Builder day rates in 2026 range from £120/day for a labourer to £400/day for specialist trades like electricians and plumbers. A general builder typically charges £200–£350/day depending on experience and location. London and the South East add 30–50% on top. These are self-employed (CIS) rates — the tradesperson brings their own tools and transport, but you supply materials.
Trade Day Rates at a Glance
General Builder
Your all-rounder. Handles groundworks, blockwork, general construction, and project management on smaller jobs. The backbone of any building project. Rates vary hugely with experience — a builder with 20 years under their belt charges more than someone three years in.
Bricklayer
Skilled brickwork, blockwork, and stonework. A good brickie can lay 400–500 bricks a day in fair weather. Extension walls, garden walls, porch builds — they're in demand year-round and the good ones book up fast.
Carpenter / Joiner
First fix (stud walls, roof timbers, floor joists) and second fix (doors, skirting, kitchens). A versatile trade — some specialise in roofing carpentry, others in bespoke joinery. Second-fix carpenters who do a clean finish tend to charge at the higher end.
Electrician
Must be Part P registered (or working under someone who is). Rewires, consumer unit upgrades, extension electrics, and testing. Many electricians prefer to quote per point (socket, switch, or light) rather than day rates — works out similar on bigger jobs.
Plumber
Bathroom installations, heating systems, pipe runs for extensions. Gas Safe registered plumbers charge at the top end. Emergency callout rates are typically hourly with a minimum charge. New bathroom plumbing is usually quoted as a fixed price per project.
Plasterer
Skimming, rendering, dry lining, and coving. Most plasterers prefer to price per room or per square metre rather than day rate — a standard room skim takes a day, so the maths is straightforward. A fast plasterer is worth every penny; a slow one costs you in delays.
Roofer
Tile and slate roofing, flat roofs, fascias, soffits, and guttering. Roofers work weather-dependent — rain stops play. Factor in that a roofing job might take longer in winter due to lost days. Scaffold costs come on top (see scaffolder below).
Painter / Decorator
Interior and exterior painting, wallpapering, and specialist finishes. Often the most undervalued trade — a good decorator transforms a space. Most quote per room (walls and ceiling, two coats) rather than day rate. Prep work is where the time goes.
Tiler
Floor and wall tiling in bathrooms, kitchens, and hallways. Large-format tiles, intricate patterns, and natural stone cost more to lay. Most tilers quote per square metre — the day rate equivalent depends on the tile size, pattern, and how fiddly the cuts are.
Bathroom Tilinger
Foundations, drainage, concrete slabs, and site clearance. The first trade on any extension project and often the most physically demanding. Bathroom Tiling costs also include plant hire (mini digger £150–£250/day) which comes on top of the day rate.
Scaffolder
Erecting and dismantling scaffolding. The day rate covers the labour to put it up and take it down. On top of that, you pay scaffold hire for as long as it's up — typically £500–£1,500 for a domestic job depending on height and length. Get it factored into your project budget early.
Labourer
Mixing, carrying, clearing, and general site support. Every builder needs a good labourer — they keep the site moving, materials flowing, and the skilled trades productive. An experienced labourer who anticipates what's needed next is worth their weight in gold.
📐 What about structural engineers?
Structural engineers don't work on day rates. They charge £500–£1,500 per project for residential work — that covers the site visit, calculations, and drawings. A simple beam calculation for a knocked-through wall might be £400–£600. A full structural package for a loft conversion or extension runs £800–£1,500. You'll need one for any work involving load-bearing walls, steel beams, or new foundations.
What's Included in a Day Rate
What you get
When a builder quotes a day rate, it typically covers their labour, tools, and transport to your site. They'll arrive at the agreed time (usually 8am), work through to 4–5pm, and bring everything they need to do the job — power tools, hand tools, PPE, and their vehicle.
An 8-hour working day is standard, though some trades work 7:30am to 4pm or 8am to 4:30pm. Lunch is 30 minutes. If you need weekend or evening work, expect to pay a premium — typically 1.5x the standard rate for Saturdays and double time for Sundays, though not all tradespeople will agree to it.
What you don't get
Materials are extra. Always. A day rate covers labour only. Your builder will either give you a materials list to buy yourself, or buy them and invoice you separately. Some builders add a 10–15% markup on materials to cover their time sourcing and collecting them — that's normal and fair. What's not fair is a 30% markup without telling you.
Skip hire, scaffolding, and plant hire are extra. A groundworker's day rate doesn't include the mini digger. A roofer's day rate doesn't include the scaffold. These are separate costs that should be agreed upfront.
