What's Your Real Hourly Rate?

Not what you charge: what you actually take home for every hour this business gets out of you. Three numbers, straight answer. Nothing you type leaves your browser.

What you paid yourself over the last 12 months Wages, drawings, whatever you actually took out. Rough is fine.

Hours in an average week On the tools, plus quoting, invoicing, and the nights you "just catch up".

Weeks you worked last year Honest number. Most owners land somewhere near 48.

What you'd get on wages tomorrow, per hour The rate a boss would pay you to just turn up and do the work.

Take that number into which jobs made you money. It's the target rate every job has to beat.

Why this number, and not your charge-out rate

Ask an owner what they make an hour and they'll quote their charge-out rate. That's not what you make. That's what the business invoices for an hour on the tools. Your real hourly rate is what actually reached your pocket over the year, divided by every hour the business took from you: the tools, the quoting, the invoicing, the chasing, the Sunday-night bookwork.

Two places the number goes wrong. First, counting only the on-the-tools hours: quoting and admin are work, the business just doesn't pay you for them. Second, using what you meant to pay yourself instead of what you actually drew.

What's a good answer? It beats the wage you'd get working for someone else, with something on top for carrying the risk, the warranty callbacks, and the debts with your name on them. If you're under that wage, you don't have an income problem: you have a pricing problem, a job-selection problem, or an hours problem. The other tools take those in order.

Don't like the number? That's worth a 20-minute conversation. No pitch, no obligation, just a straight talk about where the hours are going.

Book a free 20-min call

Prefer email? hello@solidbooked.com.au