Pricing Your Own Labour When You Work Alone

Most solo makers I know price by feel. You look at the job, you remember roughly what the last one cost, and you say a number. Then a month goes by and the money does not match the hours you actually spent. The problem is rarely greed or generosity. It is that the number was built on the hours you wished the job took, not the hours it did.

Start with a real time log for one week. Write down when you picked up a tool and when you put it down, including the walk to the car, the phone call to the client, and the trip to collect a part. Most people find that a job they call "two hours" is closer to three and a half once travel and setup are counted. That gap is where the month disappears.

What goes into the number

Build the quote from four pieces. Materials at cost plus a small markup to cover the trip to buy them. Time at an hourly rate you can live on, not the rate you think sounds fair to a stranger. Travel, counted both ways, because a part run across town is not free. And a line for the redo, because some jobs come back and the second visit is still your time.

Quoting a range is fine if you say what moves the number. "Between X and Y, depending on whether the housing needs replacing" is honest. "Somewhere around there" is not. A written range with a stated condition protects you and gives the client something to decide on.

Deposits and short written quotes

A deposit is normal for any job where you buy parts up front or block out days. Word it plainly in a short written quote: what the job covers, what the deposit is for, and what happens if the client changes the scope. Two or three sentences is enough. Keep a copy. If you want a fuller paper trail, the desk has a separate piece on quotes, deposits and basic invoicing that pairs with this one.

The point is not to squeeze every rand out of a job. It is to stop guessing, so that the work you do on a Tuesday afternoon is reflected in what lands in your account at the end of the month.