Fixed-fee pricing

Hourly rate to project price converter.

Turn an hourly rate and an hours estimate into a fixed project price, and test what an overrun does to your effective rate.

Turn an hourly rate into a project price

Example values are shown so you can see the working. Replace them with your own. Estimate method: estimated hours times your rate, plus a buffer for scope change, plus direct costs, then a test of what an overrun does to your effective rate.

Project price
$3,670.00
Effective rate if hours overrun
$70.40
Hours in the overrun test
50
Work shownrecomputed as you type
Labour = hours × rate = 40 × $80.00 = $3,200.00
Buffer = labour × 10% = $320.00
Price = labour + buffer + direct costs = $3,200.00 + $320.00 + $150.00 = $3,670.00
Overrun test: hours become 40 × (1 + 25%) = 50; fee excluding direct costs ÷ hours = $3,520.00 ÷ 50 = $70.40 an hour

At your stated rate, the overrun would cost you $480.00 of unpaid time. A change-order clause in the agreement is how scope changes get priced.

A planning aid, not tax or legal advice.

How it works

  1. Labour = estimated hours × hourly rate.
  2. Buffer = labour × buffer percentage.
  3. Price = labour + buffer + direct costs.
  4. Overrun test: hours × (1 + overrun) gives the hours you might spend; (price − direct costs) ÷ those hours is your effective rate.

Questions

What is the buffer for?

Scope and review changes you can foresee but cannot size. It is a pricing choice, not a rule. A change order covers work outside the agreed scope.

Why test an overrun?

On a fixed fee, extra hours are unpaid. The test shows how far your effective hourly rate falls if the estimate is wrong by a stated amount.

Should direct costs be inside the buffer?

Keep them separate, as here. Buffering a cost you can name hides it; listing it lets the client see what the price covers.

A planning aid, not tax or legal advice. Runs in your browser; the figures you type are not sent to CORAA or stored.

Related: Freelance accountant hourly rate calculator, Per-file fee to hourly rate converter. All freelance tools.

Join the CORAA reviewer waitlist

CORAA prepares audit files for US CPA firms. Reviewers are independent contractors who clear what the software flags, with evidence and a note, paid per file under a contractor agreement.

  • Files are offered to you; you accept or decline
  • No exclusivity: you can work for others
  • The firm reviews and signs; CORAA never does

* required