Most self-employed tradespeople undercharge by 20–40%. This calculator works out the rate you actually need to charge to cover your costs, take home what you want, and stop running yourself ragged.
A 40-hour working week typically only includes 25–30 paid hours. The rest goes on travel, quoting, admin, chasing payments, and unpaid call-outs. Use your honest number.
Send professional, branded quotes and invoices in 60 seconds via WhatsApp. No app, no laptop, no excuses for under-pricing yourself.
Start free on WhatsApp14-day free trial · No card required · Cancel anytime
The classic mistake: you look at what your mate Bob charges (£40/hr), add a fiver, and call it a day. But Bob has been doing this for 15 years, owns his van outright, and his wife handles his books. You're driving a financed van, doing your own VAT, and your van insurance just went up £400. Your rate has to be different from Bob's.
The other classic mistake: counting working hours instead of billable hours. You work 9 hours today, but only 6 of those are paid. The travel between jobs, the wait at the merchants, the 40 minutes on the phone with a customer who's "just thinking about it" — none of that is paid by anyone. So your real hourly rate has to cover the unpaid time too.
It works backwards from what you need to take home rather than guessing what to charge:
If the number that comes out feels uncomfortably high — that's the point. It means you've been working for less than you thought, and you're owed a pay rise from your future customers.
Based on 2026 industry data and salary surveys, here's what self-employed UK tradespeople typically charge:
Add 20–40% for London and the South East. Add £40–£100 for emergency call-outs. Subtract ~10% for rural areas with less competition for jobs but lower customer expectations on price.
Working out your rate is half the battle. The other half is actually getting paid for what you've done — quickly, professionally, and without a 30-minute laptop session every Sunday.
TaskDrop turns invoicing into a 60-second WhatsApp conversation. Type INVOICE, answer 3-4 questions, and a branded HMRC-compliant PDF lands in your customer's inbox before you've left the driveway. No app to install. No laptop. No excuses.
Self-employed plumbers in the UK typically charge £45–£75/hour depending on region. London and the South East average £60–£85, while northern regions average £40–£60. Emergency call-outs add £40–£100 on top. Use the calculator above to work out the rate you specifically need.
Typical 8-hour day rates: plumber £350–£550, electrician £350–£550, gas engineer £400–£600, builder £250–£400, decorator £200–£350, joiner £250–£400, tiler £200–£350. Add 20–40% for London.
Because "always busy" includes hours you're not getting paid for: travel, quotes, admin, chasing customers. The fix is either charge more per billable hour, or get more efficient at the unpaid work. (Slow invoicing is the #1 unpaid time-sink for most tradespeople.)
Add your annual business costs + your take-home target + ~20% for tax/NI. Divide that by your realistic billable hours per year (typically 1,200–1,500 for a sole trader, not 2,000). The calculator above does this automatically.