Home / The Charge-Out Calculator
What should you actually charge? Work it back from the life you want.
Most tradies price off what the bloke down the road charges. Then they wonder why there's nothing left at the end of the year.
Put in the income you want, the hours you can actually bill, and the overheads you really carry. Get the rate that pays you, and see what each job is genuinely worth.
"I have insurance, and if I was to quote my jobs out to make $950 a day I would never get a job."
1 · Your numbers
The income you want, and the hours you can actually invoice. Admin and quoting are real, but nobody pays you for them, so they come off your billable time.
Carrying a family (a mortgage, the kids, super put away and the odd holiday) realistically takes around $250k a year before tax, not the wage you'd earn working for someone else. Price for the life you're actually funding.
Billable hours you'll invoice a year 0
2 · Your overheads (a year)
Everything the business swallows before you've earned a cent. The bits tradies forget are exactly the bits that eat the profit.
Total business running cost a year $0
3 · Pressure-test a job
Now take one job. See the floor you can't quote below, and what it actually puts in your pocket at your target rate.
Estimates only, and ex-GST. Built to get you in the right ballpark, not to replace your accountant.
Your charge-out rate
$0/hr
Quote at this. Covers your costs, pays your income, and leaves a margin.
Break-even rate
$0/hr
Floor. Below this you lose money.
Required rate
$0/hr
Pays your income. No buffer.
This job
No saved scenarios yet. Save a setup to compare.
Knowing the number is step one. Getting buyers to say yes at that number is the job.
How The Numbers Work
Three rates. One you quote at.
Break-even
Running cost ÷ billable hours. The lights stay on and you take home nothing. This is the line you never quote below.
Required
(Running cost + your income) ÷ billable hours. Covers the business and pays you the income you set. No buffer for the slow weeks.
Target
Required rate plus your profit margin. Tax, reinvestment, the job that goes sideways. This is the rate you actually quote.
The reason the rate surprises people is the billable hours. You might be on the tools 45 hours a week, but once admin, quoting and travel come off, you're invoicing far fewer. Every overhead has to be recovered across only those hours, which is why a fair wage needs a rate that looks high until you do the maths.
Pricing Questions, Answered
The questions behind the rate.
How do I calculate my charge-out rate as a tradie?
Add up everything the business has to cover in a year (wages, super, vehicle, insurance, marketing, tools and software), then add the income you want to pay yourself before tax. Divide that total by the hours you can actually invoice (not the hours you work, because admin and quoting are unpaid). That gives you the rate that keeps the lights on and pays you. Add a profit margin on top for the slow weeks and reinvestment, and that is the rate you quote at. Remember the income needs to carry your real life: a family, a mortgage and super often means $250k or more before tax, not a tradesman's wage.
What's the difference between break-even rate and charge-out rate?
Your break-even rate only covers the business running costs. At that rate you take home nothing. Your required rate covers those costs and pays you your target income. Your target (charge-out) rate adds a profit margin on top. Quote at break-even and a single slow month or one unpaid invoice puts you behind. Quote at the target rate and the business has a buffer.
Should I include super in my hourly rate?
Yes. Even as a sole trader paying yourself, you should provision super, currently 12% under the super guarantee since 1 July 2025, so it gets built into the rate rather than coming out of your pocket later. If you employ others, their super is a hard cost that must be recovered in every billable hour.
How much should I mark up materials?
A markup of 15–25% on materials is common for trades, covering the time spent sourcing, collecting, storing and warranting them, plus the cash you float before the client pays. The calculator lets you set your own markup and shows the dollars it adds to each job.
Why is my hourly rate higher than an employee wage?
Because the rate is not a wage. It has to cover the unbillable hours (admin, quoting, travel), the overheads an employee never sees (vehicle, insurance, tools, marketing), super, leave, tax, and a margin for the risk you carry as the owner. Once the real costs are in, a comfortable take-home for a solo operator routinely needs a charge-out rate two to three times what the equivalent hourly wage looks like.
A price is a number. A yes is a decision.
The calculator gives you the number you can defend. The Sell My Service system is what gets the buyer to say yes before they've even compared it.