Day rate calculator for tradespeople
Work out the day rate and hourly rate you need to charge, from the income you want, what the business costs to run and the days you actually get paid for. Free, no sign-up, and your numbers are kept only in this browser.
- Counts quoting, travel and admin days
- Van, fuel, tools and insurance built in
- Optional 2026/27 take-home estimate
Start with the profit you want for the year before tax, then your yearly costs.
Yearly business costs
Your working year
The working
| Profit wanted | £45,000 |
|---|---|
| Business costs | £12,780 |
| Needed from work | £57,780 |
| Paid days: 45 weeks × 5 days × 80% | 180 |
| Day rate | £321.00 |
Rates exclude VAT. An estimate for planning, not tax advice: it ignores pension contributions, student loans, other income and Scotland's own tax bands.
How to work out your day rate
Your day rate is the income you want plus a year's business costs, divided by the days someone actually pays you for. That is the whole sum. The work is in being honest about the last part, because a self-employed tradesperson is paid for far fewer days than the calendar suggests.
The calculator works it out in four steps. It adds your costs together. It takes your weeks off away from 52 and multiplies what is left by the days you work each week. It keeps only the share of those days that are paid, since the rest go on quoting, pricing, travel, paperwork and supplier runs. Then it divides income plus costs by those paid days, and divides the day rate by your paid hours to give an hourly rate.
Here is a worked example for a self-employed plumber who wants £45,000 a year before tax.
- Costs: van £4,800, fuel £3,600, tools £1,500, insurance £900, phone £480, accountant £900, other £600. Total £12,780.
- Working days: 5 a week. Weeks off: 4 weeks' holiday, 1.6 weeks of bank holidays (8 days), and 1.4 weeks for sickness and bad weather, so 7 weeks. That leaves 45 weeks, or 225 working days.
- Paid share: 80%, because roughly one day in five goes on quotes, estimates, travel between jobs and admin. 225 × 80% = 180 paid days.
- Day rate: (£45,000 + £12,780) ÷ 180 = £321 a day.
- Hourly rate: £321 ÷ 8 paid hours = £40.13 an hour.
- The trap: £45,000 ÷ 260 weekdays gives £173 a day. Charge that and you would cover your costs and earn about £18,400, not £45,000.
Why you get paid for fewer days than you think
A five-day week gives 260 weekdays a year, and most tradespeople get paid for well under 200 of them. Holidays, bank holidays, the odd week ill, and the hours spent pricing jobs you do not win all come out before a penny is earned. The three inputs below are where most day rates go wrong.
Weeks off
Holidays, bank holidays and sickness. England and Wales have 8 bank holidays in both 2026 and 2027; Scotland and Northern Ireland had 10 in 2026. At five days a week, 8 bank holidays is 1.6 weeks. Allow something for illness and rained-off days too.
Paid share of working days
The days you work but cannot bill: site visits to quote, writing estimates, collecting materials, chasing invoices, travelling between jobs. If you lose a day a week to these, your paid share is 80%. If you price a lot of work you do not win, it is lower.
Paid hours a day
The hours you can charge for, not the hours you are out of the house. A ten-hour day with an hour in traffic and an hour at the merchant is eight paid hours. Use this for the hourly rate, so it matches what you put on a quote.
The costs to include before you set a rate
Put in everything the business pays for in a year that you cannot charge to a particular job. Materials for a job are not in here: they go on that job's quote, with your markup. What goes in is the cost of being ready to work at all.
VAT and CIS are not costs either. If you are VAT registered, add VAT on top of your rate when you quote; registration becomes compulsory when your rolling 12-month taxable turnover passes £90,000, and our VAT calculator does the adding. CIS deductions on construction work are taken off your pay and count towards your tax bill, so they do not change the rate you need. The CIS calculator shows what lands in your account.
- Van: finance or lease payments, servicing, tyres, MOT, road tax.
- Fuel: for the miles you drive to jobs and merchants, not just the commute.
- Tools: replacing and repairing kit, test equipment calibration, consumables you do not charge for.
- Insurance: public liability, tools in transit, van cover, and any trade scheme or registration fees.
- Phone: the contract, plus any software or apps you pay for monthly.
- Accountant: the bookkeeping and the tax return.
- Other: workwear, training and courses, advertising, a website, a pension if you pay into one.
What you keep after tax and National Insurance
The income you enter is your profit: what is left after business costs, and before tax. For a sole trader in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, the calculator can estimate Income Tax and Class 4 National Insurance on it, using rates for the 2026/27 tax year, which runs from 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027. This is an estimate, not tax advice.
Income Tax: the first £12,570 is your Personal Allowance, taxed at 0%. Income from £12,571 to £50,270 is taxed at 20%, from £50,271 to £125,140 at 40%, and above £125,140 at 45%. Wales sets its own rates, and for 2026/27 they are the same. Over £100,000, the allowance shrinks by £1 for every £2 of income above that line, and it is gone at £125,140.
