A good quote wins work and protects you when something changes on site. A good day rate makes sure each job pays for your time, your team, your vehicle and your business. This guide walks through both, using your own costs; no two contractors have the same overheads, so there are no rand figures here except the legal ones.
Setting a day rate
Your day rate has to cover more than the hours on site. Work it out from the year, not the day:
- Wages. What you pay yourself and each worker for a year. Workers must earn at least the national minimum wage, which rose to R30.23 an hour from 1 March 2026.
- Overheads. Vehicle costs, tools and their replacement, insurance, phone and data, accounting, registration fees, advertising and office costs.
- Productive days. Count the days you actually bill: take off weekends, public holidays, leave, rain days, quoting days and time between jobs. Many small contractors bill far fewer days than they work.
- Profit. A margin on top, so the business grows and can carry a slow month.
Formula: day rate = (wages + overheads + profit) ÷ billable days
The day rate and hourly rate calculator runs this sum, and the crew hours calculator turns a job’s labour into hours and days for a crew.
Costing a job
- Materials: take them from the calculators, which include waste, and price them from your price list. Use the same price list for every quote so jobs are comparable.
- Labour: estimate the days per trade and multiply by your day rate.
- Plant and hire: mixers, compactors, skips, scaffolding.
- Travel: SARS’s simplified rate for years from 1 March 2026 is 495 cents per kilometre, a useful figure for pricing trips to site; the travel cost calculator works it out.
- Fees and certificates: plan fees, the NHBRC enrolment fee for new homes, and the electrical and plumbing CoCs.
Then add your margin. Markup and margin aren’t the same: a 25% markup on cost is a 20% margin on the price. The markup and margin calculator converts between them, and the job pricing calculator builds the whole price.
Pricing risk
Some jobs carry more unknowns than others: old houses, alterations where the existing structure is hidden, sites with poor access or ground that hasn’t been tested. Rather than padding every line, list the assumptions you priced on, such as firm ground at normal depth or sound existing walls, and say that anything different will be quoted as extra. The client then knows where the price could move and why.
Writing the quote
A clear quote prevents most disputes. Include:
- your business name, registration numbers (CIPC, and CIDB, NHBRC or PIRB where they apply) and contact details;
- the client’s name and the site address;
- a scope of work in plain language, item by item;
- exclusions: what you are not doing, such as plans, painting or electrical work;
- prices, with VAT shown separately if you are VAT registered; see VAT for contractors;
- the payment terms: deposit, progress payments and the final payment;
- how long the quote is valid; and
- how changes will be handled: extra work quoted separately before it is done.
BouWise’s quote builder fills in your business details and registration numbers from your settings, lists the materials from the calculators, adds your labour, and uses a default validity of 30 days with a deposit before work starts, which you can change.
After the quote
Follow up within a few days. When the client accepts, confirm in writing. For new homes, a signed written contract is needed; see NHBRC registration and home enrolment. Keep every quote, variation and invoice for the job: they are your record if anything is disputed later.
This guide is general information for estimating. It is not engineering, legal or tax advice. Check SANS 10400 (the National Building Regulations) and your local municipality’s building control officer for your project.