Pay Calculator: How to Work Out Your Real Hourly Rate as a Tradie
By Jared Woodbine, Managing Director — Alltech Coatings | Updated March 2026
Here’s the question that catches most tradies out: what do you actually earn per hour?
Not what you charge. Not what hits your bank account. Your real, after-everything hourly rate — once you factor in travel, unpaid admin, tools, fuel, insurance, and all the other costs that quietly eat into your take-home pay.
If you’ve never sat down and done this calculation properly, you’re almost certainly undercharging. And that’s not a guess — it’s what we see with tradies across Australia every single week.
This guide walks you through exactly how to calculate your true hourly rate using a pay calculator approach, whether you’re on wages, working as a subbie, or running your own show.
Why Most Tradies Get Their Hourly Rate Wrong
A chippy charges $55 an hour. Sounds reasonable. But let’s break down what actually happens in a typical week:
- 8 hours billed on Monday, but 45 minutes of unpaid travel each way
- Tuesday morning spent quoting a job that goes nowhere — 3 hours, zero income
- Wednesday arvo spent at the supplier, chasing materials the builder didn’t order
- Friday afternoon doing invoices, chasing payments, updating the schedule
By the end of the week, he’s billed 32 hours but worked 50. That $55/hr just became $35/hr. Before tax. Before tools. Before the ute repayment.
This is why a proper pay calculator matters. You need to account for all your working hours — not just the ones you invoice.
How to Calculate Your Real Hourly Rate (Step by Step)
Grab a calculator — or better yet, use the Boss Tradie Subby to Salary Calculator — and work through this:
Step 1: Total Up Your Annual Revenue
What did you actually bill last financial year? Not what you quoted — what hit the bank. If you’re new, use your last 3 months and multiply by 4. Be honest with yourself here.
Step 2: Subtract Your Business Costs
Everything that comes out before you pay yourself:
- Vehicle costs: Rego, insurance, fuel, servicing, loan repayments
- Tools and equipment: Replacements, repairs, new gear
- Insurance: Public liability, income protection, workers comp
- Phone, software, subscriptions: Job management apps, accounting software
- Accountant and bookkeeper fees
- Materials (if you’re supplying them)
- Super contributions: Yes, even if you’re not paying them — you should be
What’s left is your actual take-home. This is the number that matters.
Step 3: Count Your Real Working Hours
This is where tradies consistently underestimate. You need to count:
- Hours on the tools
- Travel time (both ways, every day)
- Quoting and estimating
- Admin, invoicing, bookkeeping
- Phone calls, emails, scheduling
- Supply runs and material pickups
For most sole traders, you’re looking at 45-55 hours per week of actual work, even if you only bill 30-35 of those.
Step 4: Divide and Face Reality
Take your annual take-home (Step 2) and divide it by your total annual hours (Step 3 × weeks worked).
That number is your real hourly rate. And for a lot of tradies, it’s a wake-up call.
Subby Rate vs Salary: What’s the Real Comparison?
One of the most common pay calculator questions we get: “I’m earning $50/hr as a subbie — is that better than a $90k salary?”
Short answer: probably not. Here’s why.
An employee on $90k gets:
- $90,000 base salary
- ~$10,800 in super (11.5% from 2025)
- 4 weeks paid annual leave (~$6,900)
- 10 days paid sick leave (~$3,460)
- Public holidays (~$3,460)
- Workers compensation insurance (employer pays)
Total package value: roughly $114,600.
As a subbie on $50/hr billing 36 hours a week for 48 weeks, your gross is $86,400. Then subtract your ABN costs — vehicle, tools, insurance, super — and you could be netting $55-65k. The gap is massive.
This is exactly what our subby to salary calculator was built to show you. Punch in your numbers and see the real comparison — it takes about 2 minutes.
What a Good Hourly Rate Looks Like in 2026
Rates vary by trade, state, and experience. But here’s a rough guide for what Australian tradies should be targeting as a charge-out rate (not take-home) in 2026:
- Apprentice/labourer: $35-50/hr
- Qualified tradesperson (employee): $45-65/hr
- Subcontractor: $60-90/hr
- Sole trader (own clients): $80-130/hr
- Specialist trades (e.g., refrigeration, lifts): $100-160/hr
If your charge-out rate is below these ranges, you’re leaving money on the table. Use the Advanced Tradie Calculator to model what you should actually be charging based on your specific costs and target income.
5 Ways to Increase Your Effective Hourly Rate
Once you know your real number, here’s how to improve it without necessarily raising your prices:
- Reduce unbillable hours. Batch your quoting. Do admin at night or use software to automate invoicing. Every hour you claw back is money.
- Charge for travel. If you’re driving 45 minutes to a job, that’s built into your rate — or it should be. Stop absorbing it.
- Quote smarter. Track your win rate. If you’re winning more than 60% of quotes, your prices are too low. If you’re under 30%, something else is off.
- Specialise. Generalist tradies compete on price. Specialists compete on expertise. I started in general painting and moved into rope access — overnight, the competition shrunk and the rates went up. Pick a niche and own it.
- Raise your rates annually. Costs go up every year. Your rates should too. A 5-7% annual increase just keeps pace with inflation and rising overheads.
Stop Guessing — Run Your Numbers
The difference between tradies who build wealth and tradies who stay stuck is almost always this: knowing their numbers.
Not roughly. Not “yeah, I reckon I’m on about sixty bucks an hour.” Actually knowing — down to the dollar — what they earn, what they spend, and what they need to charge to hit their goals.
If you haven’t done this calculation before, do it now. Use our free Subby to Salary Calculator to compare your subby rate against an equivalent salary, or jump into the Advanced Tradie Calculator to model your charge-out rate, readiness score, and 3-year business plan.
Two minutes. No sign-up. Just clarity on what you’re actually worth.