Class 4 National Insurance: for 2026/27, 6% on profits over £12,570 up to £50,270, and 2% on profits above £50,270.
Class 2 National Insurance: since 6 April 2024 you no longer have to pay it (HM Treasury's policy paper). With profits of £7,105 or more in 2026/27 it is treated as paid, so your State Pension record is protected. Below that you can choose to pay £3.65 a week voluntarily. The calculator adds nothing for Class 2.
On the plumber's £45,000: Income Tax is £6,486 (20% of £32,430), Class 4 is £1,945.80 (6% of £32,430), and take-home is about £36,568. On £60,000 the tax is £11,432 and Class 4 is £2,456.60, leaving about £46,111.
The estimate leaves out student loan repayments, pension tax relief, other income such as a part-time job or rent, and payments on account. If you live in Scotland the Income Tax bands are different, so the take-home figure will not be right for you; the day rate itself still is. For anything that matters, ask your accountant.
Why there are no average day rates on this page
Search "electrician day rate UK" and you get forum threads, Facebook group polls and price lists from single firms. Some of them are useful as a feel for the market. None of them is a checkable, current average for your trade in your town, so we have not printed one.
Your own number is more use. Work out the rate your costs and paid days demand, then compare it with what the local firms who publish prices charge. If your number is well above the local going rate, the fix is usually in the inputs: more paid days, fewer wasted quotes, lower costs. If it is well below, you are probably undercharging.
An hourly rate and a day rate are the same thing divided differently. Many trades quote the job, not the hours. That is fine: price the job from the hours you expect, at your hourly rate, then add materials and your markup. The quote template sets it out for the customer.
Mistakes that leave you working for less
Most low day rates come from the same handful of habits. Each one quietly takes money off every day you work.
- Dividing by 260. Nobody self-employed is paid for every weekday of the year.
- Copying an employed wage. An employer pays holiday, sick pay and pension on top of the hourly figure. You have to build those into your own rate.
- Leaving the van out. It is often the biggest cost after your own wage.
- Treating quoting as free. The evening spent pricing a job you lose is unpaid work, and it belongs in the paid share.
- Forgetting the tax bill. Self Assessment arrives after the money has been spent. Set aside a share of every payment.
- Never putting it up. Re-run the numbers when fuel, insurance or the van payment goes up, and at least once a year.
Common questions
How do I work out my day rate as a tradesperson?
Add the income you want to a year's business costs, then divide by the days you are actually paid for. Paid days are 52 weeks minus your weeks off, times the days you work each week, times the share of those days you can bill. The calculator on this page does it for you.
How do you convert a day rate to an hourly rate?
Divide the day rate by the hours you charge for in a day. A £280 day over 7 paid hours is £40 an hour. Use paid hours, not hours on site including travel, or your hourly price will be too low.
What should an electrician charge per day in the UK?
It depends on your costs, your area and how many days you get paid for, which is why there is no honest single figure. Run your own numbers above, then check them against local firms that publish their prices. An electrician with a new van and high insurance needs a different rate from one without.
How much should a plumber charge per hour in the UK?
Enough to cover your costs and unpaid days and still leave the income you want. In the worked example on this page, a plumber wanting £45,000 a year with £12,780 of costs and 180 paid days needs about £40 an hour. Change any input and the answer changes.
How many working days are there in a year in the UK?
There are 260 weekdays in a typical year. Take away 8 bank holidays in England and Wales (10 in Scotland and Northern Ireland in 2026) and 4 weeks' holiday and you are near 232. A self-employed tradesperson gets paid for fewer, once quoting, travel and sickness come out.
Do I still have to pay Class 2 National Insurance?
No. The requirement to pay ended on 6 April 2024. In 2026/27, profits of £7,105 or more mean Class 2 is treated as paid, so your State Pension record is protected. Below that you can pay it voluntarily at £3.65 a week (GOV.UK).
How much tax does a self-employed tradesperson pay?
In England, Wales and Northern Ireland for 2026/27: no Income Tax on the first £12,570 of profit, 20% up to £50,270 and 40% above, plus Class 4 National Insurance of 6% between £12,570 and £50,270 and 2% above. On £45,000 profit that is about £8,432 in total.
Should I add VAT to my day rate?
Only if you are VAT registered, and then on top of the rate, not inside it. You have to register once taxable turnover for the last 12 months goes over £90,000. Below that, you choose whether to register.
Is it better to charge by the day or by the job?
Customers usually prefer a fixed price for the job, and it protects you when you work quickly. Work out your day rate first anyway: it is the number you price each job from, and it tells you whether a job is worth taking.
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