Hourly rate calculator
What should you charge per hour?
Plug in your income goal, overheads and billable hours. We'll work out the charge-out rate that actually covers it all — tax, super, downtime, the lot.
Your numbers
Default values work for most solo trades — adjust to your reality.
What you want to actually put in your pocket for the year.
Van, fuel, insurance, phone, software, tools, accountant, marketing.
52 – holiday – sick. Typical is 44–48.
Total hours you're available to work, not just billable.
Most tradies bill 60–70%. The rest is quotes, admin, travel, parts pick-up.
Extra on top for growth, equipment, slow weeks. 10–20% is healthy.
12% from 1 July 2025 (ATO). Sole traders can skip if not paying self.
Changes how tax is calculated on gross income.
Your hourly rate should be
$0
Charge this much per billable hour to hit your goal.
Breakdown
| Component | Annual $ | Per billable hour |
|---|
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How this works
Your charge-out rate has to cover four things, not one:
- What you want to take home — after tax, after everything.
- The tax you'll pay to get to that take-home (ATO brackets for 2025–26).
- Running the business — the van, insurance, phone, software, accountant.
- Super + a profit buffer — for slow weeks, new tools, growth.
We add those up, then divide by your billable hours — not every hour you're awake. A 45-hour week at 65% billable is really about 29 paid hours. That's why the number often looks higher than a PAYG wage.
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