How Much Should a Tradie Charge Per Hour in Australia? (2026 Guide)

Most tradies pick an hourly rate by copying the bloke down the road. That is how you end up busy and broke. Here is how to work out a charge-out rate that actually pays you a wage, covers the business, and leaves something over.

What you earn is not what you charge

The single biggest mistake is treating your hourly rate like a wage. If you want to take home the equivalent of $45 an hour, charging $45 an hour will send you broke. That figure has to cover a lot more than the money that lands in your account.

Think of your rate as three stacked layers. First, the wage you want for yourself. Second, the cost of running the business, from the ute to the insurance. Third, the hours in your week that nobody pays for. Add tax and super on top, and the number you charge a customer is usually two to three times the wage you are trying to pay yourself. That is normal. Anyone charging close to their own wage is quietly subsidising their customers.

Count the overheads you always forget

Overheads are the costs you carry whether or not the phone rings. They do not disappear on a quiet week, so every billable hour has to chip in towards them. Sit down once a year and add up the real number instead of guessing.

• Vehicle: rego, insurance, fuel, servicing, tyres, and finance or depreciation on the ute.
• Tools and equipment: replacement, repairs, calibration, hire, and the gear that wears out.
• Insurance: public liability, professional indemnity if you need it, and income protection.
• Licences and registration: trade licence, association fees, white card renewals.
• Phone, software and admin: your mobile plan, job-management software, accounting fees.
• Marketing: website, listings, signage, and the odd sponsored post.
• Consumables: gloves, blades, silicone, fixings, and the small stuff that never gets billed properly.

Add it all up and divide by the hours you can actually bill in a year. That per-hour overhead figure gets added to your target wage before you go anywhere near a customer's quote. Miss it, and every job quietly eats into your own pay.

Billable hours are fewer than you think

A working week looks like 40 hours. The hours you can charge for are nowhere near that. Quoting, driving between jobs, chasing invoices, buying materials, cleaning the van, doing the books, and the gaps between jobs are all real work, and none of it goes on an invoice.

For a lot of sole traders, only 25 to 30 hours of a 40-hour week end up billable. Some weeks it is less. If you build your rate assuming 40 billable hours, you have already underpriced yourself by a quarter before you start. Work out your own ratio honestly. Track a fortnight of what you actually charge for versus what you actually work, and use that real figure. If you charge for 28 hours out of 40, your overheads and wage have to be recovered across those 28, not all 40.

Do not forget tax and super

The money you charge is not yours to keep. As a sole trader you pay income tax on your profit, and once you turn over $75,000 a year you must register for GST and add 10 per cent on top, which you then hand to the ATO. GST is not income, so keep it separate the moment it lands.

Then there is super. Nobody pays it for you, so if you want the same retirement cover an employee gets, you fund it yourself out of what you charge. A sensible habit is to set aside a fixed slice of every invoice for tax and another for super the day you get paid, rather than finding out at tax time that it was all spent. Build both into your rate from the start so the money is there when the bill arrives.

Worked examples by trade

These are illustrations of the method, not quotes to copy. Your real numbers depend on your city, your overheads and your trade. The point is the shape of the sum.

Solo electrician. Say you want a take-home wage of $80,000 a year. Add roughly $30,000 of overheads for the van, insurance, licences and software. Now spread that across maybe 1,300 billable hours a year, not the 1,900 you actually work. Before tax and profit margin, you are already looking at a charge-out rate well north of $80 an hour. Add tax, super and a small buffer and a three-figure hourly rate is not greedy, it is arithmetic.

Landscaper with a labourer. Now you carry a second wage, more consumables, a trailer and more fuel. The labourer's cost has to be recovered through what you charge for their time, with a margin on top, or you are paying to employ them. Charging out a second person at cost is a common way to look busy and go backwards.

Handyman doing small jobs. Short jobs mean more travel and more quoting per billable hour, so your billable ratio is worse. A day of five small jobs across town might only bill three hours. If your rate does not account for that, the driving eats your day. Many handymen fix this with a minimum call-out fee so a ten-minute job still covers the trip.

How to stop undercharging

Undercharging is rarely about the number on the quote. It is about not knowing your real costs, so you guess low to win the job. Once you have done the sum above, you can hold your rate with a straight face because you know what is behind it.

• Work out your real hourly cost before you quote anything, then never quote below it.
• Charge a call-out or minimum fee so short jobs cover the travel.
• Review your rate at least once a year. Fuel, insurance and materials all climb.
• Quote the value and the scope, not just the hours, so price is not the only thing on the table.
• Stop matching the cheapest quote in the area. You do not know their costs, and they might be going broke too.

If you want the maths done for you, our free tradie hourly rate calculator takes your wage, overheads and billable hours and gives you a floor to price from. Use it as a starting point, then adjust for your trade and your market.

Frequently asked questions

Is my charge-out rate the same as my wage? No. Your charge-out rate has to cover your wage plus overheads, tax, super and unbilled hours. The rate a customer pays is usually two to three times the hourly wage you take home, and that is normal.

How many hours a week can I actually bill? Fewer than you work. Once you take out quoting, travel, buying materials and admin, many sole traders bill 25 to 30 hours from a 40-hour week. Track your own for a fortnight and use the real figure.

When do I have to charge GST? Once your business turns over $75,000 or more in a year you must register for GST and add 10 per cent to your invoices, which you pass on to the ATO. Below that it is optional. GST is not your money, so keep it aside as it comes in.