Are You Undercharging? How to Price Trade Jobs Without Guessing

Are You Undercharging? How to Price Trade Jobs Without Guessing

You've looked at the job.

You know roughly how long it will take.

You know you'll need some materials.

Then comes the uncomfortable question:

What do I actually charge?

For many electricians, plumbers, decorators, builders, plasterers and other small trade businesses, pricing is still based partly on experience and partly on instinct.

And tradespeople are openly discussing that problem.

In July 2026, a UK electrician described his own pricing process as feeling “a little bit flakey” after adding labour, materials and whatever extra amount seemed appropriate. Other electricians in the discussion pointed out that a viable rate also has to account for time that cannot always be billed directly — such as quoting, travelling, collecting materials, training, maintaining tools and vehicles, cancellations and administration.

Another UK electrician recently described pricing as feeling like “a number I pull out my arse”, especially when trying to decide whether to charge by the hour, day or individual accessory.

Decorators have raised the same problem. In a May 2026 ConstructionUK discussion, two people moving from informal residential work into a more professional business said they had previously been “eye balling” their prices. Advice in the discussion was to understand costs, add profit and develop standard rates for repeatable parts of the work.

So this isn't really a question of:

“What does an electrician charge?”

It's a more important business question:

Do you have a repeatable way of building your price — or are you inventing the number again every time?

Why tradespeople end up undercharging

Imagine you're quoting an electrical first-fix.

You think:

“It should take about a day.”

You add your day rate.

Then you add the obvious materials.

Quote sent.

But what about:

• collecting the materials;
• small electrical sundries;
• fixings and consumables;
• fuel;
• parking;
• quoting time;
• an assistant or subcontractor;
• waste;
• call-backs;
• insurance;
• tools;
• bookkeeping;
• time between jobs;
• holidays and sickness;
• jobs that overrun?

Those costs don't disappear simply because they aren't obvious on the customer's invoice.

Business pricing guidance makes the same distinction between direct costs, such as materials and direct labour, and fixed costs or overheads, which continue whether a particular job is being completed or not. A sustainable selling price therefore has to cover more than the obvious material bill.

This is exactly why a £300 job can feel profitable while you're working...

and look very different once all the time and costs surrounding it are considered.

The first improvement: stop rebuilding your prices from memory

One useful step is creating a repeatable price list.

Instead of thinking:

“What did I charge for an RCBO last time?”

or:

“Was my electrical call-out £80 or £90?”

you can save commonly used products and services.

For example, your Love Invoicing demo Price List contains:

• Electrical Sundries
• Consumer Unit Installation Labour
• RCBO
• 2.5mm Twin & Earth Cable
• LED Downlight
• Double Socket
• Electrical Call-Out
• Electrician Labour
• Electrician Labour — Full Day

That starts creating something far more valuable than a collection of prices.

It becomes your business rate book.

Prices shown are demonstration values only and are not recommended market rates.*

Build a rate book for the work you actually sell

This approach isn't theoretical.

In recent construction discussions, tradespeople have specifically recommended building standard rates for repeatable work rather than calculating everything from scratch. One ConstructionUK discussion suggested developing base rates for repeatable elements of decorating work, while electricians have discussed pricing labour separately from materials and named components.

For an electrician, that might include:

Labour

• Electrician Labour — hourly
• Electrician Labour — full day
• Electrical Call-Out
• Consumer Unit Installation Labour

Materials

• Double Socket
• LED Downlight
• RCBO
• Cable per metre

Smaller job costs

• Electrical Sundries
• Fixings
• Connectors
• Testing or certification where applicable

A plumber's list might instead contain:

Plumber Labour → Copper Pipe → Isolation Valve → Fittings → Call-Out

A plasterer could build:

Plasterer Labour → Multi-Finish → PVA → Beading → Preparation → Waste

A roofer might have:

Roofer Labour → Tiles → Membrane → Battens → Lead → Scaffolding → Waste

The principle stays the same:

Turn the things you repeatedly buy and repeatedly do into reusable pricing building blocks.

Labour and materials should not become one mystery number

There isn't one universally correct pricing method for every trade or every job.

Recent electricians discussing job pricing use several different methods:

• hourly labour plus materials;
• day rates;
• prices per accessory or point;
• fixed-price jobs;
• material mark-ups;
• or combinations of these approaches.

The important part is understanding how your final figure was reached.

Consider the demonstration quote you've created in Love Invoicing.

Electrical first-fix example

Consumer Unit Installation Labour
£350.00

RCBO
£32.00

Electrical Sundries
£25.00

That produces:

Subtotal: £407.00

VAT at 20%:

£407 × 20% = £81.40

Total:

£407 + £81.40 = £488.40

Now the £488.40 quote isn't a random number.

You can see what produced it.

A detailed quote also makes pricing easier to review

This matters later.

Suppose you return to this job three months from now and realise:

£488.40 wasn't enough.

If the original quote simply said:

Electrical Work — £488.40

you've learned almost nothing.

