What your business really needs per day and per hour to cover its costs and pay you what you want. Rough figures are fine.
Showing typical figures: Typical decorator: small van, modest tools, £27k take-home after tax.
Yearly business costs
Lease or loan, insurance, tax, servicing (not fuel: that's charged per mile)
Public liability, tools cover
Replacing and adding kit over a year
Phone contract, apps, internet
Tax return and bookkeeping
Workwear, training, advertising, bank charges, trade bodies
What you want to earn
After tax, if you set a tax buffer
0% = figure is before tax
% of your pay
Days you can actually bill
Out of 260 weekdays a year. These defaults are editable.
Four weeks off a year (the same as an employee's minimum, excluding bank holidays).
England and Wales have 8 bank holidays.
A week a year for illness or injury.
Half a day a week for quoting, invoicing, buying materials and paperwork.
Time lost travelling between jobs that you don't charge for: about half an hour a working day. Set this to 0 if you charge travel time on every quote.
Bad weather, gaps between jobs and the quiet season.