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What should you charge per hour?

It's tempting to set a rate by looking at what competitors charge. Start from your own numbers instead: what you need to take home, what the business costs to run, and how many hours customers actually pay for.

Your numbers · example inputs
Minimum hourly rate to charge
$79.86
Revenue you need per year$115,000
Billable hours per year1,440
That's per 8-hour billable day$639

Billable hours are the hours a customer pays for. Driving, quoting, buying materials and paperwork aren't billable, which is why most owners need far fewer billable hours per week than they think.

How it's calculated

The math, in the open.

  • Revenue needed = (your pay + overhead) × (1 + profit %).
  • Billable hours per year = billable hours per week × weeks worked.
  • Minimum hourly rate = revenue needed ÷ billable hours per year.
  • If your market won't pay that rate, the fix is usually more billable hours (less drive time, fewer unpaid quote visits) or lower overhead, not working for less.

The calculator runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere.

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