Call-Out Fee Calculator
Price attendance, travel, disruption and a minimum period on site.
Who it is for: UK self-employed tradespeople and small trade contractors.
What you get: Suggested call-out fee with an out-of-hours option.
How this calculation works
This tool runs in your browser. No data is sent to our servers. Below are the assumptions used.
- Travel is counted both ways at your hourly rate, because it is time you cannot sell to anyone else.
Hypothetical worked examples
To help you understand the outputs, here are illustrative examples generated using the same logic.
Illustrative example 1: A sole trader working 30 billable hours per week with £18,000 in annual overheads needs to recover £11.54 per hour before any profit is added. If they want a £35,000 target owner pay before personal tax, the true hourly rate rises to around £28–£32 based on the inputs entered.
Illustrative example 2: A small team with a van, premises and two employees requires a higher day rate to cover shared operational costs. The calculator shows the break-even point clearly so the business owner can set a rate that covers all costs before profit is considered.
Questions people ask
- What should a call-out fee cover?
- A call-out fee should cover the travel time to and from the job at your hourly rate, the vehicle cost per mile, a minimum attendance period on site (typically one hour), any consumables used during diagnosis, and an uplift for out-of-hours or emergency response if applicable. It should not be set arbitrarily — it should reflect the real cost of attending.
- Should I charge a call-out fee on top of the job price?
- That depends on how you structure your pricing. Some trades charge a call-out fee that is absorbed into the job price if work proceeds; others charge it as a standalone attendance fee regardless. Either approach is legitimate, but be clear in your quote so the customer understands what they are paying for.
- How much should an out-of-hours uplift be?
- Markus's working assumption is 50–100% on top of the standard call-out fee for evenings and weekends, and up to 150% for bank holidays or genuine emergencies. The right figure depends on how much disruption the call-out causes to your personal time and whether you need to pay others to cover the job.
- Is it worth having a published call-out fee?
- Yes. Publishing a clear call-out fee filters out customers who want free advice and sets the expectation before you arrive. It also protects you from the awkward conversation where a customer expects the attendance to be free because you did not fix anything.