BILLABLE HOURS GUIDE
How many billable hours per day should I expect when I’m self-employed?
Short answer: use the amount of time you can realistically sell after quoting, travel, purchasing, scheduling, administration, cleanup and callbacks are removed from the day.
An eight-hour day is not eight sellable hours
Self-employed owners often spend significant time on necessary work that cannot be billed directly to a customer. Treating every scheduled hour as billable can make your required rate look artificially low.
List your nonbillable time
- Driving between jobs or suppliers
- Preparing estimates and proposals
- Buying materials
- Scheduling and customer calls
- Bookkeeping and paperwork
- Cleanup, callbacks and warranty work
Estimate a realistic daily productive capacity
Start with your normal workday, subtract recurring nonbillable time, and use the remaining number for planning. Then compare it with actual job history and adjust.
Annual productive hours = productive hours/day × workdays/week × working weeks/year
Why this matters for pricing
Your overhead and desired owner income have to be recovered from the hours you can actually sell. Fewer productive hours usually means each productive hour needs to contribute more.
Use your own numbers
JJL Business Tools turns these ideas into practical targets using your actual costs, time and income goals.
Run the free JJL Profit Checkup