By NDT Connect Editorial · Reviewed · Editorial policy
Start with two actual proposals and one common currency
Use this calculator when you have two hourly assignment proposals and want to make their assumptions easier to compare. It begins with empty fields because an hourly rate, working pattern or reimbursement amount must come from your own information. The tool does not contain an NDT salary table, a recommended contractor rate or a regional wage estimate. An impressive result cannot make an unconfirmed proposal more reliable.
Choose one currency for the entire comparison. Both offers, all reimbursements and all expenses must use that currency. The currency selector labels the arithmetic; it does not convert money. If your source proposals use different currencies, obtain a conversion basis outside this tool and document it before entering comparable values. Keep the original amounts and conversion assumptions with your own comparison notes.
The result is a planning scenario, not a ranking of employers. It can show differences in entered pay, costs and time, while leaving questions about scope, qualifications, conditions and payment terms for your review. An assignment with a larger total can also require more time or depend on more uncertain hours. Decide what you need to understand before interpreting any single row as an advantage.
Enter a consistent hourly rate and paid-hours assumption
Enter the hourly pay rate that applies to the paid hours you are modeling. The calculator uses one rate per offer and multiplies it by expected paid hours per week and assignment weeks. It does not add overtime premiums, shift differentials, bonuses or other pay categories automatically. If different rates apply, obtain a defensible combined scenario or compare the relevant portions separately rather than entering a misleading base rate.
Expected paid hours include the hours you mark guaranteed and any additional paid hours you expect. Do not enter guaranteed hours again as extra hours. For example, if a proposal describes a confirmed weekly minimum with possible additional shifts, the expected-hours field contains the total you want to model. The guarantee field identifies the subset supported by the terms you have reviewed.
Use fractional weeks only when they describe the scenario you intend to compare. The calculator treats them as a direct multiplier, without interpreting start dates, public holidays or partial-week rules. It also assumes the same weekly hours throughout that duration. If the assignment has a changing rotation, calculate an appropriate average or split the comparison into periods, preserving the underlying schedule in your own records.
Keep hours marked guaranteed separate from additional expectations
The guaranteed-hours field is an organizing distinction supplied by you. It does not verify the wording, enforceability or conditions of an offer. Enter zero when you have no confirmed guaranteed hours to model. Ask the proposer about cancellation, availability and other relevant conditions before treating an advertised weekly number as a dependable commitment. Keep the evidence supporting your entry with the original proposal.
Pay from hours marked guaranteed equals the rate multiplied by those weekly hours and the assumed weeks. That final multiplier matters: the tool does not establish that the entire assignment duration is guaranteed. A weekly minimum over a proposed duration is not automatically a confirmed whole-assignment payment. The result therefore labels this row with the duration assumption rather than calling it a guaranteed take-home floor.
Additional expected pay is shown separately so you can see how much of the modeled hourly pay relies on hours not marked guaranteed. It is not probability-weighted. The calculator does not estimate the chance of extra shifts, multiply by a confidence score or draw on vacancy-market data. To examine a more conservative scenario, change the expected hours and compare again using the actual information available.
Record reimbursements and personal expenses without double counting
Enter expected cash reimbursements for the whole assignment as a separate amount from hourly pay. Include only amounts you expect to receive under the scenario being compared. Costs paid directly by the company, such as a hotel booked and paid by it, should not be entered as cash you receive. Review reimbursement conditions and timing outside the calculator before relying on an amount.
Enter assignment expenses that you expect to pay, including expenses you expect to be reimbursed for. Do not deduct the reimbursement from this input first. The calculator adds reimbursement once and subtracts the expense once. If you pay an expense and receive the same amount back, its modeled effect on cash after expenses is zero; it does not become an increase in hourly pay.
The IRS discusses employee reimbursement arrangements separately and explains that their treatment depends on the arrangement. This tool uses separate rows to keep the arithmetic understandable, but makes no determination about taxable wages, deductions or reimbursement treatment. Its cash-after-expenses result remains before taxes and all other unentered deductions. Use the appropriate advice and actual arrangement for those separate questions. [1]
Count the travel time that is absent from the paid-hours figure
Enter the total travel hours for the whole assignment that are not already included in your paid-hours input. This is a time assumption, not a travel expense or an hourly deduction. If travel is already included in the paid hours you entered, do not add those same hours again. The calculator adds the entered unpaid travel once, rather than multiplying it by the assignment weeks.
