Trade Day Rates and Pricing: What SA Trades Charge

Here is the honest starting point: no South African industry body publishes consumer-facing charge-out rates for most trades. The one solid published figure is the Institute of Plumbing South Africa (IOPSA) guidance rate for plumbers. Everything else you see online is a market estimate from comparison sites, salary surveys or local contractor quotes, not an audited rate. So treat every number below as indicative only, and price your own work off your own costs, not off a national average.‍‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‍

Why there is no official rate card

The pricing data for SA trades is fragmented. What exists falls into a few buckets, and they are easy to confuse:

Bargaining council wage tables (the NBCEI for electricians, the BIBC and BCCEI for building trades) set the minimum you must pay a worker. They are not what you bill a client. Do not quote your customer off your own labour cost.
Trade body guidance (IOPSA for plumbers) is published as industry guidance, not an enforceable rate.
Marketplace and comparison sites (ProCompare, ServiceLink and the like) publish survey-based averages with no stated method. Treat them as crowd-sourced approximations.
Salary surveys (such as PayScale) report what employees earn per hour. To turn an employee wage into a charge-out rate you add overhead and margin, typically two to four times the wage, to cover tools, tax, travel, insurance and downtime.

Kandua, the largest home-service marketplace in the country, does not publish a public rate table at all. So when you see a confident "average rate" for your trade, ask where it came from. Most of the time, no industry body stands behind it.

The one published guidance rate: plumbers

The Institute of Plumbing South Africa (IOPSA), the recognised SA industry body, last published guidance in January 2023: an hourly service rate of roughly R450 to R850 (averaging about R650), plus a call-out fee of about R450 to R650, excluding VAT. That guidance is dated now, so confirm against a current IOPSA publication or a fresh quote check before you rely on it. IOPSA is at iopsa.org. No equivalent body-published charge-out rate exists for electricians, builders, painters, tilers, roofers, carpenters, HVAC installers, solar installers or landscapers.

Rough market estimates by trade

The figures below are estimates pulled from comparison sites and local contractor quotes in 2024 to 2026, excluding VAT. They are starting points for a conversation, not prices to copy.

Electrician: marketplace averages put labour around R400 to R800 an hour, with a call-out fee of roughly R450 to R950, and after-hours work higher. A Certificate of Compliance (CoC) commonly comes in around R900 to R1,900.
Plumber: see the IOPSA guidance above. Blocked-drain and minor-leak jobs are often quoted at a few hundred rand plus parts; emergency call-outs run at one and a half to two times the standard rate.
Builder and bricklayer: no published self-employed day rate exists. Brickwork and plastering are usually quoted per square metre of labour; a full new build is commonly quoted per square metre including materials.
Painter: usually quoted per square metre of wall, with interior and exterior priced differently. No SA painting body publishes a charge-out rate.
Tiler: floor and wall tiling are quoted per square metre of labour, with the rate rising for complex layouts. Bathrooms are often quoted as a whole job.
Roofer: repairs are quoted per square metre or per job; full replacement is a project price. No SA roofing body publishes a day rate.
Carpenter and joiner: the most credible single local data point is a Gauteng skilled rate of roughly R250 to R450 an hour, but most work is quoted per job (hanging a door, fitting a wardrobe) rather than by time.
Air conditioning (HVAC) installer: small split-system installs are commonly quoted as a supply-and-install package; labour alone for a small unit is often a couple of thousand rand.
Solar installer: almost always a system package (panels, inverter, batteries, labour). Labour is generally around 10% to 15% of the total system cost, so it is hard to isolate.
Landscaper and paver: paving is quoted per square metre, all-in or labour-only; garden maintenance is often a monthly retainer. No SA body publishes a rate.

If you want a per-trade starting-out rundown, see Money Reality and Day-Rate Maths.

How to actually quote

Because there is no rate card to lean on, build your price from your own numbers:

Work out your real day cost. Add up what a working day costs you: your own pay, tools and consumables, vehicle and fuel, insurance, tax set-aside, admin time and the days you are not billing. That is your floor, not your price.
Choose per-job or per-day. Quote a fixed price per job where you can scope it tightly (most domestic trade work), and a day rate where the scope is open or the client keeps changing their mind. A fixed price rewards your speed; a day rate protects you when the job is vague.
Price per square metre where the trade does. Tiling, paving, plastering, painting and brickwork are normally measured and quoted per square metre of labour, plus materials. Measure on site, do not guess.
Quote in writing, excluding VAT, with materials separate. Say clearly whether the price includes or excludes VAT, and whether materials are included or charged at cost plus a margin. If your turnover passes R2.3 million in a 12-month period you must register for VAT and add 15%.
Add a call-out or minimum charge for small jobs so a quick visit still covers your time and travel.

Common mistakes

Quoting off a national "average" rate. There is no audited average for most trades. Price off your own costs.
Confusing a council wage with a charge-out rate. The NBCEI or BIBC wage is what you pay a worker, not what you bill a client.
Treating a salary-survey hourly figure as a price. An employee wage needs two to four times mark-up before it becomes a viable charge-out rate.
Forgetting the VAT line. Once you cross R2.3 million turnover you must register and add 15%; quote VAT-exclusive and say so.
No minimum charge. A 30-minute job that costs you an hour of travel each way should never be quoted at 30 minutes of labour.

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