How to Price Carpentry Work: Hourly Rates, Per-Foot Pricing and Project Bids

Carpenters undercharge more often than almost any other trade. Part of it is pride in the work and part of it is habit: many carpenters start by doing favours for friends and never reset their prices. The result is a full calendar and an empty bank account. This guide gives you a pricing method that works for finish carpentry, built-ins, decks and repairs, with worked numbers you can adapt.

All prices are illustrative ranges as of 2026. Build from your own costs and verify local market rates.

Start with your true cost of being in business

Before you can price a single baseboard, you need to know what an hour of your time costs the business.

Now count billable hours. A solo carpenter rarely bills a full 40 hours a week: estimates, material runs, shop cleanup and admin take time. At about 25 to 28 billable hours a week, you have roughly 110 billable hours a month.

• Break-even: $9,000 ÷ 110 = about $82 per hour
• With a 20 percent profit target: $82 ÷ 0.80 = about $102 per billable hour

Use this number as the engine inside every price, even when the customer never sees an hourly figure.

Choose the right pricing unit for each job

Typical labour-only ranges that carpenters report (as of 2026, verify locally):

• Baseboard: roughly $3 to $10 per linear foot depending on profile and market
• Crown molding: roughly $6 to $20 per linear foot, more for multi-piece crown
• Pre-hung interior door install: roughly $150 to $400 per door
• Pressure-treated deck, installed: often roughly $25 to $60 per square foot
• Composite or PVC deck, installed: often roughly $45 to $100+ per square foot

Treat these as reality checks, not targets. If your formula produces a number far below the range, you are probably leaving money behind. If it is far above, check your overhead and production rates.

Worked example 1: trim package

A homeowner wants new baseboard and door casing on the main floor: 320 linear feet of baseboard and 9 door openings.

1. Production rate. From past jobs, you install about 30 linear feet of baseboard an hour including cutting, coping and nailing, and 0.75 hours per door opening for casing.
2. Labour hours. 320 ÷ 30 = 10.7 hours; 9 × 0.75 = 6.75 hours. Add 2 hours for setup, protection and cleanup. Total: about 19.5 hours.
3. Labour price. 19.5 × $102 = $1,989.
4. Materials. Primed MDF base and casing with 10 percent waste, nails, caulk and filler: $780. Add a 20 percent material handling markup: $936.
5. Total quote: about $2,925. That works out to roughly $6.20 per linear foot of baseboard plus casing, which sits comfortably inside typical ranges.

If the customer is painting the trim themselves, say so in the quote. If you are painting, price it as a separate line.

Worked example 2: built-in bookcase and window seat

Notice that you divide by 0.60 rather than adding 40 percent. Adding 40 percent to $4,230 gives $5,922, which leaves only about 29 percent of the selling price for overhead and profit. Dividing keeps the full 40 percent.

Tip: Track actual shop hours on every built-in for your first year. Most carpenters underestimate finishing and installation time. Your second year of quotes will be far more accurate.

Price the extras that eat time

New carpenters often lose money on work they did not price:

• ☐ Moving furniture and protecting floors
• ☐ Removing and disposing of old trim or decking
• ☐ Out-of-level floors and out-of-square walls in older homes
• ☐ Scribing to uneven walls and ceilings
• ☐ Extra trips for back-ordered materials
• ☐ Lead-safe work practices on pre-1978 homes when disturbing painted surfaces
• ☐ Permits and inspections for decks and structural work
• ☐ Dust containment and HEPA vacuum cleanup

Either price these into the unit rate or list them as separate lines with clear allowances.

Minimum charges for small jobs

A 30-minute repair can easily take two hours once you include travel and setup. Set a minimum charge, often equal to two to three hours of your billable rate, for small jobs, and say it on the phone before you book. Customers who balk at a minimum are usually customers you could not profit from anyway.

Deposits and payment schedules

Common practice is a deposit at signing to cover materials, progress payments on longer projects, and the balance on completion. Check your state's rules first: some states limit how large a deposit a home improvement contractor can take before work starts. Put the payment schedule in writing with the scope, exclusions and change order process.

Handle changes in writing

Change orders protect your margin. If the customer adds three more shelves or switches from MDF to paint-grade poplar, write a short change order with the added cost and time, and get a signature before doing the work. Verbal changes are where carpentry profits quietly disappear.

Know when to walk away from a price

Not every lead deserves a discount. If a client pushes for a lower number, offer to change the scope instead of the price: simpler profiles, paint-grade instead of stain-grade materials, fewer drawers, a smaller deck footprint or a phased project. That keeps your rate intact and gives the client a real choice. When the gap between what they want and what they want to pay is too wide, decline politely and recommend a simpler option. A job priced below cost is worse than no job, because it blocks the calendar for a profitable one.

Common pricing mistakes

1. Pricing what you would pay rather than what the work is worth.
2. Leaving out your own salary from overhead.
3. Adding markup instead of dividing for margin.
4. Not tracking actual hours, so estimates never improve.
5. No minimum charge for small jobs.
6. Free design work. Detailed drawings for built-ins take hours. Charge a design fee credited toward the project if the client goes ahead.

Questions readers ask

Should I show customers my hourly rate?

Many carpenters quote by the job and keep the hourly rate internal, which avoids debates about time. For repairs and unclear scopes, sharing the hourly rate and minimum upfront is fairer and avoids disputes.

How do I price work for general contractors?

GCs usually expect lower prices than homeowners because they supply the work and handle the client. Price from your costs, account for net payment terms, and decline jobs that fall below your break-even rate.

Your next step

Fill in the overhead table with your real numbers, calculate your billable rate, and re-price your last three jobs. If they were underpriced, update your price sheet before the next estimate.

The full guide, Starting a Carpentry & Woodworking Business, includes pricing worksheets, contract and change order templates, niche guidance for trim, cabinets, decks and furniture, and a 30/60/90-day plan, for $0.99.