Most garages set their labour rate by looking at the garage down the road. This calculator works it out from your actual costs.
It takes about ten minutes with your accounts in front of you. The worked example is already filled in, so overtype it with your own figures.
Annual figures, excluding technicians and parts. Take these from your last set of accounts.
Insurance, equipment, calibration, software, consumables, waste. Include unbilled consumables. They add up.
Marketing, accountancy, courtesy vehicles, training, bank charges.
Fully loaded. Include employer NI and pension.
What you would pay someone to do your job. Do not leave this blank.
Part timers count as a fraction, e.g. 0.5.
Check the current rate before relying on this.
The amount per employee that is NI free.
28 days statutory is 5.6 weeks.
The share of attended time that gets booked to a job. 80% is a fair figure for a busy independent. Be honest here.
Hours sold versus hours worked. Over 100% if technicians beat the book times you invoice.
Enter what you actually charge now.
What you want left over after every cost.
Same costs, same team. Only the proportion of paid time that reaches an invoice changes.
| Utilisation | Required rate per hour |
|---|---|
GarageWise tracks the hours booked against every job, so the utilisation figure above stops being a guess.
Everyone paid, including you. The business makes nothing.
Breakeven divided by (1 minus your margin). Multiplying by (1 plus margin) is markup, and it is wrong.
The gap multiplied by every hour you sell in a year. A negative number means you are undercharging.
Everything on this page in one Excel file. The worked example is filled in, with space alongside for your own figures. Enter your email and it is yours.
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GarageWise Ltd accepts no liability for any errors, inaccuracies or losses arising from the use of this calculator; results are provided for guidance only and should not be relied upon as financial advice.
