“My time is worth £100 an hour” can be either a useful observation or an extremely expensive fiction. If nobody will buy the hours released by outsourcing, multiplying them by a headline rate does not produce new cash.
The decision is what changes if someone else does the work: the fee paid, time retained for supervision, costs avoided and contribution genuinely earned or protected.
Compare the extra cash on both sides
Illustrative owner-managed business: an admin task takes eight owner-hours. A competent supplier quotes £300. Briefing and checking would still require two owner-hours, releasing six. Assume quality and confidentiality requirements can be met, and ignore VAT/tax effects initially.
The owner can sell extra work at £100 an hour, but it brings £30 per hour of additional delivery costs. The relevant contribution is £70 an hour, not £100.
| Extra hours actually sold | Extra contribution | Less outsourcing fee | Net cash effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | £0 | £300 | −£300 |
| 3 | £210 | £300 | −£90 |
| 6 | £420 | £300 | +£120 |
Break-even is £300 ÷ £70 = 4.29 additional billable hours, approximately. That must fit within the six genuinely released hours and be supported by demand. Sending speculative invoices is not a capacity strategy.
ACCA's relevant-cost guidance explains why a decision should focus on costs and benefits that change between alternatives. Existing unavoidable overhead should not be invented as a cash saving simply because a task moves outside the business.
Value rest without pretending it is sales
Outsourcing may still be worthwhile in the zero-sales case if the owner chooses to pay £300 for six hours of rest or family time. That is a different benefit, and it may be important. Label it honestly rather than forcing it through a revenue calculation.
A task requiring specialist competence may also carry a risk of costly errors when done badly. Identify the actual risk and the supplier's responsibilities. Do not invent a precise “expected fine” to make the purchase win. Some duties remain with the business even when it hires help.
Include transition and supervision
Suppose the first month needs five hours of briefing and review instead of two. Only three hours are released, so the example cannot recover the £300 fee from additional work at £70 contribution per hour that month. Later months may improve, but the cash forecast needs to fund the transition.
Check scope, deadlines, access, cover during absence, ownership of records and the exit process. A cheap quote excluding the difficult parts can leave the owner with most of the task and a new bill.
If quality is uncertain, a bounded trial with clear outputs provides evidence. Keep enough knowledge and access to check the result; delegation should not make the business dependent on an unexplained black box.
Choose the bottleneck, not the most irritating task
A task can be annoying without limiting the business. Another may prevent profitable work or create repeated deadline pressure. Rank what blocks the desired outcome and where an outside provider can actually change it.
Review after an agreed period: how many hours were released, how many were sold or intentionally reclaimed, and how much rework remained? Use actual outcomes to renew or revise the arrangement.
Doing everything yourself can constrain a business. Outsourcing everything can consume its margin. The useful middle is a set of decisions supported by capacity, contribution and a realistic account of the work that stays with you.
