CARPENTER RATES GUIDE
Carpenter hourly rate: what to charge in 2026
What US carpenters charge by the hour, by the skill, by the kind of work and by the foot, what a service call and a small repair cost, where materials sit — and a free calculator that turns the figures into a price list for your website.
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The short answer
Carpenters charge $75 to $125 an hour for labor, $90 on average, in an overall range of $40 to $200 (Fixr, January 2025). By skill: an apprentice $40–$50, a journeyman $50–$125, a master $75–$200. By the work: rough and framing carpentry $40–$60 an hour or $4–$10 a square foot, trim $40–$75, cabinetry $75–$125, general carpentry $75–$200, finish carpentry $80–$200, commercial crews $50–$75 per carpenter and union carpenters $40–$90.
A second guide puts carpenters at $30 to $100 or more an hour, crown molding at $8–$12 a foot — $300–$500 for a 10-by-10 room, or $25–$35 a foot and $1,000–$3,500 with elaborate profiles — a one-of-a-kind built-in shelving unit at $2,000–$5,000 or more in labor, wainscoting for a 10-by-12 room at $1,000–$2,600 in labor and a non-load-bearing interior wall at $400–$1,500 with materials (CostHelper, 2026).
The small jobs: a window at $50–$200, custom shelving $250–$450, a door $300–$2,000, trim work $1.30–$4.50 a linear foot, a wood repair $70–$150, with a service call for a broken commissioned piece billed at one to one and a half hours of the carpenter's usual rate (Fixr). Those figures are labor only; the lumber, the hardware and any permit for a structural change are on top.
The employee benchmark is $29.12 an hour — the median carpenter's wage, $60,580 a year (O*NET, 2025 wages). Put your rates on your website: “carpenter rates” is put to AI assistants about 930 times a month and “carpenter hourly rate” about 650, which is also Googled about 320 times (DataForSEO, October 2026).
AT A GLANCE · NOVEMBER 2026
Carpenter rates at a glance
| The job | Typical US price | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Hourly rate, carpenters (typical range) | $75–$125 an hour | Fixr, January 2025 |
| Master carpenter | $75–$200 | Fixr, January 2025 |
| Finish carpentry | $80–$200 | Fixr, January 2025 |
| Framing, 500 sq ft | $2,000–$5,000 for 500 sq ft ($4–$10 per sq ft) | Fixr, January 2025 |
| Crown molding, 40 ft | $320–$480 for 40 linear ft ($8–$12 per linear ft) | CostHelper, read November 2026 |
| Built-in shelving unit, one of a kind | $2,000–$5,000+ | CostHelper, read November 2026 |
The same published figures as the full rate table below; the calculator works out a price for your own job.
FREE PRICE CALCULATOR
What should I charge for this job?
Price the hours at the typical rate, or by your skill level, by the kind of work, by the square foot for framing or by the foot for molding — then add the service call or a repair. The range uses the published US figures in the table below.
Suggested price
$600–$1,000
carpentry labor, typical hourly rate, 8 hours
A starting range from published US figures, labor only — not your price until you've timed your own work and added the lumber, hardware and any permit. Say on the list whether a quote is by the hour or by the job.
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Put your carpentry prices where customers look
Add your town, and Zarla builds your carpentry website from this one line. Then tell the editor “add a pricing section” with your prices, and change them any time.
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RATES · NOVEMBER 2026
Carpenter rates (2026)
Typical US labor prices by the hour, by skill, by kind of work and by the foot. The hourly, skill, kind and framing figures are Fixr's (January 2025); the crown molding and built-in figures are CostHelper's (2026). Materials are on top of every row.
| The job | Typical US price · source |
|---|---|
| Carpentry labor, typical hourly rate | $75–$125 per hour · about $600–$1,000 for 8 hours · Fixr |
| Hourly rate by skill level | Apprentice: $40–$50 · Journeyman: $50–$125 · Master carpenter: $75–$200 · Fixr |
| Hourly rate by kind of work | Rough or framing carpentry: $40–$60 · Trim carpentry: $40–$75 · Cabinetry: $75–$125 · Finish carpentry: $80–$200 · Fixr |
| Framing, labor per square foot | $4–$10 per sq ft · about $2,000–$5,000 for 500 sq ft · Fixr |
| Crown molding, per linear foot | $8–$12 per linear ft · about $320–$480 for 40 linear ft · CostHelper |
| Built-in shelving unit, labor (lumber extra) | Built-in shelving unit, one of a kind: $2,000–$5,000+ · CostHelper |
| Hourly rate, carpenters (typical range) | $75–$125 an hour · Fixr |
Rates read off each publisher's page in November 2026. The calculator above uses exactly these numbers, rounded to whole dollars and to the nearest $5 from $100 up. Full source list below.
ADD-ONS AND ADJUSTMENTS
What a service call and a repair add
The service call is Fixr's one to one and a half hours at its $90 average, worked by us; the repair figure is Fixr's (January 2025).
| What | Typical US price · source |
|---|---|
| Service call to repair a commissioned piece | 1–1.5 hours × Fixr's $90 average hourly rate = +$90–$135 · Fixr rate |
| Wood repair, per small repair | +$70–$150 · Fixr |
Where a row shows a sum (a rate × a quantity, or a percentage worked out from published dollar ranges), the arithmetic is ours and the inputs are the publisher's.
THE PRICING FORMULA
How to set your carpentry rates
Six steps from the employee wage to a price list that names the hour, the foot and the job.
Know the employee benchmark
The median carpenter earns $29.12 an hour, $60,580 a year (O*NET, 2025 wages). A carpenter working for himself bills $75–$125 because the truck, the tools, the insurance, the estimates and the unbilled drive are his.
