Bidmio — ERP for trades, construction and service

    What does an employed bricklayer cost you per hour?

    A tradesperson on £18 an hour costs you far more than £18. Add 5.6 weeks' holiday, employer's National Insurance, pension, insurance, a van and the hours the customer does not pay for, and see the real cost price. UK figures for 2026/27.

    2026/27 tax year

    An employed bricklayer on £16.54 an hour before tax typically costs £32 per billable hour once holiday pay, employer's National Insurance, pension, insurance and a van are counted.

    Step 1 of 3 · Employee

    GBP

    Basic pay per hour. Apprentice: what you pay now.

    Cost price per billable hour

    £32/hr

    1.9 times the hourly wage of £16.54 before tax

    Least you should charge the customer per hour

    £38 excl. VAT

    Billable hours a year
    1,505
    Total cost a year
    £47,280

    What the hour is made of

    • Wages before tax57 %£19.54
    • Holiday pay7 %£2.36
    • Workplace pension2 %£0.53
    • Employer's National Insurance8 %£2.79
    • Insurance2 %£0.53
    • Workwear, tools and phone1 %£0.48
    • Company van23 %£7.97
    • Employment Allowance8 %−£2.79

    Amounts per billable hour.

    Guide figures only, errors excepted and without guarantee. The numbers show what a healthy, profitable business needs.

    Reality

    Your body is your most important tool, and you can't buy a new one

    Being a tradesperson is hard physical work. Knees, back and shoulders do not last 50 years on ladders and scaffolding, and nobody pays you when they say stop. Your rate has to pay for that while you still can.

    Do the maths: to stop at 63 instead of 68 you have to fund 5 years without pay. At £2,000 a month that is £120,000 before tax and inflation, and the State Pension, at most £241.30 a week, does not start until 68. That money only comes from one place: your rate in the years your body can still do the work.

    Underpricing is not the way to a good life. Every hour you sell too cheaply, you pay for later with your body, your pension and your time off.

    Where do the numbers come from?

    Every number in the check is either an official UK rate or an estimate that we label as one. Open a field to see why, with an example from real life.

    Hourly wage before tax

    We start at the ONS median basic hourly pay for full-time employees in the trade (ASHE, April 2025): painters and decorators £16.17, carpenters and joiners £17.00, electricians £19.02, plumbers £18.00, bricklayers £16.54, roofers £15.91. Apprentices start at the apprentice minimum wage of £8.00 from 1 April 2026; the National Living Wage for 21 and over is £12.71.

    Real life: Many firms think £30 an hour to the customer for a £17 joiner leaves plenty. Once holiday, National Insurance, pension, insurance and a van are counted, that joiner costs about £32 per billable hour.

    Source

    Hours per week

    The ONS median of basic paid hours for full-time employees in these trades is 39 to 40 a week. Overtime costs extra and is not in this figure.

    Real life: Plan a job on Saturday overtime at time and a half and that premium has to be in the price too.

    Source

    Weeks of holiday

    Every worker has a legal right to 5.6 weeks' paid holiday a year including bank holidays. We count 4 weeks here and the bank holidays separately. Holiday is paid through the holiday pay below, so these weeks are not in the wage, and they are not billable either.

    Real life: When your joiner takes two weeks in August you still pay them, and nobody pays you for those weeks.

    Source

    Bank holidays

    England and Wales have 8 bank holidays a year (1.6 weeks), Scotland 9 and Northern Ireland 10. They count towards the 5.6 weeks if you give them as paid days off.

    Real life: Easter Monday and the late May bank holiday fall in the busy season: two paid days without a bill.

    Source

    Sickness

    From April 2026 Statutory Sick Pay is paid from the first day off: £123.25 a week or 80% of average weekly earnings if lower. We count one week a year at SSP. If you pay full pay when someone is off sick, the cost is higher.

    Real life: An electrician off for a week with a bad back costs you £123.25 in SSP, and the job still has to finish on time, often with overtime or a sub.

    Source

    Show 8 more explanations
    College weeks

    Apprentices spend part of their paid time on off-the-job training, often a day a week at college. You pay the wage but cannot bill the hours. 8 weeks a year is Bidmio's estimate; check the off-the-job hours in the apprenticeship standard.

    Real life: A day a week at college for 40 weeks is 8 full weeks a year in which the apprentice costs you wages but earns nothing on site.

