What is a realistic hourly rate for tradespeople in Germany?

Realistic hourly rates range from 55 to 95 euros per hour (net), depending on trade and region. Plumbing/heating, electrical and heating construction are often in the upper third (70 to 95 euros), while painters and general building trades are more around 55 to 75 euros. But the real figure depends heavily on your full costs, not on the market average — our calculator shows you your individual value.

What are the typical employer social security contributions?

As an employer you add about 22 percent in social security contributions on top of the gross salary — health insurance (around 8 percent), pension insurance (about 9 percent), unemployment insurance (around 1.3 percent), long-term care insurance (around 1.8 percent) plus the U1/U2 levies and the insolvency benefit levy. As a solo self-employed person you pay all of this yourself — with fewer social contributions, but you have to cover pension and health insurance entirely on your own.

Hourly Rate Calculator 2026 for Tradespeople & Freelancers | Free

Your data

Income & social security

Target annual salary (gross)

€/year

What you want to earn per year before social contributions and taxes are deducted.

Employer social security contributions: 22 %

Health, pension, unemployment and long-term care insurance plus levies. The default of 22 % corresponds to an employee.

Operating costs (per year)

Tool & machine depreciation

€/year

Value of your tools divided by their service life. With €10,000 of tools used over 5 years, that is €2,000/year.

Insurance

€/year

Professional liability, trade association, contents and business liability insurance, etc.

Office & vehicle

€/year

Rent, electricity, internet, phone, vehicle tax and insurance, fuel, maintenance — everything you pay in the background.

Training & software

€/year

Master craftsman courses, training, accounting and trade software, association fees.

Productive time

Productive hours per working day: 5,5 h

Hours per day that you actually sell. The rest goes on travel, quotes and bookkeeping. Realistically 5 to 6 hours.

Working days per year

days

365 minus weekends (104), holidays (~25) and public holidays (~11) = about 225. With a lot of sickness or acquisition, more like 200-215.

Profit

Profit margin: 15 %

Markup on cost for investments, reserves and growth. 10 to 20 % is standard and healthy.

Your hourly selling rate

73 €

net per productive hour

Breakdown

Annual salary + employer contributions 67.100 €

Total operating costs 15.000 €

Full costs per year 82.100 €

Productive hours per year 1.210 h

Cost per hour 68 €

+ Profit margin 10 €

= Hourly selling rate 78 €

Your hourly rate is within the usual range for tradespeople (55 to 95 €/h net).

Hourly rate automatically in every quote

In Awerka you enter this value once. It is applied automatically to every quote, every invoice and every time entry — you no longer have to calculate anything manually.

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How the calculation works

The biggest mistake many freelancers make: they divide their target salary by the number of working hours in the year and think that is their hourly rate. In reality this leaves out three essential building blocks that push your hourly rate up:

1. Full costs instead of gross salary

Your gross salary is only part of what you really cost. For an employee, the employer additionally pays around 22 % on top of the gross for social security. As a freelancer you either pay these contributions yourself (health insurance, pension) or you have to factor them in as a markup in your hourly rate.

2. Spread out operating costs

Tools, insurance, vehicle, office, software, training — all of this has to be financed out of your hourly rate. Professional liability insurance costs €1,500/year, a van €5,000/year, tool depreciation €3,000/year. Together that quickly adds up to €10,000 to €15,000 of fixed costs that have to be spread across your productive hours.

3. Only productive hours count

You might work 8 hours a day — but only 5 or 6 of them are billable. Travel time, writing quotes, ordering materials, bookkeeping, acquisition and the phone are not billable. On top of that come sickness, holidays, training days and public holidays. Anyone who calculates this honestly ends up at a realistic 1,000 to 1,400 productive hours per year — instead of the theoretical 1,760.

4. Profit is a must, not a luxury

Anyone who calculates without a profit margin builds no reserves for investments, new tools or slow periods. A markup of 10 to 20 % on cost is the minimum — so your business grows instead of merely surviving.

Important note: The calculated value is your net hourly selling rate. On the invoice you still add 19 % VAT. For private customers, the gross amount is therefore the relevant value for comparison with competitors.

Frequently asked questions about hourly rates

Realistic hourly rates range from 55 to 95 € per hour net, depending on trade and region. Plumbing/heating, electrical and heating construction are often in the upper third (70 to 95 €), while painters and general building trades are more around 55 to 75 €. But the real figure depends heavily on your full costs, not on the market average — the calculator above shows you your individual value.

Because you do not sell every hour you work. Sickness, holidays, training, acquisition and administration cost you time that nobody pays for. On top of that you have running costs — tools, insurance, office, vehicle — which all have to be financed out of your hourly rate. Anyone who only divides salary by hours works themselves systematically into poverty.

For self-employed tradespeople, 5 to 6 hours per 8-hour working day are realistic. The rest goes on travel, preparing quotes, ordering materials, bookkeeping and the phone. Anyone honest with themselves plans for 5 hours rather than 7.

A profit margin of 10 to 20 % is standard and healthy. Below that you build no reserves for investments or bad times. With a very stable order book you can get by on 10 %; with an uncertain order situation you should calculate 20 %.

The calculated hourly selling rate is your minimum. Every quote and every invoice should contain at least this value for your working time. In tools like Awerka you store the value once as your default hourly rate — then the system applies it automatically to quotes and invoices, and you no longer have to calculate anything manually.