Tradie hourly rate calculator

Updated · 5 minute read

The short answer: your hourly rate has to cover your wage, your super, every overhead the business carries, and a profit, spread over only the hours you can actually bill. Most tradies bill far fewer hours than they work, which is why a rate that looks high on paper is often only just enough.

Work out your rate

These are example numbers. Replace them with your own. The result updates as you type.

What you want to pay yourself, before tax
Everything except your wage: see the list below
52 minus leave, public holidays, sick and rain days
Including travel, quoting and admin
Time on the tools that a customer pays for
Profit as a share of what you charge
Options

Charge at least

$104.98 an hour + GST

$115.48 an hour including GST

Billable hours a year
1,449
Your wage plus 12% super
$100,800
Plus overheads
$28,500
Cost to cover
$129,300
Break-even rate (cost ÷ billable hours)
$89.23
Profit a year at your rate
$22,818

Billable hours are the number that matters

A 45-hour week is not 45 billable hours. Driving between jobs, picking up materials, quoting, chasing invoices and ordering parts all take time that no customer pays for directly. If a third of your week goes on that, only two-thirds is left to earn the year’s income.

The same goes for weeks. Take out annual leave, public holidays, days off sick, and days you cannot work because of weather or waiting on other trades. Be honest here: overestimating your billable time is the most common way a rate ends up too low.

What goes in overheads

The example uses these figures. Swap in your own from last year’s accounts.

  • Vehicle: finance, fuel, rego, servicing: $15,000
  • Insurance: public liability, tools, income protection: $3,500
  • Tools and equipment: $3,000
  • Phone and software: $2,500
  • Accountant and bookkeeping: $2,500
  • Licences, training, uniforms, other: $2,000

Leave out materials you pass on to the customer with a markup. Those belong on the quote as their own line, not in your hourly rate.

Super for yourself

Employers must pay eligible employees super guarantee of at least 12% of their ordinary time earnings, according to the ATO. If you run your business as a sole trader, you are not paying yourself a wage in that sense, but you still need to fund your retirement. Leaving the super box ticked prices that in.

Why a profit margin on top of your wage

Your wage pays you for your labour. Profit is what the business keeps to replace a ute, buy a new tool, get through a quiet month or take on an apprentice. A margin is set as a share of the price, so a 15% margin means 15 cents of every dollar you charge is left over after all costs.

If you have employees

Run the calculator again for each worker, using their wage and the on-costs you pay on top of it, and their own billable share. An apprentice or a newer tradesperson will usually have a lower billable share than you do, which is why their charge-out rate is often closer to yours than their wage suggests.

Ready to put the rate to work? Read how to write a trade quote that wins the job.