Self Employed Builder Day Rates UK — What to Charge in 2026

Updated June 2026 · 9 min read · BuilderLog Team

Pricing your work is one of the hardest things about being a self employed builder. Too high and you lose the job to someone cheaper. Too low and you’re working full weeks but taking home less than an employed labourer. Here’s what builders are actually charging in 2026 and how to calculate what you should be charging.

What builders actually charge in 2026

Type of work	Day rate range	Notes
General building	£180–£280	Extensions, renovations, general works
Kitchen fitting	£200–£300	Including basic plumbing and electrics
Bathroom fitting	£200–£300	Tiling, plumbing, general fit-out
Loft conversion	£220–£350	Structural work, specialist knowledge
New build	£250–£400	Groundwork through to finish
Roofing	£200–£350	Height work premium
Groundwork	£200–£300	Foundations, drainage, hard landscaping
Demolition	£180–£280	Including waste management

London and South East: add 25–40% to the above figures. A general builder in London charging £350/day is normal. The same builder in the North East might charge £200/day — but the cost of living difference means the take-home purchasing power is similar.

CIS subcontract work: Day rates for CIS work tend to be slightly lower than direct domestic work because there’s less admin (no quoting, no customer management, no invoicing disputes). Typical CIS day rates for builders in 2026 are £160–£250 depending on specialism and region.

Day rate vs fixed price — when to use each

Day rate works best for work where the scope might change — renovations (you never know what’s behind the wall), repair work, and jobs where the customer hasn’t fully decided what they want. It protects you from scope creep.

Fixed price works best for standard jobs where you know exactly what’s involved — a straightforward extension, a concrete base, a demolition. Customers prefer fixed prices because they know what they’re paying, and you benefit because efficient work means higher effective hourly earnings.

Price per square metre is increasingly common for extensions and new builds. Typical rates for a single-storey extension in 2026 are £1,800–£2,800 per square metre (turnkey, including all trades). As the builder managing the project, your margin is typically 15–25% of the total.

How to calculate your minimum day rate

Most builders set their rate based on what the competition charges. That’s a starting point, but the smarter approach is calculating what you actually need:

Step	Figure
1. Target take-home pay	£45,000
2. Add tax + NI (estimated)	£57,000 gross
3. Add business overheads (van, insurance, CSCS, tools, skip hire on non-chargeable days, phone, accounting)	£10,000–£15,000
4. Total revenue needed	£67,000–£72,000
5. Divide by billable days (typically 200–220/year after holidays, sick days, weather, quiet periods, quoting time)	£305–£360/day minimum

When to charge more

Weekend and evening work: 50% premium minimum. If a customer wants you working Saturday, they’re paying for the privilege.

Specialist skills: Structural work, listed building work, heritage restoration, anything requiring specific qualifications or sign-off. Your rate should reflect the additional knowledge and liability.

Difficult access: Restricted sites, city centre work with no parking, basements with no headroom, loft work in summer. The harder the conditions, the higher the rate.

Emergency or urgent work: If someone needs you to start tomorrow instead of next month, that’s worth a premium. Your diary has value.

Know your real profit per job

A £280/day rate sounds good until you account for three days of unpaid quoting, £800 in materials you fronted, two skips at £300 each, and a customer who takes 60 days to pay. Your real daily rate on that job might be closer to £150.

Tracking your actual costs per job — materials, skip hire, scaffolding, mileage, subcontractors — is the only way to know which jobs are genuinely profitable and which ones are dragging your average down. Tools like BuilderLog show your real profit per job automatically by subtracting costs from the quoted price.

Regional differences in 2026

Builder day rates vary significantly across the UK. Here’s a realistic breakdown by region:

Region	General building day rate	Specialist day rate
London	£280–£400	£350–£500
South East	£240–£350	£300–£450
South West	£200–£280	£250–£350
Midlands	£180–£260	£230–£320
North West	£180–£260	£220–£320
North East	£170–£240	£210–£300
Scotland	£180–£260	£230–£320
Wales	£170–£250	£220–£310

These ranges reflect 2026 market conditions. The lower end is a competent general builder with a few years’ experience. The upper end is an established builder with specialist skills, a strong reputation, and a full diary.

Don’t undercut yourself to win work. A builder charging £170/day in the North East and doing quality work will build a reputation and a full diary faster than one charging £140/day and rushing jobs. Customers who choose purely on price are rarely the customers you want long-term.

How your costs affect what you need to charge

Two builders charging the same day rate can have very different take-home pay depending on their costs. A builder who owns their van outright, has low insurance premiums, and does their own accounts has significantly lower overheads than one with a van on finance, multiple insurance policies, and an accountant charging £1,500 a year.

This is why tracking your actual costs per job matters more than benchmarking your rate against other builders. Your minimum rate is unique to your situation — your overheads, your tax position, your target income. Apps like BuilderLog show your real profit per job by subtracting every cost (materials, skip hire, mileage, scaffolding) from your quoted price, so you can see which jobs are genuinely making you money.