CONTRACTOR PRICING GUIDE
How Much Should a Contractor Charge Per Hour?
There is no responsible universal hourly number. Two contractors doing the same trade can need very different prices because their costs, productive capacity, crew and owner-income goals are different.
Start with your own numbers
Your required productive-hour contribution depends on annual overhead, owner compensation, profit target and how many real customer-job hours the business can produce. Direct materials and subcontractors must also be recovered in the gross selling price.
Paid hours are not automatically productive hours
Quoting, administration, travel, material runs, training and callbacks consume capacity. Pricing as though every paid hour is billable can make a reasonable-looking hourly rate financially weak.
Do not confuse contribution with take-home pay
Money remaining after direct job costs is not necessarily owner profit. It still has to carry company overhead, owner compensation and the profit cushion in your business plan.