What Is A Reasonable Rate For Self Employed Carpenter

[Louise07]

hi everyone, my hubby has just started up as a self employed carpenter after being employed as one for last 15 years but is not too sure on pricing. i was wondering what kind of day / hour rate is reasonable to cover costs but to earn a decent living. we are in a rural location in the east of uk. so far he has been getting lots of jobs so am wondering if could be he is charging a bit too low. he has been told he charged very reasonable

[bert_h]

£20/hr is rock-bottom price to hire anybody to do anything. If your skills are exceptional, £25 or even £30 would be quite reasonable. Commercial enterprises seldom hire out their trained personnel for less than £80/hr.

[craft1948]

My builder charges £100 per day, as does my decorator.

[Graham-W]

You need to allow for wear and tear on his equipment, expenses to cover his van, income tax, national insurance, third party insurance, pension contributions and something to put on one side for sick pay.
I'd say a minimum of £20 per hour including travelling time. If there's a lot of competition in the area, a little less but if little competition, a bit more would be acceptable.

[magsmay]

Louise -you asked this question before, and got some detailed answers to which you did not reply or thank anyone -I suggest you go look at your previous post as I'm not about to waste my time again.

[EcclesCake]

I've seen a number of your posts and I have to say that I am a tad concerned that you and your Husband are not fully equipped to be going self employed as many of your questions are worryingly simplistic.

My suggestion is a little underhand but have a look aroun your house or (preferably) that of a friend for a suitable project for your Husband to do. Once you've identified a suitable package of work get your Husband to cost and quote for it; separating labour from materials. Then get in a couple of local companies to quote. Compare their quote to that of your Husband to see how far adrift they are, do take account of VAT though.

Good luck.