Core Pricing Guides
Day Rate vs Price Work vs Quoted: Which Is Best for You?
You've got three main ways to charge for your time: day rate, price work, and fixed quotes. Each has its place, and each carries different risks for you.
How to Price Your First Job: Without Underselling Yourself
If you start too cheap, it's hard to climb back up. You want a price that covers your costs, pays you properly, and still feels fair to the customer.
When to Raise Your Prices: And How to Tell Customers
If you haven't raised your prices for 2-3 years, you're almost certainly working for less in real terms than when you started.
Why You Should Never Be the Cheapest Quote
Research shows nearly 58% of UK consumers say they've had a bad experience with a tradesperson — poor workmanship, incomplete jobs, or not meeting the spec.
How to Explain Your Price: When They Say "That's a Lot"
A customer says your quote is too much. How to calmly explain what they're getting, why the cheap quote isn't cheap, and when to let them walk without discount.
Pricing Domestic vs Commercial: The Key Differences
Domestic work is about people, kitchens and cash-in-hand risk; commercial is about contracts, retentions and long payment chains.
What a Cheap Quote Signals to Customers: And Why They Walk Away
Customers are not stupid: when your quote is way lower than the others, most decent people assume something is wrong, not that you're a secret bargain.
Materials: Who Supplies and Who Pays? Getting It in Writing
On most UK jobs, you're expected to take charge of materials and make a fair margin on them.
How to Price Extras and Variations: Without the "We Agreed a Price" Row
You protect yourself on extras by treating them like mini-jobs: write them down, price them clearly, and get a "yes" before you lift a tool.
Cashflow and Pricing: Why Winning the Job Can Bankrupt You
A job can show a paper profit and still leave you skint if the money comes in late, in dribs and drabs, or after you've already paid everyone else.
Trade-Specific Pricing Guides
What Plumbers Actually Charge: UK Day Rates and Job Prices
This guide is for UK plumbers and heating engineers (not gas-only) working mostly in domestic work.
What Electricians Actually Charge: UK Day Rates and Job Prices
Realistic 2026 day rates for UK electricians, common job prices, how other sparks charge, and how materials and margins usually work.
What Bricklayers Actually Charge: UK Day Rates and Job Prices
This guide is for UK bricklayers (brick and block) doing domestic and small commercial work.
What Plasterers Actually Charge: UK Day Rates and Job Prices
This guide is for plasterers doing domestic work - skimming, boarding, rendering and dry lining.
What Carpenters Actually Charge: UK Day Rates and Job Prices
You price carpentry in 2026 off roughly a £250-£350 day rate outside London and around £300-£400 in London, then build fixed prices for the common jobs most homeowners ask for.
What Painters and Decorators Actually Charge: UK Day Rates and Job Prices
If you're under £200/day in 2026, you're probably paying yourself less than a labourer once you strip out costs. Figures are labour-only, pre-VAT.
What Roofers Actually Charge: UK Day Rates and Job Prices
Roofing money looks big on paper, but the risk, weather and cashflow can chew it up fast.
What Tilers Actually Charge: UK Day Rates and Job Prices
From trade threads and cost guides: many UK tilers in 2026 charge £200-£300/day, with faster or specialist tilers in busy areas going higher.
What Landscapers Actually Charge: UK Day Rates and Job Prices
For landscaping, you've got a wide spread: small garden jobs at £200–£400 a day, big makeovers in the tens of thousands.
What Kitchen and Bathroom Fitters Actually Charge: UK Prices
In 2026 the day rates are higher, the jobs are longer, and the risk if you under-price is huge. All figures are labour-only, pre-VAT.
What General Builders Actually Charge: UK Day Rates and Job Prices
General builders sit in the middle of everything: you're project-managing, taking the risk, and stitching all the other trades together.
What Heating Engineers Actually Charge: UK Day Rates and Job Prices
Heating is where the money should be in 2026 -- especially if you're doing boilers and low-carbon -- but only if your day rate and job prices match the risk you're carrying.
Just starting out? These templates are also available in the After Your Apprenticeship section, along with 20 guides covering everything from your first quote to your 5-year plan. →