This field describes the offer as you are modeling it; it does not decide whether the time can lawfully be unpaid. The U.S. Department of Labor explains that travel-time treatment depends on the circumstances for covered employment. Confirm the actual arrangement through the appropriate source rather than using a calculator field as a legal conclusion. Requirements outside the United States may differ. [2]
The combined time basis contains expected paid hours plus the entered unpaid travel hours. It excludes other time not captured in those fields, such as unentered preparation or administration. It is therefore a clearly defined comparison denominator, not a claim to measure every hour committed to the assignment. Keep that boundary visible when discussing the per-hour results with another person.
Understand the exact formulas used by the comparison
Let R be the hourly rate, H the expected paid hours per week, G the guaranteed subset per week, W the assumed weeks, B the whole-assignment reimbursement, E the whole-assignment expenses and T the entered unpaid travel hours. Total paid hours equal H multiplied by W. Hours marked guaranteed equal G multiplied by W. Additional expected hours equal the difference between H and G, multiplied by W.
Expected gross hourly pay equals R multiplied by H multiplied by W. Pay from the guaranteed subset equals R multiplied by G multiplied by W. Pay relying on additional expected hours equals R multiplied by the difference between H and G, multiplied by W. Gross cash receipts equal expected gross hourly pay plus B. Cash after entered expenses equals those gross cash receipts minus E.
The combined time basis equals H multiplied by W, plus T. Gross pay per combined hour divides expected gross hourly pay by that basis. Cash after expenses per combined hour divides cash after entered expenses by the same basis. When the basis is zero, both ratios are unavailable. The difference column subtracts Offer A from Offer B for each row; it does not apply a preference or recommendation rule.
| Result | Formula |
|---|---|
| Expected paid hours | H × W |
| Hours marked guaranteed | G × W |
| Additional expected hours | (H − G) × W |
| Expected gross hourly pay | R × H × W |
| Pay from hours marked guaranteed | R × G × W |
| Pay from additional expected hours | R × (H − G) × W |
| Gross cash receipts | (R × H × W) + B |
| Cash after entered expenses | (R × H × W) + B − E |
| Paid-and-travel hours | (H × W) + T |
| Gross pay per combined hour | (R × H × W) ÷ ((H × W) + T) |
| Cash after expenses per combined hour | ((R × H × W) + B − E) ÷ ((H × W) + T) |
Read totals and time-based values together
Whole-assignment totals answer how much the entered scenario produces over its assumed duration. They are useful when you are comparing the scale of two commitments, but a longer assignment can naturally create a larger total. Check the number of weeks and the expected paid hours before interpreting a difference in gross pay. The calculator does not automatically normalize the offers to the same calendar period.
The per-hour rows answer a narrower question: how the modeled amounts compare against paid hours plus entered unpaid travel. They can make a travel-heavy arrangement easier to examine, but they do not replace the stated hourly pay rate. A reimbursement can increase the cash-based ratio while leaving the gross-pay ratio unchanged. That is why the results retain both rows rather than blending them into a single headline rate.
A positive B-minus-A number means B is higher for that measure. Higher expenses or more unpaid travel are not automatically favorable, and a higher cash total may involve a longer commitment. Read the row label before interpreting its sign. There is no green winner badge because the calculator has no information about your preferences, work conditions or the reliability of the underlying proposals.
Work through a fictional comparison with simple numbers
Consider two fictional offers in the same currency, using invented arithmetic inputs rather than market rates. Offer A uses a rate of 10, expected paid hours of 40 per week, a guaranteed subset of 30 and an assumed duration of two weeks. Expected reimbursement is 100, expenses paid are 140 and unpaid travel is eight hours. Its gross pay is 800 and pay from the guaranteed subset is 600.
Offer A's gross cash receipts are 900, and cash after the entered expenses is 760. Its combined time basis is 88 hours. Gross pay per combined hour is approximately 9.09, while cash after expenses per combined hour is approximately 8.64. These are arithmetic descriptions of the inputs. They are not estimates of actual NDT compensation or statements about the tax treatment of the reimbursement.
Offer B uses a rate of 12, expected paid hours of 30, a guaranteed subset of 20 and the same two-week duration. With reimbursement of 40, expenses of 100 and unpaid travel of 16 hours, it produces gross pay of 720 and cash after expenses of 660 over 76 combined hours. Its cash-based ratio is approximately 8.68. B has the higher ratio in this example, while A has the higher cash total; neither result alone chooses the assignment.
