Day rate = (what you want to earn + your yearly business costs) ÷ the days you can actually bill.
Most self-employed tilers bill about 200 days a year once holidays, quoting, admin and gaps between jobs are taken out. The going rate in the UK is £200–£350 a day, with around £300 typical.
Plenty of tilers set their day rate by asking around, then wonder why they're busy all year and still short of money. Work it out from your own figures instead, and you'll know what the lowest rate you can afford really is.
Step 1: Decide what you need to earn
Start with the yearly income you want before tax. That's your wage, not the business's takings. Remember there's no employer adding holiday pay, sick pay or pension contributions, so build those in.
Step 2: Add up your business costs
List everything the business pays for in a year:
- van: finance or lease, insurance, tax, servicing, tyres;
- fuel;
- public liability insurance, and tool cover;
- tools: replacing and repairing cutters, grinders, mixers, lasers and blades;
- phone, software and accounting;
- consumables you don't charge to the customer;
- advertising and trade memberships.
Keep records. Many of these are allowable expenses that reduce your tax bill. Instead of actual vehicle costs you can use HMRC's simplified mileage rate, which is 55p a mile for the first 10,000 business miles from 6 April 2026.
Step 3: Count the days you can actually bill
| Days | |
|---|---|
| Weekdays in a year | 260 |
| Holidays and bank holidays | −28 |
| Quoting, surveys, admin, collecting materials | −20 |
| Sickness, weather and gaps between jobs | −12 |
| Days you can bill | 200 |
Your own numbers will differ. If you spend every Friday quoting, you have far fewer billable days than this.
Step 4: Work out your day rate
Add what you want to earn to your business costs, then divide by your billable days.
Worked example
| Per year | |
|---|---|
| Income you want before tax | £45,000 |
| Insurance, tool replacement, phone and software (typically £800–£1,200) | £1,000 |
| Van and fuel: 8,000 business miles × 55p (HMRC simplified rate) | £4,400 |
| Total you need to bill | £50,400 |
£50,400 ÷ 200 days = £252 a day. That's within the UK going rate of £200–£350 a day. If your van is on finance, or you drive long distances, put in your actual figures, and your rate will go up. If your figure comes out well above the going rate, look at your costs and how many days you're losing to non-billable work before putting your price up.
Try your own numbers in our free tiler day rate calculator.
Turn your day rate into a per m² rate
Most customers want a price per job, not per day. Divide your day rate by how much you can lay in a day. Checkatrade gives typical output of 10–15 m² on walls and 8–12 m² on floors.
- £252 ÷ 12 m² a day ≈ £21 per m²
- £252 ÷ 8 m² a day (bathroom with lots of cuts) ≈ £32 per m²
That's why bathrooms and small rooms need a higher per m² rate than open floors. See UK tiling labour rates to compare.
Don't forget VAT
Once your taxable turnover goes over £90,000 in any rolling 12 months you have to register for VAT and add 20% to your prices for most customers. Keep an eye on your turnover as your rate goes up.
Sources
- Checkatrade: How much does tiling cost in 2026? · updated June 2026; day rates and output per day
- GOV.UK: Increase to mileage allowance payments and self-employed simplified mileage rates · 55p per mile for the first 10,000 miles from 6 April 2026
- GOV.UK: VAT registration thresholds · £90,000 registration threshold
Prices change. Figures were checked on 20 October 2026; always check current costs and your own figures before quoting.