Facility & commercial rate benchmarks · Washington, D.C.
Commercial carpentry rates in Washington, D.C..
Estimated median rate: $80/hr, range $67-$107/hr, for commercial and facility-side carpentry work in Washington, D.C..
Estimated from O*NET OnLine (U.S. Dept. of Labor/ETA), from BLS OEWS metropolitan area wage estimates
Estimated median$80/hr
$67$107
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 Washington, D.C.
- Labour market: The DC metro combines a large federal-government facilities segment (GSA-managed buildings, agency leases) with a dense private commercial office market, and comparatively strong union presence for a mid-Atlantic market.
- Climate and seasonality: Four-season climate with cold winters and humid summers drives year-round plumbing, roofing, and HVAC demand.
- Code and licensing: Licensing and code enforcement differ by jurisdiction across the metro (DC, Northern Virginia, and suburban Maryland each license separately); federal buildings carry additional GSA/PBS facilities requirements on top of local permitting.
Frequently asked questions
- Is this a real measured rate, or an estimate?
- This figure is an estimate, not a measured billed rate: it's Washington, D.C.'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$26.62/hrx 2.5$67/hrMedian$29.23/hrx 2.75$80/hrHigh$35.56/hrx 3$107/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 Washington, D.C.. Commercial rates typically run above residential rates for the same trade, reflecting insurance, code compliance, and scheduling requirements that residential work doesn't carry.