Ask ten tradies what they charge an hour and most will give you a number they plucked from what the bloke down the road charges. That is how you end up flat out all year and still broke. Your hourly rate is not what feels fair — it is a number you calculate from your actual costs. Here is how.
Why the number in your head is wrong
The trap is thinking like an employee. If you were on wages at $45/hour, you might assume charging $60 as your own boss is a tidy markup. It is not — it is a fast track to going backwards. As an employee, someone else was quietly paying for your super, your leave, your downtime and your tools. Now that is all on you, and it has to come out of your charge-out rate.
The costs tradies forget to load in
- Super. No employer paying it now — that is on you.
- Insurance. Public liability, tool cover, income protection.
- Downtime. Slow weeks, rain days, sick days, holidays — none of it billable.
- Unpaid admin. Quoting, invoicing, chasing money, ordering materials — hours you never bill.
- Travel. Time between jobs and to the suppliers.
- Tool & vehicle wear. Everything wears out and needs replacing.
- Fuel, phone, software, registrations. The constant background costs.
The billable-hours reality
Here is the part that changes everything: you do not bill every hour you work. You might be “at work” 50 hours a week, but after quoting, travel, chasing invoices and ordering materials, you might only bill 25–30 of them. Your rate has to recover a full week of income and costs across just those billable hours.
Free True Hourly Rate Calculator
Punch in your costs and your real billable hours — it works out the exact rate you need to charge to actually get ahead. Most tradies cop a shock.
Open the free toolAdd profit — on purpose
Covering your costs is survival, not success. A real business builds in profit on top — a margin that lets you save, invest in better gear, ride out a slow patch and eventually pay yourself properly or hire a hand. Decide your profit margin deliberately (say 15–25%) and build it into the rate. Do not leave it to whatever happens to be left over, because usually nothing is.
What if it feels too high?
When the real number comes out higher than you have been charging, the instinct is to panic and round it down. Don't. The right rate charged to the right customers beats a cheap rate that keeps you flat out and skint. You do not need every job — you need profitable ones. Confidence in your number is half the battle; a clear, professional quote does the rest.
For pricing a whole job (not just the hourly component), you also need materials and markup dialled in — that is covered in the job pricing guide below.
Frequently asked questions
It varies by trade, location and experience, but most self-employed tradies need a charge-out rate of $80–$150+ per hour once you factor in super, insurance, downtime and admin. The number you take home is always lower than what you charge.
Because not every hour is billable. You lose time to quoting, invoicing, travel, sick days and slow weeks — and you carry costs like super, insurance and tool wear. Your charge-out rate has to cover all of that across only your billable hours.
Rarely the full 38+ you are on the clock. After quoting, travel, admin and downtime, many sole traders bill 25–30 hours a week. Your rate must cover a full week of costs across those fewer billable hours.
Yes. Callouts, weekends and emergencies should carry a premium — often 1.5x to 2x your standard rate — because they cost you personal time and displace other work.
Know your number — then protect it
Admin Substitute builds your real rate into every quote, tracks your billable vs unbilled hours, and handles the admin that eats your unpaid time — so more of your week actually earns.
30-day money-back guarantee · No lock-in contracts · 90% cheaper than hiring an admin