Building control fees, planning application fees, and professional fees (architect, structural engineer) are always separate. These are project costs, not day rate costs.
CIS vs employed — why it matters
Most builders working on residential projects are self-employed under CIS (Construction Industry Scheme). When they quote £280/day, that's what you pay. They handle their own tax, National Insurance, and pension.
If you're hiring someone as an employee (rare for homeowners, but common on larger developments), the day rate looks lower — maybe £180/day — but once you add employer's National Insurance (13.8%), pension contributions (3%), holiday pay, and sick pay, the real cost is £230–£260/day. Plus the admin burden of running a payroll.
For most homeowners hiring a builder for a project, CIS self-employed is simpler and often cheaper. Just make sure you're genuinely hiring a self-employed tradesperson and not inadvertently creating an employment relationship — HMRC takes a dim view of that.
Regional Day Rates Across the UK
Where you live makes a significant difference to what you'll pay. London is the obvious outlier, but the South East is close behind. Here's what a general builder typically charges by region — specialist trades follow the same pattern.
Why the London premium? It's not just the cost of living. Builders working in London face ULEZ charges (£12.50/day), congestion charges (£15/day in Central), expensive parking or the risk of fines, and significantly longer travel times. A builder in Zone 2 might spend 90 minutes getting to a job that would take 20 minutes in a market town. That lost time gets priced in. Add genuine higher demand — there's always more work than available tradespeople in London — and the premium is justified.
Day Rate vs Fixed Price: Which Is Better?
This is the question every homeowner asks, and the honest answer is: it depends on the job. Both approaches have genuine pros and cons, and knowing when to use each can save you thousands.
Day Rate (Time & Materials)
- You see exactly what you're paying for — every hour, every task
- Flexible when scope changes or surprises appear (and they always do)
- Better for small, varied jobs that are hard to quote accurately
- Builder has no incentive to rush or cut corners
- You can adjust priorities mid-job without renegotiating
- A slow worker costs you more — you're paying for time, not output
- No budget certainty — the final cost is unknown until the job's done
- You need to manage the work more closely to avoid drift
- Some tradespeople stretch jobs when paid by the day
Fixed Quote (Lump Sum)
- Budget certainty — you know the total cost before work starts
- Builder absorbs overruns (if they quoted properly)
- Less day-to-day management required from you
- Easier to compare quotes between builders
- Builder is motivated to finish efficiently
- If the quote was too tight, builder may cut corners to stay profitable
- Changes mid-project trigger "variation orders" — extra costs that add up fast
- Builder priced in a contingency, so you're paying for risk that might not materialise
- Disagreements over what's "included" are common
When day rate makes sense
- Small jobs and maintenance work — fixing a fence, patching render, miscellaneous repairs. Too small and varied to quote individually.
- When the scope keeps changing — renovation of an old property where you don't know what's behind the walls until you open them up.
- Snagging and finishing work — odds and ends at the end of a project that don't fit neatly into a schedule of works.
- When you trust the builder — an established relationship where you know they work efficiently and honestly.
- Handyman / multi-trade days — a day of mixed small tasks: hang some doors, fix the gutter, put up shelves, adjust the garden gate.
When fixed quote makes sense
- Extensions and conversions — defined projects with clear plans, structural drawings, and a schedule of works.
- New-build work — the scope is completely defined on paper before ground is broken.
- Bathroom and kitchen installations — the spec is known, the layout is designed, the materials are chosen.
- Any project over £10,000 — at this level, budget certainty matters more than flexibility.
- When you can't be on site daily — a fixed quote with a clear schedule means you don't need to manage the day-to-day.
💡 The hybrid approach
Many builders (us included) use a mix. The main build is a fixed quote with a detailed schedule of works, but we agree a day rate for any extras, variations, or unforeseen work that crops up. This gives you budget certainty on the defined scope and a fair, agreed rate for anything that changes. Get the day rate agreed in writing before the project starts — not when you're mid-build and have no leverage.
How Many Person-Days Do Common Projects Need?
Understanding person-days helps you estimate costs on day rate projects and sanity-check fixed quotes. These figures are total person-days across all trades — not one builder working alone for that many days.
How to read these numbers: A single-storey extension at 50 person-days doesn't mean one builder for 50 days. It means maybe 8 days of groundwork (2 groundworkers × 4 days), 10 days of brickwork (2 bricklayers × 5 days), 3 days of roofing, 5 days of first-fix carpentry, 4 days of electrics, 4 days of plumbing, 6 days of plastering, and 10 days of second fix and decorating — spread over 10–16 calendar weeks with gaps between trades.
