Ana and the van
An example for the Hourly rate calculator
Ana is an electrician in Zaragoza. She is out of the house at seven and back at six, but only about half of that is work anybody pays her for: the rest is driving between jobs, queueing at the wholesaler, writing quotes and going back to a flat whose owner was not in. She runs a van, carries her own tools and insurance, and wants €2,200 a month for herself.
| Wants to keep | €2,200 a month, net |
|---|---|
| Business expenses | €14,000 a year: van, fuel, insurance, tools, gestor |
| Working day | 9 hours, 5 days a week |
| Billable | 55 % of that |
| Time off | 22 days holiday, 12 bank holidays, 8 sick |
| Comunidad | Aragón |
She has to invoice €52,254 over the year, of which €14,000 leave her pocket immediately, and she has 1,079 billable hours to earn the money.
Her rate: €48.42 per billed hour.
A customer hearing that thinks she earns €48.42 an hour. Run the same year with a desk worker's costs instead of a van's, €2,000 rather than €14,000, and the rate falls to €37.30. So roughly €11.12 of every hour she bills is the van, the tools and the insurance driving themselves to your door. It is not margin, and it is the part of the bill that is hardest to see from the other side of it.