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How to price a job so every one of them pays you
Most tradespeople learn to price on someone else's crew: a number that feels right, a little under the other guy. That works until the year ends and the money doesn't add up. A job price is six pieces you can write down: materials, labor, overhead, a minimum, a trip fee and profit. Here's each piece, how to set your hourly rate from your own costs, and a worked example you can copy.
The six pieces of a job price
Every price, from a dripping tap to a full repaint, is built from the same parts. Leave one out and you work for free on that part: forget overhead and the truck runs on your wages; forget a minimum and a quick visit pays less than the drive.
Overhead is everything the business spends that no single job pays for, and it belongs inside your hourly rate. A minimum and a trip fee cover visits too small to carry those costs. Profit is a share you choose before you price, not whatever is left over.
- Materials: what you paid, plus your markup
- Labor: hours on the job times your hourly rate
- Overhead: truck, insurance, tools, phone and software, built into the rate
- A minimum charge for small jobs
- A trip or service call fee, if you charge one
- Profit: a set share on top, decided before you price
How to set your hourly rate from your own numbers
Start from a year, not an hour. Add up what you want to pay yourself and what the business costs to run: truck, fuel, insurance, tools, license fees, phone, software. Then count the hours a customer actually pays for. A 40-hour week for 52 weeks is 2,080 hours, but nobody bills all of them: there's driving, quoting, buying parts, chasing payments and slow weeks. Count yours from last year's invoices.
Here's the arithmetic with example figures, not a recommendation. Say you want $60,000 a year in pay and the business costs $18,000 a year to run. That's $78,000. If you bill 25 hours a week for 48 weeks, that's 1,200 billable hours, and $78,000 ÷ 1,200 = $65 an hour just to break even. Add a 10% profit and the rate is $71.50.
Your pay figure also has to cover what an employer used to pay for you. The IRS puts the self-employment tax rate at 15.3%, which pays for Social Security and Medicare (IRS, page updated October 2026), on top of income tax, with no paid leave. How much to set aside is a question for your tax preparer; it comes out of your rate either way. The hourly rate calculator does this arithmetic with your own figures.
What employees in the trades earn, and why your rate is higher
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes what people in each trade earn working for someone else, paid by an employer who also covers the truck, the tools, the insurance and the hours spent quoting. BLS says its pay figures don't include the self-employed.
Use them as a floor for the pay part of your rate, never as your rate: yours has to pay for everything the employer was paying for, plus the hours you don't bill. There's no standard multiplier; work it out from your own costs.
| Median hourly wage | Lowest 10% earned under | Highest 10% earned over | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electricians | $30.38 | $42,640 a year | $108,510 a year |
| Plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters | $30.67 | $44,150 a year | $108,420 a year |
| HVAC mechanics and installers | $29.33 | $40,050 a year | $95,210 a year |
| Painters, construction and maintenance | $23.75 | $37,440 a year | $78,810 a year |
| General maintenance and repair workers | $23.84 | $35,350 a year | $77,180 a year |
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, May 2025 wages. Employees only; self-employed workers are not included. General maintenance and repair workers is the closest BLS group to handyman work.
A worked example: one repair, priced line by line
Here's a small repair priced with example numbers: a $50 trip fee, a rate of $85 an hour, a $150 minimum and a 20% parts markup. They show the arithmetic; they're not a quote or a recommendation. The last line is a short call at the same rates, and it's why the minimum exists. For what a markup leaves you as profit, see markup vs margin.
- Labor: 3 hours × $85 = $255
- Parts: $120 at cost × 1.20 = $144
- Trip fee: $50
- Total: $255 + $144 + $50 = $449
- Minimum check: $449 is above $150, so the minimum doesn't apply
- A 30-minute job with a $10 part: $42.50 labor + $12 part + $50 trip = $104.50, under the minimum, so the price is $150
Minimums, trip fees and pricing by trade
Published cost guides show how common these charges are. HomeAdvisor's plumber cost guide, updated June 2026, puts service call fees at $100 to $250, usually including the first hour, and says some plumbers skip the trip charge and set a one- or two-hour minimum instead. The same guide says some charge time and a half for evenings, double time for weekends and triple time for holidays. Pick your own rules and use them on every job; more in service call fees and trip charges.
Each trade then prices a little differently: electricians by the hour or the task, painters by the square foot or the room, lawn care by the cut. These guides take the method into each one.
Putting the price on paper
In Workeey you set your rates once: hourly, travel, call-out, first hour, evenings and weekends, parts markup and a deposit percent. Save the lines you use often, each with a name and a price. A quick estimate prices from those, and you share it from your phone as a quote PDF with the deposit percent printed on it. The customer says yes to you directly.
When the work is done, one tap turns the estimate into the invoice, emailed with a pay link for card, Apple Pay, Google Pay or US bank transfer through your own Stripe account; a small processing fee applies. The free plan includes 23 quick estimates a month and unlimited invoicing; Pro is $5 a month and Premium $19 (pricing). Prefer paper? Start from the free estimate template, and see estimate vs quote for how to word the price.
How do I work out my hourly rate as a contractor?
Add your yearly pay and your yearly business costs, divide by the hours customers actually pay for, then add your profit. With example figures: ($60,000 + $18,000) ÷ 1,200 hours = $65 an hour, or $71.50 with a 10% profit.
Should I charge by the hour or by the job?
By the job when you can see all of it and have done it before; by the hour when you can't see behind the wall. Build even a flat price from hours times your rate.
How much should I mark up materials?
It depends on your trade and overhead. HomeGuide's handyman prices guide (2023) lists material markups of 20% to 50% or more. Pick one and use it on every job; markup vs margin shows what it leaves you.
What is a minimum charge?
The least you'll bill for any visit, so a short job still covers the drive and the setup. HomeGuide's handyman guide (2023) puts it at $75 to $200, charged either as a higher first-hour rate or as a minimum number of hours.
Can I use BLS wages as my hourly rate?
No. They're what employees earn, not the self-employed. Your rate also has to cover overhead and unbilled hours.