Pricing off gut feel is how you end up doing a week's work for a few days' pay. The fix is a simple formula you run on every single job, so nothing gets forgotten and every quote has profit built in. Here it is.
Step 1 — Labour
Estimate the hours the job will realistically take (be honest — including the fiddly bits) and multiply by your real charge-out rate. Not a number that feels nice: the rate you calculated from your actual costs and billable hours. If you have not worked that out yet, do the hourly-rate guide first — everything here depends on it.
Step 2 — Materials (with markup)
Add up every material and consumable the job needs, then mark it up. The markup is not greed — it pays for the time you spend sourcing and collecting gear, the cash you float buying it, and the risk you carry if something is faulty or short. Most tradies run 10–30%.
Free Job Pricing Calculator
Punch in your hours, rate, materials and margin — it builds the full price for you, markup and all. No more 9pm mental maths.
Open the free toolStep 3 — Overheads
These are the costs that keep the business running whether or not you are on a job: insurance, phone, software, registrations, accounting, advertising. Every job should carry a slice of them. If your hourly rate already bakes overheads in, don't double-count — but if you price labour lean, add an overhead line so these costs are covered.
Step 4 — Profit margin
This is the step tradies skip, and it is why so many are busy but broke. Covering costs is survival; profit is what lets you save, upgrade gear, weather a slow month and grow. Add a deliberate margin on top of everything else — commonly 15–25%. It is not optional; it is the whole point of running a business.
Fixed price or time & materials?
- Fixed price suits well-defined jobs. Customers love the certainty and it looks professional — just pad your hours estimate for the unexpected.
- Time & materials suits open-ended or unpredictable work where you can't nail the scope. Be transparent about your rate up front.
Present it properly
How you present the price matters as much as the number. A clear, itemised, professional quote wins more jobs than a scribbled figure over the phone — and lets you charge more, because you look like the safe choice. Send it fast, too: the quickest professional quote very often gets the job.
Frequently asked questions
Add your labour (billable hours × your real charge-out rate), plus materials with a markup, plus a share of your overheads, then add a profit margin on top. The total is your price — quote it as a fixed price or a detailed breakdown.
Most tradies mark materials up 10–30%. It covers the time spent sourcing, collecting and carrying the cost, plus the risk if something is wrong. Higher markups are common on small, fiddly or specially-ordered items.
Fixed price works best for well-defined jobs and looks more professional to customers. Time and materials suits open-ended or unpredictable work. Either way, base the number on your real hourly rate.
Usually because unbilled time (quoting, travel, admin), material markup, and overheads were not built into the price. Pricing each job with a consistent method fixes this.
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