Day rate calculator

What day rate do you actually need to charge?

UK day rate calculator for trades and service businesses

Work out the day rate that covers your annual costs, your target profit and your tax position. Useful if you quote in days rather than hours, or want to sanity-check the rates you're already using.

Free to use · Runs entirely in your browser · No signup required

Annual costs (van, insurance, tools, fuel, software)

£35,000

£5000£200000

Target profit

£15,000

£0£150000

Tax rate

20%

050

Billable days per year

180days/year

100240

Day rate

£299

What you need to quote per day to hit your target.

Half-day rate

£149

Weekly revenue (5 days)

£1,493

Annual revenue needed

£53,750

Indicative calculation only — does not account for VAT, materials markup, holiday or sickness reserves. Sanity-check against your actual figures.

Why day rates can be misleading

A day rate looks cleaner than an hourly rate — one number, one figure to quote. But the maths underneath is exactly the same. The mistake most people make is assuming 200+ billable days a year. The reality for most UK trades and service businesses is somewhere between 160 and 200 billable days, once you take out holiday, sickness, slow weeks, training and admin.

If your day rate calculation assumes 240 billable days a year, you're going to come up short. Use the slider to put a realistic number in — most owners settle around 180 days.

Convert your real income target backwards into a day rate
Use 160–200 billable days as the realistic range, not 240+
Treat half-days separately if you do partial-day callouts
Recalculate annually as costs and personal income targets shift

Common questions

How many billable days should I assume?

Most UK trades and service businesses settle on 160–200 billable days a year, depending on the type of work. Multi-day project businesses tend toward the higher end; reactive callout businesses tend lower because of slack between jobs.

Should I quote half-days?

Yes if it suits your work pattern. Half-day rates are typically 55–65% of the day rate (not 50%) to reflect the fixed overhead of any visit. Cushty's number is half the day rate as a starting point.

Do I add VAT?

If VAT registered, yes — quote the rate ex-VAT and add VAT on the invoice. If not registered, the calculated rate is the all-in price.

My competitors charge less per day — does that matter?

It matters less than people think. The customer who books on price is the one who'll haggle, query the invoice, and not book again. A rate that hits your real numbers is sustainable; a rate that doesn't, isn't.

Other free tools

Calculators and generators we built for UK service businesses. All free, all in-browser, no signup.

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VAT calculator

Add or remove UK VAT at 20%, 5% or 0% — fast.

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Invoice generator

Build a branded UK invoice in your browser. Print to PDF, no signup.

Invoice generator →

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Why day rates can be misleading

If your day rate calculation assumes 240 billable days a year, you're going to come up short. Use the slider to put a realistic number in — most owners settle around 180 days.

Convert your real income target backwards into a day rate

Use 160–200 billable days as the realistic range, not 240+

Treat half-days separately if you do partial-day callouts

Recalculate annually as costs and personal income targets shift