Builder Day Rate in the UK: How to Work Out Your Own
The short answer
Your day rate isn't what the builder down the road charges. It's your wage plus your overheads, divided by the days you can actually charge, plus a margin. For most owners that's far more days off the tools than they think.
- Start from cost, then add margin. Wage + overheads ÷ chargeable days = cost per day; price = cost per day ÷ (1 − margin).
- You can't charge 260 days a year. After holidays, weather, gaps and quoting days, many owners charge closer to 170–180.
- An employee costs more than their wage. Add employer NI, pension, holiday pay and unpaid time.
- Day rates are for small or unclear jobs and dayworks. Price bigger jobs by item or package, and charge for managing the job.
Ask ten builders what they charge a day and you'll get ten answers. Ask how they worked it out and most will say "that's what everyone round here charges".
That's the problem. Your van, your insurance, your gaps between jobs and the evenings you spend quoting aren't the same as anyone else's. If your day rate doesn't cover them, you're working for less than you think, and you'll only find out at the end of the year.
This guide shows how to work out your own builder day rate in four steps. Want us to check yours? Book a free strategy call.
Why "what others charge" is the wrong starting point
Online price guides and Facebook groups tell you what homeowners pay on average. They don't tell you what your day costs you. Take a builder with a new van on finance, a full-time labourer and a big insurance policy. They can't charge the same as a sole trader working from home and still make money.
Start from your own cost. Then check you can sell at that price. If you can't, the answer is to change how you sell or what work you take, not to work for less than it costs.
Step 1: count the days you can actually charge
There are about 260 weekdays in a year. You won't charge for all of them.
| Line | Example: owner-builder |
|---|---|
| Weekdays in a year | 260 |
| Holiday incl. bank holidays (5.6 weeks) | −28 |
| Weather, sick days, gaps between jobs | −12 |
| Site visits, quoting, admin, merchant runs (about 1 day a week) | −44 |
| Days you can charge | 176 |
The figures are illustrative. Track your own for two or three months: write down every day, charged or not. Most owners are shocked by how many days go on quoting and running around.
Working hard but not sure your day rate pays?
Book a free call with our team. We'll check your numbers and show you what your day should cost.
Step 2: add up what a year costs you
Two numbers: the wage you want to take home as the owner, and the overheads of running the business.
| Line | Example |
|---|---|
| Your wage (before tax) | £45,000 |
| Van, fuel, insurance and servicing | £6,000 |
| Public liability and other insurance | £1,500 |
| Tools and equipment | £1,500 |
| Phone, software, accountant | £2,500 |
| Marketing and website | £2,500 |
| Total yearly cost | £59,000 |
The example is illustrative. Use your own bank statements for the last 12 months.
Leaving your wage out and calling what's left "profit". Your wage is a cost of the business. Profit is what's left after you've been paid.
Step 3: turn it into a day rate
Divide the yearly cost by the days you can charge. Then add a margin, so the business makes a profit on top of paying you.
The formula is day rate = (wage + overheads) ÷ chargeable days ÷ (1 − margin). This is your minimum. Below it, you're paying to work.
Materials, skips, plant and subcontractors go on top, each with their own margin.
Not sure your day rate covers your costs?
Book a free strategy call and we'll work it out with you.
Step 4: price your team's days
An employee costs much more than their hourly wage. You pay employer National Insurance, pension and holiday, plus the hours you pay for but can't charge: travel, merchant runs, rain.
| Line | Example: one operative |
|---|---|
| Wage | £18 an hour |
| True cost per chargeable hour (NI, pension, holiday, unpaid time) | £27.40 |
| Cost of an 8-hour chargeable day | £219 |
| Price at a 30% margin (£219 ÷ 0.70) | £313 a day |
The £27.40 figure comes from the worked example in our electrical playbook, using 2026/27 rates. Work out your own with your accountant.
Day rate or fixed price: when to use which
A day rate is a tool, not a pricing system. Clients like it least on big jobs, because they carry all the risk of the job running over.
| Use a day rate for | Use a fixed price for |
|---|---|
| Small jobs of a day or two | Anything over a few days |
| Work where nobody can see the scope yet (strip-outs, repairs) | Work you can measure and price item by item |
| Dayworks on variations, agreed in writing first | Kitchens, bathrooms, extensions, refurbishments |
| Your own project management time, as a line | Whole projects priced by package |
Trade by trade, the same logic applies: see how to price bricklaying jobs and how to price tiling jobs.
On a fixed price, if you work efficiently you keep the difference. That's why growing builders move away from day rates: their rates library tells them what each item really takes, so they can price with confidence. Our guide to pricing building work shows the method.
Charge for running the job, not just doing it
As soon as you have more than one trade on a job, someone is organising them, ordering materials, meeting the client and checking quality. That's a day's work, and it should be paid.
Adam & Ali ran a building firm stuck at about £500K a year. They rebuilt their quotes with project management at £400 a day and profit as a fixed line. Within four months they signed a £528K project at about 34% margin. To get your own quotes checked, book a free strategy call.
£528K project at ~34% margin
Adam & Ali: quotes rebuilt with project management and profit as lines. Individual results, not typical or guaranteed.
Getting off the tools starts here. If your day rate only covers you on site, you can never afford to step off it. Our 12-week plan for getting off the tools shows the next steps. To check your margins across every job, see what margin a builder should make.
Sviat Jay runs a working construction company, Craftex, and mentors owners one-to-one, starting with their own numbers. To see where your business stands in 4 minutes, take the free Construction Business Scorecard.
The Builder's Pricing Playbook
How to build a rates library from your own jobs, price by package, add prelims, overheads and margin. 13 pages, free.
Get the free guideDay rate checklist
This is general information from a contractor's experience, not financial or tax advice. For your situation, speak to your accountant. On the tools and under £500K a year? Watch our free training first.
Before you go
- You know how many days you really charged last year
- Your wage is a cost in the day rate, not what's left over
- Overheads are added up from 12 months of statements
- A margin sits on top of your cost per day
- Bigger jobs are fixed-priced, with project management as a line