But if it says:

• Labour £350
• RCBO £32
• Sundries £25

you can ask better questions.

Was the labour allowance too low?

Did the job consume more materials than expected?

Did you forget another item completely?

Was a £25 sundries allowance unrealistic?

Should the labour rate change?

This is the beginning of better job costing for tradespeople.

Not because software magically tells you what to charge, but because you now have a consistent structure that can be reviewed and improved.

A contractor discussing job pricing in July 2026 gave similar advice: start tracking the hours and materials used on jobs so you understand what they actually cost rather than continuously estimating from memory. Reddit*

Price the job, not just your time on site

This is where many small trades businesses make a mistake.

If the physical job takes six hours, they price six hours.

But perhaps that job also required:

30 minutes answering the enquiry

45 minutes visiting the property

30 minutes creating the quote

45 minutes collecting materials

30 minutes driving to the job

6 hours doing the work

30 minutes clearing up

20 minutes creating the invoice

The customer saw six hours of trade work.

The business may have spent closer to nine hours delivering the sale.

That does not mean every minute has to appear as a separate customer line item.

It means your underlying labour rate needs to make commercial sense.

One UK electrician specifically highlighted this issue in July 2026, noting that rates have to support unbillable activities including quoting, training, obtaining materials, transport, travel and administration as well as holidays, sickness and downtime. Reddit*

So:

£35/hour × visible site hours

is not necessarily the same thing as:

the rate the business actually needs to survive.

Don't forget worker and subcontractor costs

The calculation becomes even more important when you have a team.

If somebody else is carrying out the work, their cost still belongs somewhere in your commercial thinking.

Your Love Invoicing Team area lets the business configure pay information for a team member.

For example, your screenshot shows:

Worker: John Smith

Pay Type: Contractor (Per Job)

Pay Method: Manual per job

Base Rate: £100

That doesn't automatically mean the £100 is your entire labour cost.

But it gives the business a defined worker-pay record rather than relying entirely on memory.

Important: Love Invoicing does not currently calculate your profit for you

This article should be clear about this.

Love Invoicing can help you:

• build reusable prices;
• separate products and services;
• select saved items when quoting;
• itemise labour and materials;
• calculate quote totals and VAT;
• set quote validity dates;
• configure team pay information;
• turn accepted quotes into jobs;
• track the job through completion;
• and create the invoice from that workflow.

But based on the current product shown here, Love Invoicing is not claiming to automatically calculate the final net profit or gross margin of each job.

You still need to know your own:

• overheads;
• actual material costs;
• labour costs;
• desired margin;
• tax position;
• vehicle costs;
• insurance;
• non-billable time;
• and other business expenses.

That's important because pricing software should help you make better decisions — not give you false confidence.

Set an expiry date instead of leaving prices open forever

Pricing isn't static.

Materials change.

Labour rates change.

Supplier discounts change.

Availability changes.

Your own costs change.

Your quote therefore shouldn't necessarily remain available forever.

Love Invoicing lets you set a Valid Until date.

Your demonstration quote is:

Created: 22 August 2026

Valid until: 31 August 2026

Business.gov.uk also recommends considering price validity periods, particularly where changing input costs could make a previously agreed price unattractive later. Business Growth*

The quote should move into the job - not disappear into paperwork

Pricing is only the beginning.

Once the customer accepts the quote, Love Invoicing can show:

Accepted — Ready for next step

with:

Create Invoice

or

Create Job

For work that still needs to be carried out, creating the job keeps the commercial process connected to the operational work.

Instead of:

Quote in one app → job in diary → invoice built manually later

you can move:

Quote → Job → Invoice

Compare what you estimated with what happened

This is where better pricing starts becoming a feedback loop.

The job enters:

Scheduled

then:

In Progress

then:

Completed

Your screenshots show the 1st Fix moving through exactly that process.

If jobs constantly take longer than expected, that's useful information.

If a type of work repeatedly requires extra materials, that's useful information.

If a £350 labour allowance keeps turning into two days of work, the problem isn't the customer.

Your pricing needs updating.

A good rate book shouldn't be frozen forever.

It should improve as the business gains evidence from real jobs.

Completed job? Finish the commercial loop

When the work is completed, the process should not end with:

“I'll sort the invoice tonight.”

Your screenshot shows the push notification:

Job completed

1st Fix is complete. Create the invoice now.

The invoice can then carry the same job title and amount forward.

Your new invoice shows:

1st Fix

Total £488.40

That closes the loop:

Price List → Quote → Accepted → Job → Completed → Invoice

A better pricing workflow for tradespeople

Instead of this:

Look at job → guess price → send WhatsApp message → hope it worked out

build a repeatable process.

1. Know what your labour needs to earn

Consider not only time on the tools, but also the surrounding costs of running the business.

2. Build reusable labour rates

Examples:

Hourly labour

Full-day labour

Call-out

Specific installation labour

3. Save commonly used materials

Cable.

