Builder hourly rate UK
Typical day rate: the median of five UK directories, reviewed October 2026.
Work out your own hourly rateFree. No login.
One £253 day, three hourly rates
It depends which hours of the day you count as paid.
What directories print for a builder an hour
5 named directories, read 3 October 2026. Theirs are customer prices; ours divides a day rate.
| CheckatradePage dated April 2026 | £38 |
| HaMuchPage dated 2026 | £16 to £46, average £29 |
| MyBuilderPage dated 21 August 2026 | £25 to £60 |
| MyJobQuotePage undated | £30 to £50 |
| CostEstimatorPage dated 2 September 2026 | £22 |
Together they run from £16 to £60 an hour. Our £42.17 at six paid hours sits inside that.
Emergency and out of hours
None of them prints an emergency or out of hours rate for a builder.
Divide by eight and you lose £63.25 a day
Paid for six hours at the eight hour rate of £31.63: £189.75, not £253.
£12,650 a year short
Over 200 paid days.
Check your own paid hoursHalf a day is not half the cost
The day's running costs, £41.19, land whether you work two hours or six.
What a two hour callout leaves you
Hourly rate by town
Each bar is a town's modelled day rate over six paid hours. Dashed line: the typical rate.
All 31 towns
| Town | Per paid hour |
|---|---|
| London | £52.50 |
| Guildford | £49.67 |
| Oxford | £48.33 |
| Cambridge | £47.67 |
| Brighton | £46.17 |
| Bath | £44.67 |
| Reading | £44.33 |
| Bristol | £43.33 |
| Milton Keynes | £43.33 |
| Cheltenham | £42.67 |
| Edinburgh | £42.50 |
| York | £41.17 |
| Exeter | £41.00 |
| Portsmouth | £40.83 |
| Northampton | £40.50 |
| Southampton | £40.33 |
| Cardiff | £39.83 |
| Norwich | £39.83 |
| Manchester | £39.67 |
| Birmingham | £39.17 |
| Leeds | £39.00 |
| Coventry | £38.33 |
| Leicester | £38.33 |
| Glasgow | £38.17 |
| Sheffield | £38.00 |
| Derby | £37.17 |
| Liverpool | £37.00 |
| Newcastle | £36.50 |
| Nottingham | £36.50 |
| Stoke-on-Trent | £35.33 |
| Sunderland | £33.67 |
Your hourly rate, from your own day
Your day rate, your paid hours, your costs.
Work out your own hourly rateHow to work out your own hourly rate
How do I work out my hourly rate?
Divide your day rate by the hours you are actually paid for. £253 over six is £42.17.
What is the builder hourly rate in London?
£52.50 an hour, from a modelled £315 day over six paid hours.
Where is the builder hourly rate lowest?
Sunderland, at £33.67 an hour from a modelled £202 day.
What do UK directories say a builder charges an hour?
5 named directories print figures from £16 to £60 an hour, read 3 October 2026. Theirs are customer prices; ours divides a day rate.
Should I quote customers by the hour?
Work the hour out for your own costing. Give the customer a price for the job.
Why six paid hours?
Travel, loading and the merchant run take the rest. The calculator lets you change it.
Typical day rate: the median of five UK directories, reviewed October 2026.
Town rates are modelled from them. Costs are the calculator's sample figures.