Business Hub · Pricing & Profit
How do I work out my hourly rate?
Build it up from your own costs rather than copying a competitor. Take your annual overheads, add the wage you need, add a margin for tax and reinvestment, then divide by your realistically billable hours — usually 55 to 65 per cent of the hours you work. That gives your minimum viable rate. UK workshops in 2026 commonly land between £45 and £90 an hour depending on region and the class of work; a rate copied from someone with different premises and different overheads tells you nothing useful.
Why you cannot copy someone else's rate
Two workshops charging the same hourly figure can be in completely different financial positions. One works from a converted garage with no rent; the other pays for a unit, business rates and a van. The rate that keeps one comfortable puts the other out of business inside two years.
So the only rate that means anything is the one built from your own numbers.
Building the number
Work in this order.
- Annual overheads. Everything the workshop costs whether or not a chair comes through the door: rent, rates, insurance, utilities, van, phone, accountant, tool replacement, subscriptions.
- Your wage. What you actually need to live on. Not what is left over — that is not a wage, that is a hope.
- Tax and reinvestment. Set aside a realistic proportion for tax in your country, plus something for machinery and materials you will eventually need to replace.
- Billable hours. Working hours multiplied by 0.55 to 0.65. See why that matters.
- Divide. Total from steps 1 to 3, divided by step 4. That is your minimum viable rate.
Anything below that number loses money on every hour worked, no matter how busy you are.
What the trade actually charges
For orientation only, because the figure that matters is yours:
- UK workshops in 2026 commonly sit between £45 and £90 an hour
- Traditional and antique work commands the upper end, because it takes skill that few people still have
- Contract and commercial work often pays less per hour but in far larger, more predictable blocks
- Teaching and consultancy generally pay better per hour than bench work
If your calculated rate lands well above your local market, that is information about which market you should be in, not a reason to work below cost.
Pricing the job, not the hour
Customers do not buy hours. They buy a finished chair, and they want one number.
So the hourly rate is your internal tool: you estimate the hours, multiply, add materials, add a contingency for what you will find under the cover, and quote a single figure. The pricing and quoting chapter covers estimating hours by piece type, and the cost estimator will do the arithmetic.
Never show a customer an hourly rate and an hour count. It invites a negotiation about whether a job should really take that long, which is a conversation you cannot win and should not be having.
Raising it later
Rates should move every year or two. Costs certainly do.
Apply the new figure to new quotes from a chosen date, honour anything already agreed, and say nothing about it. Price rises are only awkward if you make them an announcement.
Tools for this
From Learn to Upholster
Do you work at the bench? The State of the Upholstery Trade survey collects rates, bench hours and lead times from working upholsterers worldwide, so the next person setting a price has something better than guesswork. Anonymous, about three minutes. Add your workshop.