Free tool · no signup
What should I charge an hour?
Most tradies pick an hourly rate, then realise at year-end they’ve under-quoted by thousands. This works it the other way: tell us what you want in your bank account, your expenses, and how many hours you actually bill — we’ll work out what to charge.
What you want left in your account each year, after tax and expenses.
Van, fuel, tools, insurance, phone, accountant.
Hours you actually charge for. Usually 25–35, not 40+.
52 minus your holiday, illness, and admin weeks. Most full-time sole traders are 44–48.
Why your hourly rate needs to be higher than you think
A self-employed tradesperson’s “hourly rate” has to cover a list of costs an employee never sees on their payslip. There’s the unpaid admin — quoting, chasing invoices, doing your tax return, calling suppliers — that eats 5 to 10 hours of every week you don’t bill for. There’s the £200 to £600 a year on tools you replace because they wore out or walked off. There’s public liability insurance, professional indemnity if you’re certifying anything, and the pension you’re paying into instead of an employer. If you set your hourly rate by comparing it to what an employed tradesperson earns, you’ll be 30–40% under what you actually need to live the same standard of life — because their employer is quietly paying all of the above on top of the wage.
How to factor in overhead costs
Add up your annual overheads — the costs you pay whether you work one day or 220. Van finance or depreciation, fuel, insurance (vehicle, public liability, tools), accountant fees, phone bill, advertising, software subscriptions, workwear and PPE, training and ticket renewals. For most UK sole-trader tradespeople this lands somewhere between £8,000 and £15,000 a year. Divide that by the number of billable hours you realistically work (220 days × 6 billable hours per day = 1,320 hours is a reasonable starting point — not 8 hours a day, because that ignores travel and setup). The result is the per-hour overhead floor you have to clear before you’ve earned a penny of actual wage.
What to do when customers say your rate is too high
The instinct is to discount. The better answer is to explain. Most customers compare your rate to what they earn in their own employed job and don’t see the overheads behind it — so spell them out: “My rate is £55 an hour. Out of that, around £15 goes on van, tools, insurance, and admin before I’ve even started. Then I pay my own tax, my own pension, and my own sick days. What lands in my pocket is closer to £25 an hour, which is roughly what a salaried tradesperson on £35k takes home.” Once the numbers are visible the conversation usually stops. If it doesn’t, you’ve learned the customer wants an employee, not a contractor — and that’s information, not failure.
Set it once, never type it again
Lock your hourly rate into voice invoicing.
Save your hourly rate in Honest Invoices and every voice note becomes an itemised invoice without you ever typing the number. £15/month, locked for life.