Why "billable days" is the number that matters
There are around 250 working days in an Irish year before you subtract holidays, bank holidays, sick days, weather, travel between jobs, site visits, quoting and the paperwork evenings. Most sole traders honestly bill somewhere between 180 and 220 days. Divide your costs across 260 days and every quote you send is quietly underpriced — the calculator defaults to 200 so the arithmetic starts honest, and you should tune it to your own year.
What belongs in overheads
- Van: repayments or depreciation, diesel, motor tax, CVRT, tyres and servicing
- Insurance: public liability, tool cover, van insurance
- Registrations that let you work: Safe Electric, RGI, Safe Pass renewals, test-gear calibration
- Tools and consumables you replace through the year
- Phone, accountant, software, waste disposal, trade-counter sundries
€14,000 a year is a plausible starting point for a one-van trade business in Ireland, but yours is knowable — add it up once a year and let the rate carry it.
Cost-first, then market
This number is your floor, not your price. Once you know it, sanity-check against what your market actually pays — our electrician rates and plumber rates guides cover the 2026 bands. Pricing purely off a competitor means adopting their overheads — which you don't have, in either direction.
Turning the rate into won jobs
A right rate on a slow quote still loses to a decent rate on a same-day one. Itemise labour and materials, state what's excluded, and get the quote out while the customer is still keen — the how to write a quote guide covers the structure that wins. If your rate includes VAT questions (13.5% vs 23%), check the VAT calculator and remember day-rate work for a principal contractor may fall under RCT. Whatever your trade — electrician, plumber or builder — the rate only pays when the quote goes out and the invoice gets chased.
General information, not financial advice. Your accountant knows your numbers — this gets you to the right conversation faster.