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Crew No Show Cost Calculator

Put a number on what no shows and call offs cost your crews each year. A missing worker on a jobsite is rarely just one missing worker. A partner stands idle, a task waits, an inspection slips, and the schedule pushes. This shows the direct pay and the jobsite ripple separately so you can see exactly where the figure comes from.

Before you start

about two minutes, your own figures. Nothing is stored and no sign up is needed.

What you will need. Field headcount across crews, Average annual pay per field worker, No show and call off days per worker per year, Benefits, as percent of pay

Your field crews

$
The 2026 average for construction production workers is about 38.33 dollars per hour, roughly 79,700 dollars a year. Use your crew average.
No shows and same-day call offs, not planned time off or weather days. The BLS absence rate across all occupations runs about 3% of workdays, roughly 8 days a year. Use your own number if you track it.
Assumptions
%
x
Accounts for idle partners, stalled tasks, overtime catch-up, and pushed schedules. CDC research uses 1.6 on average, and two-person tasks can run higher when one half of the pair does not show. Set it to 1.0 to count wages only.

Yearly cost of crew no shows

$0
$0 per employee
Per field worker
$0
Share of pay
0%

How the cost adds up

This is a planning estimate, and it is about aggregate cost, not individual blame. The ripple multiplier is drawn from CDC research and varies by job: some work gets made up, while some absences cascade and cost more. This counts unplanned absence, not approved vacation. Time protected by law, such as FMLA leave, an ADA accommodation, or workers’ compensation, is a separate matter and should never be treated as a discipline problem.
Email yourself this breakdown We send the figures you just produced, with your inputs beside them.

The method

What crew no shows cost and how this is calculated

A no show on a jobsite costs you three ways at once. The pay still goes out for the day. Coverage fills the gap. And the rest of the crew loses output while the schedule rearranges around the hole. On paired tasks the loss doubles, because the partner who did show up has nothing to do. This tool rolls those into a single daily figure and scales it by your no show days and field headcount.

How this is calculated

The method

Start with the daily cost of a field worker, which is annual pay plus benefits divided by working days. Multiply by the unplanned absence days and headcount to get the direct wage cost. Then apply a multiplier for the jobsite ripple. Peer reviewed CDC research uses 1.6 to capture the spillover onto coworkers, so the default here is 1.6. The direct cash cost is shown on its own line so the ripple is never hidden.

Why the ripple runs high in the field

Construction work is sequenced. Trades stack behind each other, inspections book in windows, and concrete does not wait. One missing worker can idle a partner, stall a task, and push everything scheduled behind it. That is why a no show at 6 a.m. costs more than the same absence in an office. Set the multiplier to 1.0 if your crews absorb absences easily, and raise it past 1.6 where two-person tasks and tight sequencing dominate.

What to do with the number

Use it to justify the boring fixes that work. A written call-in standard with a deadline and a named contact. A points policy applied the same way on every jobsite. And foremen who document instead of improvise. The cost of building that system is a fraction of the figure this calculator puts on doing nothing.

Carry this into the decision

Stop the no-shows this calculator just priced

The Crew Attendance and No-Show System tracks attendance across the crew and the season, with the policy and records that make short-notice absence cost the worker, not the job.

See the Crew Attendance and No-Show System

$69. 30 days. Reply to your receipt or email support@truestephr.com for a full refund. No form or explanation is required, and you keep the files.

Related

More free tools and the notes behind them

This tool estimates from the figures you enter. It is general information rather than legal, tax, or accounting advice, so check the result against your own records before you rely on it.

Use the number

The calculation is the start of the decision.

Keep the result, move the live assumptions into an editable workbook, and put the number to work inside the matched kit.

01 · Calculate

Run the free analysis

Change the inputs until the result reflects the business you actually operate.

02 · Keep and model

Email the breakdown

Use the result form on this page, then carry the assumptions into the editable version.

See the Crew Attendance and No-Show System →
03 · Decide

Apply it to the live issue

Apply the number inside the matched kit, and add a Setup Session if you want it running on your numbers.

Add a $149 Setup Session →