Test a change in assumptions rather than hiding uncertainty
After reviewing the first comparison, change one uncertain input at a time. You might reduce expected hours to the confirmed weekly subset, change an estimated expense to a quoted amount or remove a reimbursement that has not been agreed. Compare again and observe which rows change. This makes the consequence of the assumption visible without implying a statistical forecast or creating a false confidence percentage.
Keep related assumptions consistent. A shorter assignment may change both total travel and lodging expense, while a different rotation may change the expected weekly hours. Updating only the favorable input can produce a scenario that no actual offer supports. If you prepare several scenarios, label them in your own saved files and retain the proposal or question that explains each change.
The calculator clears the displayed result when an input changes. You must select Compare offers again before downloading current results. This prevents an old result from sitting beside new assumptions without an obvious distinction. If a result surprises you, inspect the units and whether an amount belongs to a week or the whole assignment before interpreting it as a meaningful difference between the proposals.
Know the validation and precision limits
Every field requires an explicit value; blank does not mean zero. Use zero for an amount or time that does not apply, and a positive duration for an assignment being compared. Guaranteed weekly hours cannot exceed expected paid weekly hours. Paid hours plus entered unpaid travel cannot exceed the hours in the stated duration. Those checks help catch entry mistakes; they do not establish that a schedule is safe or appropriate.
Inputs accept nonnegative decimal numbers with up to four decimal places, without currency signs, commas or exponent notation. Calculator bounds are one million for the hourly rate, 168 weekly hours, 5,200 weeks, one billion each for reimbursements and expenses, and 873,600 travel hours. These are computational limits, not suggested wages or assignment lengths. Scenarios producing a derived magnitude above one trillion are rejected instead of displaying an unreliable extreme.
The arithmetic keeps unrounded intermediate values. On screen, monetary amounts and monetary ratios display to two decimals, while hours display to up to four. The CSV uses four decimals. Small visible rounding differences can therefore occur when adding displayed rows. This is a planning calculation using ordinary numeric arithmetic, not an invoice engine or a statement that every selected currency uses the same accounting precision.
Review important terms that the arithmetic does not value
Benefits, paid leave, training support, equipment provision and future work prospects are outside the model. The Bureau of Labor Statistics distinguishes wages and salaries from benefits in its compensation framework. That distinction is a useful reminder to review benefits separately; this calculator does not import BLS averages or assign a cash value to any employer's package. Use actual offer terms for that comparison. [3]
Payment timing also matters without changing a whole-assignment total. An expense paid before reimbursement can create a temporary funding need, and a delayed invoice payment can affect cash availability. The calculator does not produce a dated cash-flow forecast or establish payment reliability. Record those questions separately and seek clarification before assuming that two equal totals create the same practical arrangement.
Likewise, the word contract in this tool's title does not classify anyone as an employee or an independent contractor. It does not determine overtime eligibility, insurance obligations or legal duties. Review the actual relationship and the governing requirements through the appropriate channels. The tool's role is to make your entered arithmetic visible while preserving the distinction between a number and the terms that support it.
Save a deliberate comparison and choose the next useful action
The tool holds inputs in page memory and does not save them to an account, browser storage or a URL. Refreshing or leaving the page clears that working state. Reset clears both offers and the currency choice. If you need a record, use the CSV download button after a successful comparison. The file includes the entered assumptions, labeled results and calculation limits, so handle it according to the sensitivity of your offers.
The tool does not send offer values to analytics. A fixed event may record that the comparison or export feature was used, without rates, hours, currency or results. A downloaded CSV remains a local file unless you choose to share it. If you send it to someone else, explain which inputs are confirmed and which remain assumptions rather than presenting the output as a verified contract assessment.
Use the detailed offer-comparison guide for the wider questions behind a decision and the jobs board for current employer-posted vacancies. If your real task is purchasing an inspection service, use the service-request route and define that scope separately; a worker's hourly offer is not a complete inspection quotation. A useful next step is a precise question to the proposer that resolves the assumption most likely to change your comparison.
Sources and calculation basis
The sources support the distinctions discussed in this guide. The comparison formulas are the authored arithmetic shown above; no wage rates, tax rules or employer-specific assumptions are imported from these sources.