I don't have an hourly rate as its far to difficult to work to, if I do sub-contract work I will either have a day rate or quote for the job.
but on my domestic work I just book in what work I need to do that day and just go and clean them then just tot up at the end of the day.
look at it this way, if you set yourself an hourly rate of say £30 per hour and then like every w/c you have a day where things do quite go as planned with lots of hold ups, then your hourly rate may be running at £20 per hour so you speed up to get the rate up ? BIG MISTAKE your more likely to cut corners resulting in call backs from customers and thats the last thing you want.
if your new then I would recommend you take your time, remember your doing a job that you may actually enjoy and how many people getting up for work today can say that ?
when I started I gave myself 3 years to get where I wanted to be, well I'm 2 years and 7 months into that 3 year plan and although I'm not there yet Ive built a decent well paid domestic round and have some nice commercial contracts as well. dont get me wrong the first 18 months was tough but I knew it would be but I stayed positive and stuck to my plan and its really paying off now.
I enjoy going to work as much as coming home from work and the freedom feels FANTASICO and I should know having worked as a warehouse shift supervisor for Sony uk for 19 years wow that still sends a shiver down my spine
dont get me wrong I was in a well paid job but had been there 5 years longer than I wanted and felt like a caged bird.
and now ? I'm happy
good luck mate and most of all enjoy what you do