    Bidmio's estimate from typical figures. Change it to your own.

    Billable share

    Employees also spend time driving, clearing up, waiting for deliveries, at the merchant and on jobs in the yard. Bidmio's estimate: 85% for a tradesperson and 75% for an apprentice.

    Real life: Half an hour in traffic and fifteen minutes clearing up a day is 10% of the working week that no customer pays for.

    Bidmio's estimate from typical figures. Change it to your own.

    Holiday pay

    5.6 weeks' paid holiday on top of the weeks worked comes to 12.07% of pay, the same rate GOV.UK gives for irregular-hours workers. Holiday pay must include regular overtime and commission.

    Real life: On £34,000 of wages for the weeks worked, holiday pay adds about £4,100 a year.

    Source

    Employer pension contribution

    Under automatic enrolment the employer pays at least 3% of qualifying earnings, the pay between £6,240 and £50,270 a year (2026/27), and the total must be at least 8%. Workers under 22 or earning under £10,000 are not auto-enrolled but can opt in.

    Real life: For a plumber on £37,000 the employer minimum is about £920 a year: 3% of £30,760 of qualifying earnings.

    Source

    Employers' liability and other insurance

    Employers' liability insurance with at least £5 million of cover is compulsory from your first employee, with fines for not having it. The amount is Bidmio's estimate per employee; premiums depend on the trade and your claims history.

    Real life: An apprentice falls from a tower scaffold. Without employers' liability insurance the claim lands on you, and having none can mean a fine of up to £2,500 a day.

    Source

    Workwear, tools and phone

    Safety boots, workwear, PPE, personal tools and a phone. Bidmio's estimate per employee.

    Real life: Two pairs of safety boots, trousers, hi-vis and a phone easily come to £700 a year per person.

    Bidmio's estimate from typical figures. Change it to your own.

    Company van

    The starting point is your trade's typical van from the van check, excl. VAT. If the employee takes the van home and uses it privately, they pay tax on the van benefit charge (£4,170 in 2026/27) and you pay Class 1A National Insurance on it.

    Real life: With one van per employee, the van is often the second biggest cost after wages.

    Source

    Markup

    Markup is not greed. It pays for your time on managing, quoting and planning, and the risk of mistakes, callbacks and bad payers. 20% is Bidmio's estimate.

    Real life: Without a markup the firm earns £0 on the employee even on a good day. One callback turns the job into a loss.

    Bidmio's estimate from typical figures. Change it to your own.

    All sources

    2026/27 tax year

    Rates change every tax year on 6 April, and some at the Budget. We update the figures once the new rates are published, but always check your own numbers with your accountant.

    Why does an employee cost so much more than the hourly wage?

    On top of the wage you pay holiday pay, employer's National Insurance above £5,000 a year, at least 3% pension on qualifying earnings, Statutory Sick Pay and insurance. And you cannot bill every hour: holiday, bank holidays, sickness, driving and clearing up take time. The cost has to be spread over the hours the customer actually pays for.

    Does the Employment Allowance really cover employer's National Insurance?

    For most small firms, yes. In 2026/27 the Employment Allowance takes up to £10,500 a year off the employer's National Insurance bill, enough for about two employees on typical trade wages. The calculator gives this employee the full allowance, so if other employees already use it up, the real cost per hour is higher by the employer's National Insurance. It is not available to a limited company whose only employee is the director.

    What about apprentices?

    Apprentices under 25 carry no employer's National Insurance up to £50,270. The apprentice minimum wage is £8.00 an hour (under 19, or 19 and over in the first year); after that the age rates apply. In England the government pays all the training costs for 16 to 24-year-olds at employers who do not pay the Apprenticeship Levy, and pays a £1,000 incentive for 16 to 18-year-olds. For a new apprentice aged 16 to 24 starting from 1 October 2026 those employers also get a £2,000 hiring payment.

    Do you store my numbers?

    No. Everything is calculated in your browser and nothing is sent to a server. The share link only contains the employee type, the hourly wage and your price.

    Disclaimer

    All calculations are a guide only and may contain errors. Bidmio gives no guarantee for the result, and the calculation is not tax, accounting or legal advice. The figures show what it takes to run a healthy, profitable business on the assumptions you entered and typical UK rates for 2026/27. Your own situation may differ, so always check the figures with your accountant before making decisions.