Drag any number to adjust, click it to type.
Estimated Work
billable hours in this project
Your Hourly Rate
not sure? find your rate →
Scope Buffer
margin for revisions and surprises
Project Expenses
one-off costs (stock, travel, subs)
Platform Fee
marketplace cut (0 if direct client)
For 40h of work at $50/h with a 20% buffer, quote about $2,400. Propose $2,400–$2,640.
Project price
Missing your floor? Compute your personal minimum first →
About to send it? Run the Quote Check → · Need the document? Build the quote →
What this pays per hour
$50/h if the buffer gets eaten.
Drag to simulate a client asking for a discount.
Reality check
This tile can tell you how many weeks of your real capacity this project fills and what share of your monthly income goal it covers, once it knows your numbers. Set them up in the rate calculator →
Where the quote goes
Of every $100 the client pays, $83 pays for the work itself and $17 shields you from scope creep. If the client pushes the price down, the buffer slice is what thins first; the work slice is your floor.
How this calculator works
The quote is built up, never guessed:
- Base labor = estimated hours × your hourly rate.
- Scope buffer = base labor × buffer %. It funds revisions and surprises so they don't become free work.
- Project expenses ride on top at face value.
- If a platform takes a fee, the quote is grossed up: quote = (labor + buffer + expenses) ÷ (1 − fee %), so the cut comes from the client's side of the number.
- The proposed range runs from the quote to quote + 10%, for negotiation room.
- The floor (shown once you've set up the rate calculator) is the price below which the project loses you money even if every buffer hour gets worked.
Go deeper
Estimation sheets: how long does it really take?
Last updated: July 2026
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