Facility & commercial rate benchmarks · Los Angeles
Commercial carpentry rates in Los Angeles.
Estimated median rate: $100/hr, range $71-$145/hr, for commercial and facility-side carpentry work in Los Angeles.
Estimated from O*NET OnLine (U.S. Dept. of Labor/ETA), from BLS OEWS metropolitan area wage estimates
Estimated median$100/hr
$71$145
What affects the rate
- Emergency vs scheduled: same-day or after-hours emergency calls run well above scheduled maintenance visits.
- After-hours and weekend work: typically carries a premium over standard business-hours rates.
- Contract vs ad-hoc: vendors on a standing contract usually price lower per hour than one-off, ad-hoc jobs.
- Code and certification requirements: trades with stricter local licensing (electrical, HVAC/gas) typically carry a premium tied to certification cost.
What's different in Los Angeles
- Labour market: California has a stronger commercial building-trades union presence than most Sun Belt states, particularly on larger commercial projects, which shows up in wage levels above Atlanta or Dallas but below the Bay Area.
- Climate and seasonality: Mild, dry climate limits weather-driven emergency work compared to freeze-thaw markets; the region sits in an active seismic zone, which affects commercial building and mechanical-system code requirements.
- Code and licensing: California's statewide Title 24 energy code and seismic provisions apply on top of the Los Angeles Building Code; permitting and inspection in the city is often slower than in smaller metros.
Frequently asked questions
- Is this a real measured rate, or an estimate?
- This figure is an estimate, not a measured billed rate: it's Los Angeles's own hourly wage for carpentry work (O*NET OnLine (U.S. Dept. of Labor/ETA), from BLS OEWS metropolitan area wage estimates, 2025), multiplied by a documented 2.5-3x service multiplier that converts an employee wage into a billed commercial rate. That multiplier covers labour burden (payroll tax, workers' comp, benefits, PTO), overhead (vehicle, dispatch, insurance, licensing), utilisation (not every hour is billable), and margin. It is not drawn from actual invoices or job records. Evalystar is building toward measured, job-derived rates for this same page as real vendor data accumulates. Shown below, not hidden, so you can check the arithmetic.Wagex Multiplier= EstimateLow$28.59/hrx 2.5$71/hrMedian$36.41/hrx 2.75$100/hrHigh$48.37/hrx 3$145/hr
- Why a range instead of a single number?
- A single average hides the real spread in the underlying wage data and in the multiplier itself. We show the low, median, and high ends of the estimate so the range reflects that uncertainty honestly, rather than implying more precision than a modelled figure can support.
- Is this a residential or commercial rate?
- Commercial. This figure tracks facility-side carpentry work for businesses, property managers, and multi-site operators in Los Angeles. Commercial rates typically run above residential rates for the same trade, reflecting insurance, code compliance, and scheduling requirements that residential work doesn't carry.