Rate yourself by skill
Apprentice $40–$50, journeyman $50–$125, master $75–$200 an hour (Fixr, January 2025). The rate follows the work you can be trusted with alone, not the years on the card.
Rate the work by kind
Rough or framing $40–$60, trim $40–$75, cabinetry $75–$125, finish $80–$200 (Fixr). A finish carpenter's hour is worth twice a framer's because the mistakes show — price each kind on its own line.
Price framing by the foot and molding by the foot
Framing at $4–$10 a square foot of labor; crown molding at $8–$12 a linear foot, $300–$500 for a 10-by-10 room (CostHelper); trim at $1.30–$4.50 a linear foot (Fixr). A per-foot price quotes faster and reads clearer than an hourly guess.
Name the small-job prices
A window $50–$200, custom shelving $250–$450, a door $300–$2,000, a wood repair $70–$150 (Fixr). Small jobs are where a price list wins the call — nobody wants an estimate visit for a sticking door.
Keep materials and the call-out apart
Every figure here is labor; lumber, hardware and any permit for a structural change go on their own lines. A service call for a repair bills one to one and a half hours of your rate (Fixr) — say so before the drive.
The rate, worked through
A day of finish carpentry — eight hours at the $80–$200 band — is $640–$1,600 in labor; the same eight hours at the typical $75–$125 rate is $600–$1,000. A journeyman pricing himself at $90, Fixr's average, bills $720 for the day before the lumber.
Framing a 500-square-foot addition at $4–$10 a foot is $2,000–$5,000 in labor; crown molding for a 40-foot room at $8–$12 a foot is $320–$480, inside CostHelper's $300–$500 for a 10-by-10 room. A built-in bookcase is a $2,000–$5,000 labor job on its own, lumber extra.
So “carpentry from $90 an hour, trim and molding from $8 a foot, repairs from $70, materials extra” is a fair first line for your price list. The figures are the publishers'; the sums are ours.
What to charge where you build
Fixr notes union carpenters at $40–$90 an hour and commercial crews at $50–$75 per carpenter, but neither guide publishes a state table. The Bureau of Economic Analysis's 2024 regional price parities put California at 110.7 and Arkansas at 86.9 against a US average of 100 (released February 2026) — about $100 and $78 for a $90 hour.
In the US, whether a carpenter needs a contractor's license, and above what job value, is set by state and sometimes by city, and whether your state taxes carpentry labor is set the same way — check your state's rules and confirm with a tax adviser.
Outside the US, treat the dollar figures as a shape, not a price: a rate by skill and by kind of work, framing and molding by the foot, small jobs on a list and materials apart hold everywhere. Check what the carpenters near you publish.
Put your prices on your website
A price list — even “from” prices — answers a customer's first question before they pick up the phone, and it's the line an AI assistant can quote when someone asks what carpentry work costs near them.
If you build your site with Zarla, tell the editor “add a pricing section: carpentry from $90 an hour, trim and molding from $8 a foot, repairs from $70, materials extra” and your prices go on the site, in a section you can edit any time. Want to see a finished site first? Browse carpentry website templates or see how Zarla builds carpentry websites.
Still setting up? Write your carpentry business plan, browse carpentry business name ideas, and when the prices are set, read how to get your business on Google. Not licensed yet? Start with how to become a carpenter. Raising prices you set a year ago? The price increase letter tells customers a month ahead.
Carpenter rates: common questions
$75–$125 an hour for labor, $90 on average, in an overall range of $40–$200 (Fixr, January 2025); a second guide puts it at $30–$100 or more (CostHelper, 2026). The calculator above prices a job by the hour, the skill, the kind of work or the foot.
$80–$200 an hour, against $40–$60 for rough or framing work, $40–$75 for trim and $75–$125 for cabinetry (Fixr). Crown molding runs $8–$12 a foot and a one-of-a-kind built-in $2,000–$5,000 or more in labor (CostHelper).
$40–$60 an hour or $4–$10 a square foot of labor (Fixr, January 2025); a two-carpenter crew is $80–$120 an hour or $8–$20 a square foot together. Materials are on top.
Fixr puts a service call to repair a commissioned piece at one to one and a half hours of the carpenter's usual rate — $90–$135 at its $90 average, our arithmetic — and a small wood repair at $70–$150.
Both: Fixr gives hourly rates by skill and by kind of work, and per-unit prices for windows ($50–$200), doors ($300–$2,000), custom shelving ($250–$450) and trim ($1.30–$4.50 a foot). Small jobs sell better at a job price; open-ended work bills by the hour.
The median carpenter earns $29.12 an hour, $60,580 a year (O*NET, 2025 wages). A self-employed carpenter bills more per hour because the truck, tools, insurance and estimating time are his own.
Yes — an hourly rate and a few job prices answer the first question before the call, and it's the line an AI assistant can quote. On a Zarla site, tell the editor “add a pricing section” with your rates, and change them when your costs do.
Where these numbers come from
Every range on this page is read off a published source, dated below. They're US figures for what carpenters charge by the hour, by the skill, by the kind of work and by the foot — labor only, materials on top — typical, not a rule; your costs and your market come first.
- Fixr — Carpenter Cost per Hour (Adam Graham; updated 31 January 2025) — dated January 2025, read November 2026
- CostHelper — 2026 Cost of a Carpenter: Estimates and Prices Paid — no date on the page, read November 2026
- O*NET OnLine — 47-2031.00 Carpenters (median wages, 2025; dated by the site's update) — dated October 2026, read November 2026
- U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis — regional price parities by state, 2024 — dated February 2026, read September 2026
Put your carpentry rates on your website
Add your town and your business name, and Zarla builds the site from that one line. Your rates go in a pricing section you edit by chat.
Already have a website? Bring it across →Zarla keeps your old page addresses where it can and redirects the ones that change, helping you keep the Google standing you've built.