Fittings.

Sockets.

Valves.

Plaster.

Tiles.

Membrane.

Sundries.

Whatever your trade repeatedly uses.

4. Build the quote from those items

Don't reinvent common prices every time.

5. Add anything specific to that particular job

Every job is different.

Your saved price list is a starting point, not a substitute for inspecting the work.

6. Check the full total

Ask:

Does this actually cover what the business needs?

7. Give the quote a validity period

Don't leave prices open indefinitely.

8. Convert accepted work into a job

Keep what you sold connected with what you deliver.

9. Observe what actually happened

Did it take longer?

Did you use more material?

Did another worker become necessary?

10. Update your future pricing

This is how instinct becomes a pricing system.

Should you simply copy another tradesperson's rates?

No.

And this is where internet conversations about pricing can become dangerous.

Someone saying:

“I charge £450 per day.”

doesn't tell you:

• where they live;
• what insurance they carry;
• what van they run;
• whether they employ anyone;
• their qualifications;
• their overhead;
• how much work they have;
• how much time they spend quoting;
• whether they charge VAT;
• what level of service they provide;
• or how profitable their business actually is.

Recent ElectriciansUK discussions illustrate exactly this variation: rates quoted by tradespeople differed considerably depending on region, demand, experience and business circumstances.

So don't copy the £55/hour shown in our screenshots either.

Those are demonstration values, not Love Invoicing's recommendation for what an electrician should charge.

The important feature is the ability to save your rate.

Pricing too low can be more dangerous than losing an occasional quote

Most tradespeople naturally worry about being too expensive.

That's understandable.

But there is another risk:

winning work that doesn't make enough money.

Business pricing guidance is very clear on the underlying principle: a selling price needs to cover the costs of supplying the product or service and provide room for profit. Pricing too low reduces profitability and can ultimately damage the viability of the business.

Winning every quote is therefore not necessarily a sign of perfect pricing.

If every customer immediately says:

“Yes, that's cheap!”

you may have a different problem.

The goal isn't the cheapest quote

A professional pricing system should help you answer four questions:

What are we selling?

Clearly defined labour, products and services.

What does it cost us?

Materials, workers and wider business costs.

What do we need to charge?

Enough to operate sustainably and produce the return the business needs.

Can we explain the customer's price clearly?

The customer should receive a professional quote rather than a mystery figure.

That is a much stronger foundation than:

“This feels like about £500.”

Frequently Asked Questions

How should tradespeople price a job?

There is no single pricing method suitable for every trade or every type of work. Common approaches include hourly rates, day rates, fixed prices, per-item rates and labour-plus-material pricing. The important part is understanding your costs and ensuring your selling price supports the business.

Why do tradespeople undercharge?

Common causes include forgetting non-billable time, underestimating job duration, missing small materials, failing to account for overheads and using old rates for too long.

Should I charge labour and materials separately?

You can calculate them separately internally even if you decide to present the customer with a fixed overall price. Breaking the calculation into components can make your own pricing easier to review.

What should be included when pricing labour?

Consider not only physical time on site but the wider cost of running the business, including travel, quoting, administration, tools, vehicles, insurance, training and unavoidable downtime where relevant.

What is a price list for tradespeople?

A price list is a reusable collection of products and services you regularly sell, such as hourly labour, call-outs, installation labour, common materials and standard services.

Can Love Invoicing save labour and material prices?

Yes. The Price List can hold products and services that can then be selected when creating quotes and invoices.

Can I create different units for items?

Your screenshots show examples such as per each, per metre and per job, allowing items to reflect how they are normally charged.

Can Love Invoicing calculate VAT on a quote?

Yes. Your example contains a £407 subtotal, £81.40 VAT at 20%, producing a £488.40 total.

Can Love Invoicing tell me how much profit I made on each job?

The current screens shown here do not demonstrate an automatic job-profit or margin calculation. Love Invoicing can help structure pricing, quotes, jobs, worker pay information and invoices, but the business still needs to understand its actual costs and required margin.

Can I save an electrician's hourly or day rate?

Yes. Labour can be created as a reusable service in the Price List.

Can I use the same system for plumbing, roofing and plastering?

Yes. The principle is trade-independent. A plumber might save labour and pipe fittings, a plasterer labour and plaster materials, and a roofer labour, roofing materials, waste and other recurring items.

Should quotes have an expiry date?

A validity period can be useful where costs or circumstances may change. Business.gov.uk recommends considering price-validity periods when agreeing prices because increases in underlying costs can affect the commercial value of an older price.

What happens when the customer accepts the quote?

In Love Invoicing, an accepted quote can move to the next stage, including creating a job or invoice depending on the workflow.

Can an accepted quote become a scheduled job?

Yes. Your screenshots show QTE-2026-0013 progressing from an accepted quote to the scheduled 1st Fix job.

Can I invoice once the job is completed?

Yes. Love Invoicing can prompt the user when a job is completed and the job can move into invoicing.