Caravan engineer day rates: what to charge in the UK

What day rate should a caravan engineer charge in the UK?

Most experienced UK caravan engineers work to an effective day rate of roughly £250–£400, though what you actually invoice depends on the jobs you take on rather than a fixed daily fee. Common job values — based on what engineers in the trade typically report — run from around £55–£70 for a basic damp report up to £150–£250 for a full annual service. Your sustainable rate will depend on your overheads, your location, whether you work mobile or from a fixed workshop, and the qualifications you hold. The figures below are indicative ranges, not guarantees; always set your own prices to cover your actual costs and desired margin.

What are the typical job values for common caravan work?

The table below gives widely cited ranges for the most common jobs. Treat these as a starting point for your own pricing, not a ceiling or a floor.

• Annual caravan service: approximately £150–£250. This typically covers appliance checks, habitation inspection, wheel-bearing and brake assessment, and a basic damp survey. It is usually the highest-value routine job and the most consistent source of repeat bookings.
• Habitation check (standalone): approximately £105–£170. Covers the habitation elements — ventilation, water, electrics, heating — without the full chassis and running-gear work of a service.
• Gas safety check: approximately £65–£100. Must be carried out by a Gas Safe registered engineer. The fee should reflect the responsibility that registration carries as well as the time taken. Always verify your own Gas Safe obligations at gassaferegister.co.uk.
• Damp report / moisture survey: approximately £55–£70 for a report-only visit. If remedial work follows, price that separately.
• Damp repair: highly variable — a minor seal replacement may add £50–£150 in labour; structural panel or floor replacement can run into several hundred pounds of labour alone. Always quote after inspection.
• Electrical fault-finding and repair: typically priced per hour (see below) or as a fixed quote once the fault is diagnosed.

These caravan servicing prices vary by region — engineers in London and the South East generally charge at the upper end; those in rural areas of Wales, Scotland or the North may find local competition keeps prices lower. Research what comparable engineers in your postcode area are charging before you settle on your schedule of rates.

Should I charge a day rate or an hourly rate?

Most caravan engineers use a hybrid approach: fixed prices for defined routine jobs (services, habitation checks, gas safety) and an hourly rate for diagnostic and repair work where time is unpredictable.

• A typical hourly labour rate for a qualified caravan engineer in the UK sits in the region of £45–£80 per hour, again varying by location and specialism.
• Fixed-price jobs are easier for customers to approve and reduce disputes, but make sure your fixed price genuinely covers your average time — including travel, write-up and parts-sourcing time.
• For complex repairs, offer a written estimate after a paid diagnostic visit rather than committing to a figure you may not be able to honour.

If you are just starting out and are unsure how much to charge for caravan repair work, calculate your minimum viable rate first: add up your fixed monthly costs (insurance, tools, vehicle, Gas Safe registration, any scheme memberships), divide by the number of billable days you can realistically work, and add your desired profit. That figure is your floor — never quote below it.

How do I price a mobile caravan call-out fee fairly?

A mobile caravan call-out fee covers the time and cost of travelling to the customer's site. Pricing it fairly means you are not subsidising travel out of your labour margin, and the customer understands what they are paying for before you arrive.

A transparent approach that works well in the trade:

1. Set a base call-out fee — typically £30–£60 — that covers a reasonable local radius (say, 15–20 miles from your base). This applies to every visit regardless of the work carried out.
2. Add a mileage supplement beyond that radius. HMRC's approved mileage rate for the first 10,000 business miles is 45p per mile (check the current rate at gov.uk); many engineers use this as a benchmark for what mileage actually costs them, then price accordingly.
3. Decide whether the call-out fee is absorbed into the job price if work proceeds, or whether it is charged on top. Be explicit in your quote — ambiguity leads to disputes.
4. For storage-site work (where you may be doing several vans in a single visit), consider negotiating a site rate with the storage operator rather than charging individual call-outs per unit.

Mobile working has higher running costs than a fixed workshop — fuel, vehicle wear, and the time lost between jobs — so do not undercharge simply because you have lower premises costs. The convenience premium you offer is worth pricing in.

What costs should I factor in before setting my rates?

Many engineers undercharge because they only count their labour time, not the full cost of running the business. Before you finalise your schedule of rates, work through this checklist:

• Gas Safe registration (if applicable) — annual fee varies by number of engineers and appliance categories; check current fees at gassaferegister.co.uk.
• Public liability and professional indemnity insurance — essential for any mobile or workshop engineer; costs vary significantly by turnover and specialism.
• Tools and test equipment — damp meters, combustion analysers, multimeters, and torque wrenches are capital costs that need recovering.
• Vehicle costs — fuel, servicing, insurance, and depreciation for your mobile workshop.
• Training and CPD — staying current with new caravan technology (lithium battery systems, advanced habitation electronics) has a cost.
• Trade scheme or accreditation fees — if you hold industry accreditations, factor in their renewal costs.
• Admin time — quoting, invoicing, chasing payment, and record-keeping are not billable hours but they cost you time.
• Non-billable days — allow for holidays, sickness, and slow periods when calculating how many days you actually invoice each year.

A useful rule of thumb: if you want to take home £40,000 per year and you have 200 billable days after all of the above, your minimum invoice target is £200 per day — before VAT and before profit on parts.

Should I charge separately for parts and consumables?

Yes — virtually all professional engineers charge for parts on top of labour. The common approaches are:

• Trade price plus a markup (typically 20–40%) to cover sourcing time, warranty administration, and parts storage.
• Retail price for customer-facing quotes, which is simpler to explain and avoids discussions about your supplier terms.
• Transparent pass-through at trade price with a separate handling fee — less common but valued by some customers who want full visibility.

Whichever method you choose, state it clearly in your terms of business. If a customer supplies their own parts, make clear that your labour warranty does not extend to the quality of those parts.

How do I stay competitive without racing to the bottom?

Competing purely on price is a short-term strategy that erodes your margins and devalues the trade. Engineers who sustain healthy rates typically:

• Communicate their qualifications and registrations clearly — customers pay more for demonstrable competence.
• Offer written quotes and confirmation so customers can plan and budget.
• Build repeat relationships with storage sites, dealers, and caravan clubs where a single contact generates multiple bookings.
• Respond quickly — speed of response is often as important as price to a customer with a fault they want fixed before a trip.
• Collect and display genuine reviews, which reduce price sensitivity in new customers.

You can find more detail on how leads and job-matching work for engineers at /for-engineers, and a full breakdown of the cost of quoting on jobs at /pricing.

Start getting matched to local caravan jobs

If you want a steady pipeline of local work without paying a subscription or handing over commission, create a free engineer profile on Compare Caravan Repairs. You pay just £5 per lead when you choose to quote on a job — no upfront fees, no lock-in, and you keep 100% of the work. Owners searching for caravan servicing, habitation checks, gas safety, damp repairs, and mobile call-outs in your area can be matched directly to your profile. It takes a few minutes to set up and you only spend money when you see a job worth quoting.