How to Price a Job in the UK: Labour, Materials and Margin
A reliable price starts with the full cost of delivering the work, not a guess at what the customer may accept. Use your own rates, supplier prices and operating costs.
Build the direct cost
Estimate realistic labour time and multiply it by a labour rate that reflects wages or drawings, non-billable time and employment costs. Add materials, delivery, fuel or travel, parking, consumables and disposal. These small items can remove much of the profit from a short job when forgotten.
Allow for running the business
Overhead covers costs that cannot be assigned neatly to one job: insurance, vehicles, software, tools, premises, training and administration. A contingency can cover defined uncertainty, but it should not replace inspecting the scope or stating assumptions.
Markup, margin and final price
Markup is profit expressed as a percentage of cost. Margin is profit expressed as a percentage of selling price. They are not interchangeable. After overhead and profit treatment, establish whether VAT applies and state whether the customer price includes it. Decide whether a deposit is justified by materials, booking risk and cash flow.
Worked example
Labour: 8 hours × £38 = £304. Materials £185, delivery £20, travel £18, consumables £12 and disposal £15 produce direct costs of £554. Add 10% overhead (£55.40) for a £609.40 cost base. A 25% markup is £152.35, giving £761.75 net. Example VAT at 20% is £152.35, producing £914.10 total. A purely illustrative 25% booking payment is £228.53. Pricing varies by trade, region, specification and business model.
Avoid underquoting
Write down the scope, exclusions and assumptions; check access and lead times; include non-installation time; and review the finished calculation before creating paperwork. Replace every example figure with your own evidence.
Continue from guidance to your own figures
Use the free calculator with your own costs. Document credit use varies by the document type shown inside Cloudfyre.