March 2026 · 6 min read

HOW TO QUOTE A JOB AS A TRADIE (WITHOUT UNDERCHARGING)

Underquoting is the silent killer of trade businesses. You land the job, do great work, and then realise you barely broke even — or worse, lost money. It happens because most tradies quote based on gut feel rather than a proper formula.

Here's how to build quotes that actually make you money.

THE QUOTING FORMULA

Every quote should cover five things. Miss any one of them and you're leaving money on the table.

Let's break each one down.

1. MATERIALS

This is the obvious one. List every material the job needs — timber, screws, adhesive, paint, fittings, whatever. Get actual prices from your supplier, not guesses from memory. Material prices have been volatile the last few years, so always check current rates.

Pro tip: Add 5-10% to your material estimate for waste, offcuts, and the fitting that breaks when you're tightening it. If you quote materials at exact cost and waste anything, it comes straight out of your profit.

2. LABOUR

This is where most tradies get it wrong. Your labour rate isn't just "what I want to earn per hour." It needs to cover:

• Your take-home pay
• Superannuation (you should be paying yourself super)
• Tax (you'll owe 30-37% on most of your income)
• Leave loading (you don't get paid holidays as a sole trader, so you need to build it in)

If you want to take home $45/hr, you probably need to charge $75-$90/hr to cover tax, super, and unpaid leave. Most tradies charge $45 thinking that's what they'll earn. It's not — the ATO takes a massive chunk.

3. OVERHEAD (YOUR BUSINESS RUNNING COSTS)

Your ute doesn't run for free. Neither does your insurance, your phone, your tools, or your accountant. These are your overhead costs, and they need to be built into every quote.

The easiest way: work out your total annual overhead, divide by the number of billable days you work, and add that daily cost to every job.

So a two-day job needs at least $266 in overhead baked into the quote — on top of materials and labour.

4. TRAVEL

Driving to site, going to the hardware store mid-job, picking up materials from the supplier, and driving home — it all costs time and fuel. Don't absorb it.

Options for charging travel:

• Include it in your hourly rate — simpler, but means local clients subsidise far-away ones
• Charge a call-out fee — $50-$100 flat fee covers the first trip
• Charge per km — $1-$1.50/km for jobs outside your usual area

Whatever you choose, make sure your quote accounts for it. A 45-minute drive each way on a one-day job is 1.5 hours of unpaid time and $30-$50 in fuel.

5. CONTINGENCY

Things go wrong. The wall you're tiling turns out to be uneven. The existing wiring isn't up to code. The customer changes their mind on the colour halfway through. Add 10-15% contingency to your quote to cover the unexpected.

If nothing goes wrong, great — you made a bit extra. If something does go wrong (and it will), you're covered.

A REAL QUOTING EXAMPLE

Let's say you're a carpenter quoting to build a pergola.

Many tradies would look at this job and quote $4,500-$5,000 based on gut feel. That leaves anywhere from $1,200 to $1,700 on the table — money you earned but didn't charge for.

THE 5 MOST COMMON UNDERQUOTING MISTAKES

1. QUOTING THE SAME AS LAST YEAR

Material prices and fuel costs change. Your insurance probably went up. If you're using last year's rates, you're working for less money this year. Review your rates every 6 months.

2. MATCHING A COMPETITOR'S PRICE

A client says "the other bloke quoted $3,500." So you match it — without knowing if $3,500 is profitable for your business. The other bloke might be undercharging too. Quote based on your costs, not someone else's number.

3. FORGETTING UNPAID HOURS

Quoting, measuring up, ordering materials, invoicing — if you spend 3 hours on admin for a job and don't include it in the quote, you just worked 3 hours for free.

4. NO CONTINGENCY BUFFER

Every tradesperson has been burnt by unexpected problems on a job. If your quote has zero margin for error, any complication comes straight out of your pocket.

5. NOT KNOWING YOUR REAL HOURLY RATE

If you don't know what you actually earn per hour after expenses, you can't set a labour rate that makes sense. You're just guessing.

HOURLY VS FIXED PRICE — WHEN TO USE EACH

Quote fixed price when:

• You can clearly define the scope of work
• You've done similar jobs before and know how long they take
• The client wants cost certainty (most do)

Quote hourly when:

• The scope is unclear or could change
• It's a repair job where you don't know what you'll find
• The client keeps changing their mind

Fixed-price quotes are better for your business in most cases — they reward you for being efficient. If you quote 3 days and finish in 2, you earn more per hour. Hourly rates punish efficiency.

HOW THEBRICKBOOK HELPS YOU QUOTE BETTER

The best way to improve your quoting is to track what your past jobs actually cost. When you can see that your last 10 fencing jobs averaged $52/hr real rate and your decking jobs averaged $71/hr, you know exactly where to adjust.

TheBrickBook tracks every expense, every hour, and every job — so your next quote is based on real data, not a guess.

THE BOTTOM LINE

A good quote covers materials, labour, overhead, travel, and contingency. Anything less and you're donating your time. The tradies who make real money aren't necessarily better at the tools — they're better at the numbers.

Stop quoting from gut feel. Start quoting from a formula. Your bank account will thank you.