Hourly rate calculator
Work out what you need to charge per hour to actually take home what you want — after overhead, unpaid hours and the weeks you are not working.
Why billable hours matter more than your rate
Most people set a rate by asking what others charge. The trouble is that two contractors with the same rate can earn wildly different amounts, because one bills 30 hours a week and the other bills 18.
Quoting, driving between jobs, chasing parts, answering the phone and doing paperwork are all real work, and none of it is billable. A realistic figure for a one-person trade business is 20 to 30 billable hours out of a 40-hour week. If you have never measured it, start at 25 and track it for a month.
The fastest way to raise your effective rate is usually not to charge more per hour — it is to bill more of the hours you already work. Cutting an hour of evening paperwork does as much for your year as a rate rise, and your customers never notice it.
What counts as overhead
Overhead is everything you pay whether or not you worked this week. Underestimating it is the single most common reason a busy trade business still has no money at the end of the year.
- Vehicle: payments, fuel, insurance, servicing, depreciation
- Insurance: public liability, tools, income protection
- Tools and equipment, including replacement and calibration
- Phone, internet, software and subscriptions
- Accounting, licensing, trade body membership and training
- Advertising, a website, and any lead-generation fees
Once you know your rate, Invoicify Pro turns the job into a professional invoice in about 30 seconds — from a photo, a typed description or a spreadsheet.
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