.

How it works

Verinode reads your labor, material, and subcontractor spend and benchmarks each ratio against peers. Labor is shown burdened, so taxes, insurance, and overhead are included.

Tip

If your labor ratio is high but wages look normal, the gap is usually burden: workers' comp, downtime, or overtime. That is a different fix than a pay cut.

Best-practice example

When your labor ratio trails the cohort, compare burdened cost per productive hour. It often points to scheduling or downtime rather than the rate you pay.

Data sources

Data sources

  1. 1.Your payroll and financial records. Your business.
  2. 2.Anonymized peer cost-ratio benchmarks. Verinode network.

Before you start

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