TradeLinkers
Start with a day rate that covers your business costs and the income you want over the days you can actually bill. Multiply it by the time the job takes, add materials with a markup, any call-out or travel, and a contingency for the unknowns. Add VAT on top only if you're VAT registered.
How do you work out your day rate?
Add up what the business costs to run for a year and the income you want to take home before tax. Divide that by the number of days you can realistically charge for, not the number of days in the year. The answer is the least you can charge per day without going backwards.
1. Yearly business costs. Everything you’d still pay if you had a quiet month: van finance, insurance, fuel and servicing, tools and repairs, public liability insurance, phone, software, accountant, training and certificates, advertising and workwear.
2. Target income. What you want to earn before tax. Income Tax and National Insurance come out of this figure, not on top of it.
3. Billable days. Start with 260 weekdays. Take off holidays and bank holidays, then the days that go on quoting, paperwork, collecting materials, bad weather and being ill. Be honest here. Overestimating billable days is how a busy year ends up short.
Example with made-up figures:
| Example | |
|---|---|
| Yearly business costs | £12,000 |
| Target income before tax | £40,000 |
| Total to cover | £52,000 |
| Weekdays in a year | 260 |
| Less holidays and bank holidays | 33 |
| Less quoting, admin, weather and sickness | 27 |
| Billable days | 200 |
| Day rate (£52,000 ÷ 200) | £260 |
| Hourly rate on an 8-hour day | £32.50 |
The day rate calculator does this sum and estimates the tax and National Insurance on your income too.
How do you price materials?
Charge what the materials cost you, plus a markup. The markup pays for the time spent choosing, ordering and collecting them, the money tied up until you’re paid, returns and waste, and standing behind them if something fails.
Know the difference between markup and margin, because they’re easy to mix up:
- Markup is added to your cost: £400 of materials with a 15% markup is £460.
- Margin is your profit as a share of the price: £60 profit on £460 is a 13% margin.
To make a 15% margin you’d need a markup of about 17.6%. Pick one way of thinking about it and use it every time.
Expect customers to ask for a breakdown. Citizens Advice tells homeowners to look for separate costs for each material and each part of the work, so itemise anything big.
Should you charge a call-out fee?
A call-out charge covers getting to a job before any work starts, which matters most for small repairs, fault-finding and emergencies. Whether you charge one is your choice, but the customer should know the amount before you set off.
Under section 50 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015, what you tell a consumer about the service can become part of the contract if they rely on it. So say it clearly, and ideally in writing:
- the call-out amount, and whether it includes the first hour of work
- whether it comes off the bill if they go ahead with the job
- any different rate for evenings, weekends or emergencies
How do you cost travel?
Work out the miles and the time. For local jobs, build travel time into your day rate. For jobs further out, add the extra miles and travelling time as their own line, along with parking and any road charges.
For a sense check on the cost of running a vehicle, HMRC’s simplified expenses flat rate for cars and goods vehicles such as vans is 55p a mile for the first 10,000 business miles in the 2026 to 2027 tax year (it was 45p before 6 April 2026), then 25p a mile. That’s a tax allowance, not a price you have to charge, but it gives you a benchmark for what each mile might be costing you.
How much contingency should you add?
Enough to cover what usually goes wrong on that type of job, applied to labour and materials. On a fixed quote, the contingency is your only buffer. On an estimate, you can list the unknowns instead and agree them as they come up.
There’s no right percentage. A new-build socket run has fewer surprises than a bathroom in a Victorian terrace. Look back at jobs you’ve done: if similar jobs keep overrunning by a day, that day belongs in the price. If you’d rather not carry the risk, price the unknowns separately and say so on the quote. The guide to quotes and estimates shows how to word that.
Where does VAT fit in?
Work out your price first, then add VAT on top only if you’re VAT registered. Most work on existing homes is at the standard rate of 20%, but some work, such as installing certain energy-saving materials, has a lower rate. If you’re not registered, there’s no VAT to add.
Make it clear on the quote whether the price includes VAT, which is something Citizens Advice tells homeowners to check. A homeowner can’t reclaim VAT, so the figure they care about is the total they’ll pay. The VAT guide explains the threshold and which rates apply.
Worked example: a two-day job
All figures are made up for illustration, using the £260 day rate from above. One person, two days on site, 15 miles each way.
| Line | Working | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Labour | 2 days × £260 | £520.00 |
| Materials | £400 cost + 15% markup | £460.00 |
| Waste disposal | Fixed | £40.00 |
| Travel | 60 miles × 55p | £33.00 |
| Contingency | 10% of labour, materials and waste (£1,020) | £102.00 |
| Price before VAT | £1,155.00 | |
| VAT at 20%, only if VAT registered | £231.00 | |
| Total if VAT registered | £1,386.00 |
If you’re not VAT registered, the price is £1,155. You don’t have to show the contingency as its own line on the quote. You can spread it across the labour and materials.
How do you know if your prices are right?
Check every job after you finish it. Compare the hours you actually spent and the materials you actually used against what you priced. If you keep going over, your prices are too low or your estimates are too hopeful, and either one is fixable.
Keep a simple note of each job: priced days against actual days, priced materials against receipts. After a few months you’ll see patterns, such as one type of job that always overruns, or a markup that doesn’t cover your trips to the merchant.
How does TradeLinkers fit in?
TradeLinkers is where the price ends up, not where it’s worked out. You type your labour and materials as lines on an estimate (there’s no saved price list), add VAT if you’re marked as VAT registered, ask for a deposit as a percentage, and turn the estimate into the invoice in one tap when the work’s done.
TradeLinkers doesn’t track time, mileage or expenses, so keep your own note of hours and miles to check your prices against. Use the job price calculator to build the price, then see quotes and estimates for sending it.
Sources
- GOV.UK: Simplified expenses if you're self-employed, vehicles
- GOV.UK: VAT rates
- GOV.UK: Register for VAT
- Citizens Advice: Before you get work done on your home
- Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 50: information about the trader or service is binding
This guide is general information for UK sole traders and small firms, not tax or legal advice. Rules change; check the source or ask an accountant for your own situation.
