"What should I charge per hour?" — it's the number one question every new contractor asks. And most of the answers online are useless: either "whatever the market pays" or a random figure someone made up in 2019. Both are wrong.
Here's what Dutch contractors and tradespeople actually charge in 2026 — by trade, by region — and, more usefully, how to calculate the rate you should charge based on your own numbers, not somebody else's.
What's a fair hourly rate in 2026?
For a general contractor (aannemer) working directly for a private client, the honest range in 2026 is €45–€80 per hour excluding BTW. Specialist trades sit above that. Sole traders taking small jobs sit at the lower end; established teams with overheads and reputation sit at the top.
Anything under €40/hour ex BTW and you're either losing money you don't realise you're losing, or you're competing on a race to the bottom. Anything over €90/hour and you'd better have specialist skills or a very sharp portfolio.
By trade
Rough ranges for one-person work, direct-to-client, ex BTW, national average:
| Trade | Hourly (ex BTW) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Aannemer (general) | €45–€80 | Wider range depending on scope |
| Timmerman (carpenter) | €45–€70 | Higher for finish carpentry |
| Loodgieter (plumber) | €60–€95 | Emergency call-outs €100+ |
| Elektricien (electrician) | €60–€90 | Certified installations at top end |
| Tegelzetter (tiler) | €45–€75 | Or €40–€80/m² fixed price |
| Stukadoor (plasterer) | €45–€70 | Or €15–€30/m² for plaster skim |
| Schilder (painter) | €40–€60 | Or €25–€45/m² for full room |
By region
Location matters more than most people admit. Same trade, same experience, different postcode — different rate.
- Randstad (Amsterdam, Utrecht, Den Haag, Rotterdam): +10 to +15% on national averages. High demand, high overheads, high client budgets.
- Brabant / Gelderland / centre: at national average.
- Noord (Groningen, Friesland, Drenthe) & Zuid-Limburg: −5 to −10% on national averages. Lower cost base, but also lower client budgets.
- Rural / small villages: variable — either much cheaper (little competition, but also little demand) or surprisingly high (drive-time and no local alternative).
How to calculate YOUR hourly rate as ZZP
Copying someone else's rate is how contractors quietly go broke. Your rate should come from your own numbers. The formula:
Three inputs, all of them yours:
- Target income. What you actually want to take home. If you want €3,500/month net, target ≈ €45,000/year gross.
- Business costs. Van (lease + fuel + maintenance), tools, phone, insurance, accountant, software, marketing, KvK. €8,000–€18,000/year for most solo contractors.
- Tax reserve. Income tax + national insurance + pension. Reserve ±30–35% of gross for tax purposes as ZZP.
Billable hours — the number everyone gets wrong
A full-time employee "works" 40 hours × 52 weeks = 2,080 hours. As a ZZP, you can bill nowhere near that. Here's what actually happens:
| Item | Hours/year | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Total available (40h × 52w) | 2,080 | Theoretical maximum |
| Vacation (5 weeks) | −200 | Yours to choose but plan for it |
| Public holidays | −64 | NL: 8 days average |
| Sick days / off days | −80 | Realistic average, not optimistic |
| Quoting, estimating, admin | −280 | ±1 day/week |
| Travel between jobs | −160 | ±3h/week, higher for rural |
| Non-billable / rework | −80 | Warranty visits, quote follow-ups |
| Billable total | ≈ 1,200–1,400 | Realistic for solo contractor |
⏱ 1,300 hours is the honest number
Most rate calculators assume 1,600–1,800 billable hours. That's a fantasy for a solo contractor. Divide your target by 1,300 to get an honest rate. If you accidentally bill 1,500 hours, you'll have a great year — but the rate will still cover you when you don't.
⚡ Set your rate once in BuildExact
Enter your hourly rate in your business profile and BuildExact applies it to every quote automatically. Change it once — every future quote updates. No more retyping the same number and hoping you didn't fat-finger it.
Download freeWhat's included in a billable hour
When you invoice an hour, you're not paying for 60 minutes on site. You're paying for everything that enabled that hour to happen:
- Materials markup. Sourcing, collecting, returning. Typically 10–20% on top of cost — either baked into the rate or shown as a separate line.
- Travel time. First and last 30 minutes of the day usually aren't billable. Bake them in.
- Admin. Emails, phone calls, quote drafting, invoicing, chasing payment. Roughly 15% of your working time.
- Estimating. Site visits and quotes that don't win still cost you time. NL conversion is roughly 1 in 3, so cost every hour of quoting against your winning jobs.
- Tool depreciation. A €600 impact driver every 3 years is €200/year. Add up all your tools — it's a serious number.
Fixed price vs hourly
Both have their place. Pick the wrong one for the job and you lose money.
Fixed price makes sense when the scope is well-defined — a specific number of m² of tiles, a specific bathroom refit, a known extension. The client gets certainty; you get upside if you're efficient. Requires accurate estimation.
Hourly makes sense for repairs, diagnostics, unknown scope, small jobs, and any work where the client keeps changing their mind. Never quote fixed price for "we'll see what's behind the wall" work — that's how contractors lose their profit margin in one afternoon.
Common mistakes
- Not accounting for non-billable time. The single most common reason ZZP builders underearn.
- Forgetting BTW impact. €60/hour ex BTW is €72.60 incl BTW at 21%. Clients quote each other the incl-BTW number and then complain your rate is too high.
- Undercharging to win jobs. If you have to compete on price, you're competing with the wrong people. Compete on quote quality, speed of reply, and finish.
- Never raising rates. Rates should rise 3–5% per year with inflation and experience. Existing clients rarely mind a small annual bump if you tell them in advance.
- Not tracking hours honestly. If you don't know how many hours a bathroom actually takes you, you can't quote the next one accurately.
Set it, review it, move on
Calculate your rate once properly, put it in your business profile, review it every January. That's the whole system. A rate that fits your numbers holds up even when a client tries to talk it down — because it isn't a guess. It's what you need to earn, spread across the hours you can actually bill.