About

Built for the first hire, not the tenth

FirstHire is a free website for one-person trade businesses — plumbers, electricians, HVAC techs, landscapers, cleaners, and similar owners — who are thinking about hiring their first W-2 employee.

The centerpiece is a true-cost calculator. It adds employer payroll taxes, unemployment taxes, a workers' compensation estimate, and payroll software to the wage you plan to pay, using 2026 federal rates and published state unemployment wage bases. A checklist points to official government pages for the EIN, I-9, W-4, new-hire reporting, withholding, unemployment tax, workers' compensation, payroll, and labor posters.

This project is independent educational material. It is not a law firm, payroll company, insurance agency, or tax preparer. Nothing here is a quote, a filing, or personalized advice. Rates change, class codes vary, and your assigned state unemployment rate may differ from the new-employer default.

Some links to Gusto, Paychex, LegalZoom, and Domain.com are affiliate links (placeholders until those URLs are filled in). If you buy through them, the site may earn a commission. That does not change the price you pay, and it does not change the need to read the provider's current terms. See the affiliate disclosure.

If you find an error in a sourced figure, treat the official agency page as the authority and update your own numbers in the calculator's editable fields. Contact us if something looks wrong.