Plant and pricing
Groundworks job price with VAT
- where
- price before VAT (£)
- labour (person-days)
- day rate per person (£/day)
- materials cost net of VAT (£)
- markup on materials (%)
- plant hire and fuel (£)
- muck-away and tipping (£)
- VAT (£)
- VAT rate (%)
- price including VAT (£)
Explain this equation
This builds a groundworks quote from labour, materials, plant and muck-away, with VAT on top if you are registered.
Ld is labour in person-days and Dr the day rate. Mc is the materials cost and μ your markup on it. Pl is plant and fuel and Wd muck-away and tipping. N is the price before VAT, v the VAT rate, V the VAT and T the total.
Each cost is added up; materials are increased by the markup percentage. VAT is then a straight percentage of the net price.
Sense check: six person-days at £220, £900 of materials at 15%, £780 of plant and £600 of tipping comes to £3,735, or £4,482 with 20% VAT.
Watch out: set v to 0 if you are not VAT-registered, and check whether the domestic reverse charge applies to work for other contractors.
Builds a groundworks quote from labour days, marked-up materials, plant and muck-away, with VAT added if you are registered.
Enter your values to see the result.
Good to know
The UK standard rate of VAT is 20%. You must register when taxable turnover goes over £90,000 in any rolling 12 months; below that, registration is voluntary and you charge no VAT (set the rate to 0). Work for another VAT-registered contractor that is reported under CIS may fall under the VAT domestic reverse charge, and some new-build dwelling work is zero-rated: check HMRC guidance for the job.
Common mistake
Leaving out tipping charges and haulage: on a dig-out job they can be the largest single cost.
Limits
Simple build-up. Add overheads, contingency, access, temporary works and waste classification costs as needed.
Sources
Results are calculations from the published methods and figures shown, and depend on the data you enter. Follow BS 8500, BS EN 206, BS EN 752, Building Regulations Part H, manufacturers’ data and your engineer’s design. Structural concrete and foundations need a competent designer.