FREE FREELANCER TOOL
Price the work before sending the proposal.
Build a project estimate from delivery time, direct expenses and a contingency reserve. The calculator then adjusts for payment fees and your target margin as shares of the final selling price.
Currency selection does not convert amounts. Estimates use your inputs and exclude personal taxes. No account is needed; this calculator does not submit its input values.
THE FORMULA
Margin and markup produce different prices.
First calculate labour value: estimated hours × hourly delivery rate. Add direct project expenses, then apply the contingency uplift to that combined amount. Divide this budget by (1 − fee percentage − target margin percentage) to calculate the quote.
For example, 20 hours at 25 plus expenses of 50 gives a base of 550. A 10% reserve raises the delivery budget to 605. With a 5% payment fee and a 20% target margin, the price is 605 ÷ 0.75 = 806.67. The estimated fee is 40.33 and the planned margin amount is 161.33.
USE THE RESULT WELL
A price still needs a defined scope.
List the deliverables, client responsibilities, included revision rounds and work that would require a new quote. A contingency allowance is not a promise to absorb unlimited changes. Include outsourced work and project-specific tools in direct expenses only if they are not already covered by your hourly rate.
The result is a planning estimate, not a binding proposal. Your actual margin changes if hours overrun, expenses increase or fees differ. The quote-per-hour figure describes the quoted price divided by estimated hours; it is not your take-home income. Personal taxes are not included.
A fee plus margin of 100% or more leaves no room to recover delivery costs, so that combination is rejected. Currency is a display choice, with no conversion. All inputs and calculations stay in this calculator’s browser code; the tool does not submit the values to WordPress.
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