Pricing your trade services for profit (UK & US)
The pricing frameworks used by pros turning over £100k+ solo — plus the mistakes killing your margins right now.
Cost-plus is killing you
Doubling your material cost is not a pricing strategy. It's guessing. You need day-rate, kit markup, and margin targets.
The 3-part price
Every job = labour (day rate × days) + materials (cost × 1.25) + overhead recovery (fixed £/job to cover van, insurance, tools). Skip any part and you're subsidising the customer.
Day-rate maths
Target salary + overhead + profit ÷ billable days = day rate. Most solo trades under-price by 30%. Fix this first.
Markup vs margin
1.25 markup = 20% margin. 1.5 markup = 33% margin. Learn the difference or you'll bleed money on every material line.
When to raise prices
Every January. And when you're at 90% booked for the next 4 weeks. If nobody complains you're too cheap.
How Absolutely helps
Templated line items with locked markup. Warnings if you're quoting below your target margin. Reports on effective hourly rate per job.
Ready to put this into practice?
Absolutely is free during early access. Templates, dispatch and invoicing built in.
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