Job Pricing Calculator
Build a job price from labour, materials, travel, equipment, overhead and risk.
Who it is for: UK self-employed tradespeople and small trade contractors.
What you get: Total cost, break-even, recommended quote, profit, margin, effective hourly rate and deposit.
How this calculation works
This tool runs in your browser. No data is sent to our servers. Below are the assumptions used.
- Your labour rate is treated as a cost, so 'break-even' means you are paid but the business makes nothing.
- Overhead is applied per hour across all job hours including travel and admin.
- Margin is calculated on the selling price, not as markup on cost. Both figures are shown.
- The recommended price is a planning figure. No price is guaranteed to be accepted.
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 is the difference between break-even and the recommended price?
- Break-even is the price at which you cover every cost — including paying yourself — but the business makes no profit. The recommended price adds your target gross margin on top of that. If you quote at break-even regularly, the business cannot survive a bad week, a callback or a slow month.
- Should I include my own labour as a cost?
- Yes. Whether you are a sole trader or a director, your time has a cost. If you do not include it, the calculator will show a break-even that does not actually pay you. Enter your target hourly rate as the labour cost, and the result will show the price you need to cover that rate plus all other costs.
- What overhead figure should I enter?
- Overhead is the annual cost of running the business that cannot be charged directly to a single job — van, insurance, tools, phone, accountant, subscriptions, marketing. Divide your total annual overhead by your billable hours to get a per-hour figure. The True Hourly Rate Calculator can help you work this out.
- How much contingency should I add?
- Markus's working assumption is 5–10% for straightforward domestic jobs and up to 15% for older properties, complex access or work involving other trades. Contingency is not profit — it covers the time and material cost of things that go wrong or take longer than expected. If the job runs cleanly, the contingency becomes margin.
- What deposit should I ask for?
- The calculator suggests a deposit based on your early material and subcontractor costs. As a practical rule of thumb, a deposit that covers materials plus one day's labour is reasonable for most domestic jobs. The Material Deposit Calculator gives a more detailed breakdown if the job is large.
Where this fits
Paperwork that goes with it
A quote structure that answers the questions customers ask before they say yes: what is included, what is not, when it happens, what it costs and how payment works.
Professional Trade Quote Template