To estimate labour cost: multiply person-days by the average day rate for the relevant trades. For a rough guide, use £260/day as a blended average across all trades. So a 50 person-day extension is roughly £13,000 in labour. Materials, professional fees, and overheads come on top.
What Affects a Builder's Day Rate
Experience and reputation
A builder with 25 years' experience, a portfolio of completed projects, and a queue of referrals will charge more than someone two years qualified. You're paying for the problems they've already solved, the mistakes they won't make, and the speed that comes from doing something thousands of times.
Qualifications and accreditations
Gas Safe (gas work), NICEIC or NAPIT (electrics), Part P registration, CSCS cards, NVQs — all cost money to get and maintain. A Gas Safe registered plumber charges more than an unregistered one, but they can also legally sign off their own gas work, saving you the cost of a separate inspection. Qualifications aren't just badges — they represent genuine competence and accountability.
Demand and seasonality
Builders are busiest March to October. Day rates creep up in spring as everyone starts their extension projects, and ease off in the quieter winter months. January and February can be 10–15% cheaper — if you can tolerate building work in the cold and the shorter daylight hours. Good tradespeople are always in demand though; the very best rarely have quiet patches.
Location and access
A straightforward ground-floor job with easy van access costs less than a loft conversion in a Victorian terrace with no parking, a narrow staircase, and everything carried through the house. Difficult access slows everything down. Basement work, scaffold-dependent jobs, and sites with no storage space all push rates up because the builder's productivity drops.
Insurance and overheads
A legitimate builder carries public liability insurance (£2–5 million), employer's liability if they have staff, professional indemnity for design work, van insurance, tool insurance, and often membership fees for trade bodies. These are real costs — £2,000–£5,000/year for a sole trader. A builder charging rock-bottom rates may not be carrying any of this. Ask for the certificate.
Job duration and commitment
A builder will often accept a slightly lower day rate for a guaranteed block of work — 4 weeks is better than 4 separate days scattered across a month. Steady work means no gaps between jobs, no time spent quoting, and no uncertainty. If you can offer consistent work, mention it when negotiating. A £20/day discount over 30 days saves you £600.
Red Flags: When to Walk Away
🚩 Warning signs when hiring on a day rate
- Rates significantly below average. A "builder" charging £120/day is either a labourer with ambition, uninsured, or not declaring their income. Genuine skilled builders have genuine costs — insurance, tools, vehicle, tax — that make sub-£180 day rates unsustainable for a qualified tradesperson.
- Cash-only, no paperwork. If they won't put the day rate in writing, won't provide a receipt, and insist on cash — walk away. No written agreement means no comeback when things go wrong. And they will go wrong if you're dealing with someone who operates off the books.
- No insurance. Ask for the public liability insurance certificate. Not "I've got insurance" — the actual certificate with the insurer's name, policy number, cover amount (minimum £2 million), and expiry date. If they can't produce it, they don't have it. One accident on your property without insurance and you're personally liable.
- Can start tomorrow. Good builders are booked weeks or months ahead. If someone can start immediately, ask yourself why they're not busy. There are legitimate reasons (a job fell through, they had a cancellation) but combined with other red flags, it's a warning sign.
- No references or previous work. Every established builder has satisfied customers willing to vouch for them. No references means either they're brand new (in which case the rate should reflect that) or their previous customers aren't happy.
- Vague about qualifications. For regulated work (gas, electrics), the qualifications are non-negotiable and verifiable. You can check Gas Safe registration at GasSafeRegister.co.uk and NICEIC registration at niceic.com. If they're vague or defensive when asked, they probably aren't registered.
- Wants a large upfront payment. On a day rate, you pay weekly or at agreed intervals. Paying two weeks in advance with no work done is a recipe for trouble. Normal practice: pay at the end of each week for the days worked that week.
How to protect yourself on a day rate
Even for day rate work, get a written agreement. It doesn't need to be a contract drafted by a solicitor — a simple document covering the following is enough:
- The agreed day rate (and what it includes)
- Working hours and expected start/finish times
- Who supplies materials and how they're paid for
- Payment schedule (weekly, fortnightly)
- What happens if either party wants to end the arrangement
- Insurance confirmation (attach a copy of their certificate)
- A general description of the work to be done
Both sign it, both keep a copy. Takes 20 minutes to write up and saves you from the most common disputes: "I thought materials were included," "I thought it was £280, not £320," and "I've been paying you for three weeks and the job's not done."
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We provide clear, upfront pricing on every project — whether that's a fixed quote for your extension or an agreed day rate for smaller works. No surprises, no hidden costs.