Free tool
Tradie Hourly Rate Calculator
Find a charge-out rate that covers your costs, tax and downtime, not just your wage.
Charge this per hour
$100 /hr
Ex GST. If you're registered for GST, add 10% on top when you invoice.
$138,000
you need to bill a year
1380
billable hours a year
A guide only. The trick most tradies miss is billable hours: you might work 40+ hours, but only invoice 30 once travel, quoting and admin are taken out, so your rate has to cover the rest. Not tax advice.
This exact calculator lives inside ONARA Ops too, where it pre-fills your real business costs and your real billable hours from your own books and timesheets, then sets the rate on your team in one tap. See ONARA’s pricing tools.
The number that catches most tradies out isn't the wage, it's the billable hours. You might be on the go 45 hours a week, but once you take out travel, quoting, chasing invoices and paperwork, you might only invoice 30. Your rate has to earn a full living inside those hours and pay for everything else too.
This calculator works backwards: from the wage you want to keep, your business costs, and what you set aside for tax, to the hourly charge-out rate that gets you there. It's the honest starting point, then you adjust for your market.
Frequently asked questions
How much should a tradie charge per hour?
It depends on your costs, not a magic number. Your charge-out rate has to cover the wage you want to take home, your business overheads, tax, and the hours you can't invoice (travel, quoting, admin). This calculator works backwards from those to a rate that leaves you with what you actually want.
What's the difference between my wage and my charge-out rate?
Your wage is what you want to keep. Your charge-out rate is what you bill customers, and it has to be much higher, because it also pays for your ute, tools, insurance, phone, software, super, tax, and the unbillable hours between jobs.
Why can't I just charge what an employee earns per hour?
Because an employee's hourly wage doesn't carry their overheads, super, tax, tools, insurance or downtime, their employer does. When you work for yourself, your rate has to carry all of that, which is why a fair charge-out rate is often two to three times a wage.
Should I add GST on top of this rate?
This calculator gives an ex-GST rate. If you're registered for GST (required over $75,000 turnover), add 10% on top when you invoice. ONARA Ops handles that automatically.
Stop doing this by hand
ONARA Ops quotes, invoices and works out GST for you, on your own brand, one flat price for the whole team. First month free.
Start freeWorking out whether to go out on your own? Here’s what to sort first