Work out what your hour is really worth

Most tradies set their hourly rate by looking at what everyone else charges, or by thinking of their old wage. Neither covers the hours you spend quoting, driving and doing paperwork, or the ute, the insurance and the phone. Karven works out what an hour really costs you, so you can charge enough.

It's optional and takes about two minutes. Only you see it.

Where to find it

Go to Settings → Your rates. You'll also see it once at the end of setting up, and as an optional step in Getting started on Today.

What it asks

• Your pay. What you want to pay yourself before tax, a year or a week. A weekly figure counts every week of the year, so you get paid on holidays too.
• Super on top. Starts at 12%, what an employer has to pay from 1 July 2025 (the ATO's super guarantee rate). As a sole trader you don't have to pay super to yourself, but it's your retirement. Type 0 to leave it out.
• Running the business, a year. Your ute or van, insurance, phone and software, tools, accountant and anything else. Rough numbers are fine.
• Your time. Weeks you work a year (starts at 46: 52 less 4 weeks of holidays and about 2 weeks of public holidays), hours on the tools a week (starts at 30) and hours on quotes, admin and driving (starts at 8).
• Profit on top. Starts at your quote profit %.

Your pay is the one answer Karven needs. Leave any other box empty and Karven uses the grey number in it. Change any number and the answer changes straight away.

What you get

• Your break-even hour: what an hour on the tools has to bring in to pay you, your super and your running costs. Charge less and you're working for less than you set out to earn.
• With your profit on top: the hourly rate that also leaves a profit for the business.
• How you compare: what you charge now, and how far under or over you are.

Tap How we worked it out to see every step of the sum in plain words.

Use it on your quotes

Tap Use $X as my hourly rate to make it your hourly rate. It's rounded up to the next dollar and is before GST. New quotes in the quote editor put it on your hourly labour lines (like Labour (hrs)), with no profit added on top, because your profit is in the rate. If you use the Full calculator for your trade, it adds your profit % to labour, so use your break-even hour there instead. Quotes you've already made don't change.

You can still type a different price on any line.

On every quote

In the quote editor, under Your profit, Karven shows one line only you see: About $X an hour for you if it takes N hours. It takes the quote before GST, less what your lines cost you, and shares it over the hours on your hourly labour lines (like Labour (hrs)). Hire and subbie lines count as costs, not your time.

• No labour lines? Type How many hours on site? and it works it out from that. It's optional and stays on your copy of the quote.
• Worked out your real hour? You'll see whether the job covers it, covers your costs but not all your profit, or is under your break-even hour.
• A line with no profit on it (say materials typed at the customer's price) counts as all cost, because Karven can't tell what it cost you, so the real figure may be higher. Add your profit % so the box is your cost, and the figure gets more accurate.

The same line is on the quote's page, with your private costs. Your customer never sees it: not on the quote link, the PDF or any email or text.

After the job: did it pay?

Once a quote is accepted, open it and go to On the day. In What it really cost, type the hours you actually worked and what the materials cost you. Karven shows Did this job pay?:

• You made $X an hour on this job (planned $Y). That's what the job brought in before GST, less materials and subbies, for each hour you worked.
• Green means it covered your real hour. Amber means it covered your costs but not all your profit. Red means it came in under your break-even hour. Haven't worked out your real hour? It's judged against what you planned instead.
• One tip when it came in under: it took longer than planned, the materials cost more, or the price needed to be higher.

On Money, Your last 5 jobs: average $X an hour shows how your last five finished jobs went, counting the longer jobs for more.

Why the hours nobody pays for matter

Say you work 38 hours a week but only 30 are on the tools. The other 8 (quotes, driving, supplier runs, invoices) still have to be paid for, and only the 30 paid hours can pay for them. That's why your break-even hour is always higher than your wage divided by the hours you work.