You win the job but finish it wondering where the profit went. Accurate costing is the difference between a busy tradie and a profitable one. None of this requires an MBA — just a few changes you can stick to between jobs.
Why this problem sticks around
You win the job but finish it wondering where the profit went.
If you are a tradies owner, you already know the craft. The friction is everything around it: enquiries going cold, quotes sitting in draft, jobs overlapping, and admin eating your evenings. Accurate costing is the difference between a busy tradie and a profitable one.
Left unchecked, this costs you booked jobs, slower payments, and the Sunday-night admin sessions nobody signed up for. Fixing it is less about working harder and more about removing friction from the parts customers never see.
What actually works in practice
Cost every job: materials at trade price, labour hours at true cost including super and downtime, overhead allocation, then markup. Track actual vs estimated after completion.
Treat this like a job, not a New Year's resolution. Block 30 minutes weekly to review pipeline, cash, and what slipped through the cracks. Small course corrections beat annual panic.
You do not need to rebuild your entire business this week. Start with the first step below, run it on your next job, and adjust from there.
A practical approach you can start this week
1. Calculate your true hourly labour cost
Include wages, super, vehicle, insurance, tools, admin time. Divide by billable hours.
2. Build material lists with current supplier prices
Link to supplier price lists or update monthly spreadsheet.
3. Add overhead percentage to every quote
10-15% overhead minimum — phone, software, accounting, marketing.
4. Review actual costs after job completion
Job post-mortem: estimated vs actual. Adjust templates.
Quick tips for busy tradies
- Round up labour hours — jobs always take longer
- Include consumables — screws, tape, sealant add up
- Separate travel time for distant Perth jobs
- Use job costing software not gut feel
- Raise rates annually — costs creep up silently
Common mistakes to avoid
- Quoting materials at retail when you pay trade
- Forgetting GST in mental maths
- Matching competitor prices without knowing their costs
How Automate Leads can help
Automate Leads includes material and labour costing built into quotes — so Perth tradies price jobs accurately without separate spreadsheets. If material and labour costing in quotes is eating your evenings, it is worth seeing whether one platform can handle it.