Stop Working for Free: How to Price Trade Jobs for Profit (UK Guide)

The Danger of the “Going Rate” Myth

As a landscaper, plumber, or electrician, you didn’t start your business to work yourself into the ground for minimum wage. Yet, many highly skilled UK tradespeople suffer from the ‘Going Rate’ myth.

When you look at what your competitors (often uninsured or untrained operators) are charging and try to match them, you are guessing, not business planning. You are pricing to compete, rather than pricing to profit. Relying on a vague figure like “£45 an hour” often doesn’t even cover your overheads once everything is tallied up. True profit, the money you can keep after all costs and a sensible salary, only happens when you move from guesswork to professional cost calculation.

Step 1: Calculating Your True Hourly Cost (Overheads + Living)

The biggest mistake is confusing your day rate with your hourly cost. If you are quoting £200 a day but don’t know your business’s true overheads, you are flying blind.

Your ‘True Hourly Cost’ must cover two distinct things:

1. Business Overheads: Van financing/fuel, insurance (liability, tools), software subscriptions (accounting, scheduling), professional clothing, training/accreditations, and accounting fees. These costs run even when you aren’t on the tools.

2. Your Living Wage: What do you, as a specialist professional, deserve to earn? This should include a market-rate salary, pension contributions, and profit that stays in the business for growth (not your pocket).

• Calculation Tip: Add (1) + (2) for an annual figure. Then divide that by your billable hours (e.g., 36 hours x 48 working weeks = 1,728 hours). This gives you your absolute minimum break-even hourly rate. This is what you must charge before adding any margin IF you are pricing this way. Some people prefer to simply price materiasl (plus mark up see below) and a day rate plus desirted daily profit – this was my preference) 

Step 2: Material Markup — Trade Price vs. Retail Invoice

You are a business owner, not a material sourcing service. Simply passing on your 10% trade discount is not a markup; it’s a recipe for cash flow problems. Your customers expect to pay retail prices, so your trade discount is your reward for organising the supply chain.

For UK trades, a material markup of 10% rarely covers the costs of:

• The time spent researching and sourcing materials.

• The fuel/time to collect or accept deliveries.

• The liability for those materials if they are faulty (you must warrant them to the client).

A professional markup should reflect your value. Depending on the size of the job, this could be 20%, 30%, or even higher for special orders. You buy at trade price; you sell at retail price, and the difference is your necessary gross margin.

Remember your clients get walk-in prices NOT trade prices.

Step 3: Building in “Wiggle Room” for Unexpected Sniags

Experienced tradespeople know that no job ever runs exactly to plan. In the UK, especially for outdoor trades like landscapers, you are battling weather. Plumbers and heating engineers open walls to find hidden nightmares. Electricians encounter non-compliant wiring.

A professional quote must build in a contingency (wiggle room) buffer. This is not about hiding extra costs; it’s about being responsible. For smaller jobs, add a set number of contingency hours. For larger projects, you may need a contingency percentage (e.g., 5-10% of the total labor). This covers minor ‘snags’ and variations without you having to repeatedly stop, re-quote, and annoy the client. If you don’t use it, it becomes bonus profit—but if you do use it, it keeps your project on track and profitable.

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