Plumber day rates
Pick where you work and how experienced you are for a realistic plumber day rate, the sources behind it, and what it leaves you after tax and costs.
Read the full guide→An experienced self-employed plumber across most of the UK typically charges around £280 to £350 a day. In London that rises to about £360 to £450, and newly qualified it is nearer £230 to £290. These are labour rates charged to the customer, not take-home pay.
Nothing you enter is sent to us or saved. 2026 figures.
Your work
Where you work
Experience
Optional, see what you take home
Typical day rate
£280–£350/ day
for an experienced plumber in Most of the UK. Charged to the customer, labour only.
If you charged £315 a day
You keep ≈ £43,211 a year
£63,000 over 200 billable days, minus £8,000 overheads, minus Income Tax and National Insurance on the profit.
A range, not a single number: what you charge also comes down to demand, your reputation and the job.
How this range is worked out
Region, in four bands
Rates are highest in London, above average across the South East, and lower in the North East, Wales and Northern Ireland. We split the country into four bands so the figure matches where you work.
Experience, from the earnings spread
The gap between a newly qualified and an experienced plumber follows the official ONS earnings spread for the trade, alongside the National Careers Service and the JIB and CIJC agreed grades.
The level, from the marketplace
What plumbers actually charge a customer comes from marketplace figures: Checkatrade, Simply Business and the cost-guide consensus. The result is a range, with every source shown.
A day rate is not what you keep
After Income Tax, National Insurance, overheads and the days you cannot bill, your take-home is a good bit lower. The self-employed tax calculator shows the full picture for the year.
Work out your take-home →Frequently asked questions
An estimate, not a quote or financial advice. Day-rate ranges triangulate published marketplace figures (Checkatrade, Simply Business), official employee earnings by trade and region (ONS ASHE, which covers employees not the self-employed, so it sets the shape not the level), the collectively agreed grades (JIB for electrical, CIJC for construction) and National Careers Service bands. Regions are grouped into four bands because the data cannot support precise per-town figures. Take-home uses the HMRC Personal Allowance, Income Tax bands and Class 4 National Insurance for the 2025/26 and 2026/27 tax years. Your real figure depends on your work, costs and circumstances.
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