Can you afford to hire? The short test
Three questions, and you need a yes to all of them. Is the work already there, meaning jobs turned away or a backlog that keeps growing? Will the gross profit on that extra work cover the person's full cost? And can the bank account carry their pay for the months before it does?
The first one is the easiest to feel and the hardest to price. A Titusville business that works job to job can feel stretched long before the books show whether a hire would pay, so it's worth an evening with the numbers before writing the job ad.
What does an employee cost on top of the wage?
More than the wage, and the extra is mostly fixed by law. The floor comes first: under Article X, Section 24 of the Florida Constitution, the state minimum wage reached $15.00 an hour on September 30, 2026. Then the employer costs land on top. The rates below were checked on October 22, 2026.
| Cost | Employer rate (%) | Wage cap per employee in 2026 ($) | Where the rate is published |
|---|---|---|---|
| Social Security, employer share | 6.2 | 184,500 | IRS |
| Medicare, employer share | 1.45 | No cap | IRS |
| Federal unemployment (FUTA), after the full state credit | 0.6 | 7,000 | IRS |
| Florida reemployment tax, new employer | 2.7 | 7,000 | Florida Department of Revenue |
The Social Security and Medicare rates come from IRS Topic 751. IRS Topic 759 puts FUTA at 6.0% before the credit and explains that the full credit depends on paying state unemployment tax in full by the Form 940 due date, on the same wages, in a state that isn't a credit reduction state. The Department of Revenue rate page says the 2.7% starting rate holds until you've reported for 10 quarters, after which the Department calculates a new one.
Workers' compensation sits outside the table because your insurer prices it, while Florida law decides who has to carry it. Then there's the stuff no agency sets: a laptop or tools, a software seat, a uniform, and the weeks you spend training someone instead of billing. The post on what a job really costs shows how to turn all of that into an hourly figure for quoting.
Not sure your margin figures are right?
Call JE Ledger on (305) 748-1367, send an email or a WhatsApp, or use the contact form.
How much extra work does a hire need to bring in?
Divide the hire's full monthly cost by your gross margin. That's the extra monthly sales the business needs just to break even on them.
Here's the method with made-up numbers. Say a new hire earns $3,000 a month. Employer Social Security and Medicare add $229.50. Reemployment tax at 2.7% on the first $7,000 comes to $189 for the year, and FUTA at 0.6% is $42, both front-loaded because the $7,000 is used up in the third month. Leaving workers' compensation and equipment aside, that's $38,985 for the first year, or about $3,250 a month.
If the business keeps 40 cents of gross profit on each dollar of sales, the hire has to make room for about $8,100 of extra sales a month before they add a cent of profit. Your own figure depends on the wage, the trade and your real margin, which is why that margin has to come from reconciled books.
What if the hire frees up your time instead?
Same sum, different input. If an assistant takes the admin off you and you spend those hours on billable work, the extra sales come from you. Count the hours honestly. If the freed time would go on quoting jobs you don't win, it isn't paying for anyone.
How much cash should you hold before the first payday?
Enough to pay the full cost for every month before the hire covers it. Most people take a while to get up to speed, so if you expect three slow months, that's about $9,920 in the example above, a little over three times the monthly average because the unemployment taxes land early. Hold it on top of what the business already needs.
Watch the timing too. Payroll goes out on fixed days whether customers have paid or not, and reemployment tax is reported on Form RT-6 with one month after each quarter to file and pay, according to the Department of Revenue's employer brochure. If the business already struggles to keep cash on hand, read about being profitable but broke before adding a payroll.
Which situation are you in?
| Your situation | What the books show | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Turning work away | Growing backlog, steady margin, cash covers the ramp-up | Hire, starting with the role that frees the most billable hours |
| Busy but always short of cash | Profit on paper, low bank balance, slow payers | Fix collections first, then run the numbers again |
| Busy for part of the year | Big swings from month to month | Cost part-time or seasonal hours the same way |
| Hoping a hire brings the work | Spare capacity, flat sales | Hold off until the sales need the hours |
| Planning to call them a contractor | You'd set their hours and how they work | Cost them as an employee |
The last row is worth a second look. Whether someone is a contractor or employee depends on how much control you have over the work, not on what the agreement calls them.
What does the first hire set in motion?
A short run of paperwork, most of it with deadlines.
- Complete Form I-9 with the new employee, which the IRS hiring page says every U.S. employer must do.
- Ask for a signed Form W-4 when they start, so you know what income tax to withhold.
- Report the hire to the state within 20 days of the hire date, as section 409.2576 of the Florida Statutes requires.
- Register for Florida reemployment tax once quarterly payroll reaches $1,500 or you've had an employee in 20 weeks of the year.
- File Form RT-6 and pay each quarter, within one month of the quarter's end.
- Check the workers' compensation rule for your trade before the first day.
Those come from the IRS page on hiring employees, section 409.2576 and the Florida workers' compensation coverage rules. If the hire also means a new location, the City of Titusville says its Planning Department can confirm a proposed business fits the zoning and land use rules, which is worth asking before you sign anything.
Every figure above depends on books that are current, which is what business bookkeeping is for, and JE Ledger also offers financial consultation. There's more on bookkeeping for Titusville businesses on its own page, or get in touch to talk it through.
