// FREE TOOL
Charge-out rate calculator: what to charge per hour and per day
A charge-out rate is the hourly amount a trade business bills customers. It is not the tradesperson's wage: it must also cover super, overheads, unbillable hours and profit margin. Pick your trade below, adjust the numbers to yours, and get your minimum hourly rate plus the matching 8-hour day rate. Free, no signup, nothing saved or sent anywhere.
// THE CALCULATOR
Work out your rate
Your trade prefills typical Australian overheads; change any number to yours. The result updates as you type.
Your minimum charge-out rate
- Your day rate (8 hours on site)
- $835
- Break-even: below this you are paying to work
- $90/hr
- Revenue you need in an average working week
- $3,120
Typical charged rates for electricians in Australia are $80 to $150/hr (see the full electricians rate guide).
// BELOW THE AWARD COST FLOOR
This is below what an employer must pay a qualified electrician before any overheads. Something in your inputs is too low.
That is above nearly all market rates; check your billable hours.
A charge-out rate is not a wage. It is your wage plus super, plus business overheads, spread over only the hours you can invoice, plus a profit margin. Most sole traders can bill about 30 hours a week for about 46 weeks a year, which is why a $90,000 wage needs a charge-out rate far above $45 an hour.
All calculator outputs are ex GST. GST-registered tradies add 10% on top of invoices, not inside this rate. The 30-hour billable default is an editorial assumption, not a published statistic; adjust it to your real week. Nothing you enter is saved or sent anywhere.
// THE FORMULA
The maths, in one block
All amounts are annual and ex GST. Working weeks are 52 minus your weeks off, and super is the 12% super guarantee.
wages cost = wage + (wage x 0.12 super)
total cost = wages cost + overheads
billable hours = hours per week x (52 - weeks off)
break-even rate = total cost / billable hours
charge-out rate = break-even rate x (1 + margin)
day rate = charge-out rate x 8Rates are rounded up to the next whole dollar and the day rate up to the next $5, never down. Rounding a break-even figure down is telling a tradie to lose money, so this calculator does not do it.
Crew mode ("I have people on the tools") changes two lines: wages cost gains crew size x crew wage x 1.12 super x 1.25, and billable hours are multiplied by (1 + crew size x 0.9). The 1.25 loading covers leave, workers comp and downtime; the 0.9 is because a hired tradie bills about 90% of the owner's hours while the owner quotes and supervises. Both factors are editorial assumptions, not published statistics. With the toggle off, the block above is the whole formula.
// WORKED EXAMPLES
Three rates, worked in full
The same arithmetic the calculator runs, written out so you can check every line.
Worked example 1: sole-trader electrician on a $100,000 wage
Inputs: wage $100,000, super on, overheads $23,000 (the electrician preset), 30 billable hours a week, 6 weeks off, 15% margin.
Wages cost = 100,000 x 1.12 = $112,000
Total cost = 112,000 + 23,000 = $135,000
Billable hours = 30 x (52 - 6) = 1,380 hrs
Break-even = 135,000 / 1,380 = $97.83 -> $98/hr
Charge-out = 97.83 x 1.15 = $112.50 -> $113/hr
Day rate = 113 x 8 = $904 -> $905/daySanity check: $113 an hour sits inside the $80 to $150 an hour band electricians charge across Australia, and far above the $36.05 an hour bare cost of employing a licensed electrician (award rate $32.19 plus 12% super).
Worked example 2: sole-trader handyman with lean overheads
Inputs: wage $75,000, super on, overheads $18,000 (the handyman preset), 32 billable hours a week, 5 weeks off, 10% margin.
Wages cost = 75,000 x 1.12 = $84,000
Total cost = 84,000 + 18,000 = $102,000
Billable hours = 32 x (52 - 5) = 1,504 hrs
Break-even = 102,000 / 1,504 = $67.82 -> $68/hr
Charge-out = 67.82 x 1.10 = $74.60 -> $75/hr
Day rate = 75 x 8 = $600/dayThat $75 an hour is above the roughly $60 an hour average handymen actually charge, and that is exactly the point. The market average does not fund super, leave or a ute replacement; the calculator shows the gap instead of hiding it. The $600 day rate also lands inside the $600 to $1000+ full-day band Airtasker publishes, which corroborates the model.
Worked example 3: plumber with one employed tradesperson (crew mode)
Inputs: owner wage $110,000, one person on the tools at $80,000, super on, overheads $36,000 (the plumber preset plus $12,000 for a second vehicle and tools, an assumption), 30 owner billable hours a week, 6 weeks off, 15% margin.
Owner wages = 110,000 x 1.12 = $123,200
Employee cost = 80,000 x 1.12 x 1.25 = $112,000
Total cost = 123,200 + 112,000 + 36,000 = $271,200
Billable hours = 1,380 x (1 + 0.9) = 2,622 hrs
Break-even = 271,200 / 2,622 = $103.43 -> $104/hr
Charge-out = 103.43 x 1.15 = $118.95 -> $119/hr blended
Day rate = 119 x 8 = $952 -> $955/dayThe 1.25 on the employee line loads leave, workers comp and downtime, and the 0.9 behind the billable line is because a hired tradie bills about 90% of the owner's hours. Both are assumptions, flagged the same way in the calculator. Sanity check: the $119 an hour blended rate sits right on the $120 an hour typical plumber rate, inside the $80 to $150 an hour band plumbers charge across Australia.
// CHARGE IT, THEN WIN IT
A rate only works if the work keeps coming
Knowing your number is half the job. The other half is winning enough of the right enquiries that you never have to discount below it. That is the part we build.
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// SOURCES
Where the numbers come from
The market rate bands and overhead presets come from the Australian Tradie Rates and Benchmarks dataset behind our rates and benchmarks pages, compiled August 2026. Award cost floors are read from official Fair Work pay guides effective 1 July 2026, and the 12% super guarantee is the rate published by the ATO. This dataset is reviewed and republished every July following the Fair Work annual wage review.
// COMMON QUESTIONS
Charge-out rate questions
Anything the calculator did not answer? Ask us directly and we'll give you a straight answer, no jargon, no pressure.
Get in touchWhat is a charge-out rate?
A charge-out rate is the hourly amount a trade business bills customers. It is not the tradesperson’s wage: it also has to cover super, business overheads, the hours that cannot be invoiced, and a profit margin.
How do I calculate my charge-out rate?
Add 12% super to the annual wage you want, add your business overheads, then divide by the hours you can invoice in a year (weekly billable hours times working weeks). Add a 10 to 20% profit margin on top. Multiply the hourly result by 8 for a day rate.
Is a charge-out rate ex GST?
Yes. Work your charge-out rate out ex GST. If your business is GST registered, add 10% on top of each invoice. GST is money you collect for the ATO, not income, so it never belongs inside the rate itself.
Why is a charge-out rate so much higher than a wage?
The wage is only one cost. On top come 12% super, the ute, insurance, tools and licences, plus every unpaid hour spent quoting, driving and doing paperwork. Spread across roughly 1,380 billable hours a year, those costs push the rate far above the equivalent wage.