General Contracting · New

Handyman Rate Calculator

Set your hourly rate based on monthly expenses, billable hours, and target margin.

Your numbersMonthly

Monthly business expenses

$/mo

Truck, insurance, tools, gas, phone, marketing.

Target monthly take-home

$/mo

What you want to pay yourself.

Billable hours / month

hrs

Realistic hours you can charge — not 40/week.

Target margin

20–30% is typical.

Your rateLIVE

Sample data

Example numbers for a 1–2 person shop. Edit any field to make it yours — it saves on this device.

Suggested hourly rate

$93/hr

covers costs + your pay + 20% margin

Break-even / hr

$77

Minimum charge

$139

Monthly revenue

$10,200

Billable hrs

110

Business expenses$2,500/mo

Your take-home$6,000/mo

Revenue needed$8,500/mo

What these mean

Break-even pays expenses + your salary at zero profit. The suggested rate adds margin so the business can grow. The minimum charge protects you on short jobs where travel eats the time.

break-even = (expenses + take-home) ÷ billable hours

suggested = break-even × (1 + margin%)

minimum charge = suggested × 1.5

Field notes

Why your gut rate is usually too low.

Bill the hours you actually sell

A solo operator rarely bills 40 hours a week. Estimates, driving, quoting, and admin aren't billable. 100–120 billable hours a month is realistic — price off that, not a full schedule.

Pay yourself before profit

Your take-home is a cost of doing business, not what's left over. Put it in the break-even, then add margin on top.

Margin is the buffer

The 20–30% margin covers slow weeks, bad debt, tool replacement, and the jobs that run long. Without it you're one rained-out week from the red.

Protect the short job

A 45-minute job still costs you a round-trip and a slot in the schedule. A minimum charge (~1.5× your rate) keeps small calls from losing money.

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