Quote Margin Check
See your real effective hourly rate before you send a fixed-price quote — after admin time, revisions, overhead, and subcontractor costs eat into it. Everything runs in this page; nothing you type is uploaded anywhere.
Quote details
These are editable examples, not pricing recommendations.
Showing an example quote so you can see how this works. Edit any field below to use your own numbers.
Calls, invoicing, project management — hours you rarely bill for but always spend.
Tools, software, materials for this project.
What you'd want to be paid per hour if you were billing hourly instead.
A what-if reserve for scope creep or slower delivery. It is not a forecast.
Price extra work before agreeing to it. This uses your target rate and any new direct cost. It is an arithmetic floor, not a recommendation.
A transparent decomposition of the supplied target rate and direct costs.
| Component | Amount |
|---|---|
| Total target price |
A scenario view, not a prediction. Direct costs stay unchanged.
| Extra time | Total hours | Effective rate | Gap to target |
|---|
Comparison only: the quote needed to pay each hourly target for the hours and direct costs above. Arithmetic, not a recommended price.
| Hourly target | Needed quote | Change from quote |
|---|
Hours and the quoted price stay unchanged. Only overhead and subcontractor cost move. Worked example.
| Cost rise | Direct costs | Effective rate | Price to hold target | Gap to target |
|---|
Hours and direct costs stay unchanged. Only the quoted price moves. Worked example.
| Discount | Price | Effective rate | Hours to cut to hold target | Gap to target |
|---|
Same hours and direct costs both ways. Fixed keeps the quoted price if the work runs long. Hourly bills those hours at your target rate plus the same costs. Worked example.
| Extra time | Hours | Fixed effective rate | Hourly bill | Hourly minus fixed |
|---|
Compare finishing the remaining hours with taking a kill fee or walking with only what is already paid. Uncommitted remaining costs are avoided if you stop. Freed hours valued at your target rate are a what-if, not a booked job. Worked example.
On top of what they already paid. Walk with only the deposit by setting this to 0.
The rest of overhead and subcontractors is treated as cancellable if you stop.
| Path | Cash kept | Vs finishing | Hours freed | If you refill at target |
|---|
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What this checks
Fixed-price quotes usually price the visible delivery work and quietly skip the rest: admin time, revision rounds, overhead, and subcontractor costs. This calculator adds all of it back in and reports the effective hourly rate you're actually being paid — alongside the price you'd need to charge to hit your own target rate.
It does not recommend a price, does not provide tax or financial advice, and does not claim a quote is profitable. The gap to target price, after direct costs, and fixed vs hourly figures are arithmetic comparisons only — you decide what costs, target rate, and billing model are appropriate for the job.
The fixed-vs-hourly table answers the pre-send fork that the overrun rows alone cannot: if this work slips, does the extra time come out of your rate, or does the client pay it? Planned hours are included so you can see whether the fixed quote is already a discount versus hourly at your target, before any overrun.
It also shows what happens if overhead and subcontractor costs rise +10%, +25%, or +50% before you start. Hours and the quoted price stay fixed — the table is the cash you lose, or the new price that would still hit your target rate. That is not a forecast of supplier prices. See if costs go up, is this quote still alive.
A third table keeps hours and costs fixed and knocks 5–20% off the quoted price. That is the “can you do 10%?” email. It shows the new effective rate and how many hours of scope would have to leave to still hit your target rate. It is not a negotiation script. See if they ask for 10% off.
A fourth table puts the same hours and direct costs next to hourly at your target rate. Planned hours answers whether the fixed quote is already a discount versus hourly; extra-time rows show how the two bills diverge when the work runs long. It is not a recommendation of which to send. See should I send a fixed quote or bill hourly.
A fifth table is the mid-project cancel. Type hours already spent, cash already collected, a kill fee on top of that, and costs that are already sunk. It shows cash kept if you finish, cash kept if you take the fee, and cash kept if you walk with only the deposit — then the same three paths if the freed hours could be rebooked at your target rate. It does not tell you to cancel or finish. See should I take this kill fee or finish.
New to the arithmetic? The short guide how to calculate your effective hourly rate walks the hours, direct costs, leftover rate, and target price. See also this calculator vs. Bonsai, or this calculator vs. tracking quotes in a spreadsheet.
Copy or download a plain-text review summary for an email or proposal note, or copy or download the current review as a spreadsheet-safe CSV. Currency labels with commas or quotes stay in one cell, and the file includes the time-overrun, cost-rise, discount-ask, fixed-vs-hourly, and kill-fee rows shown above. Prefer the command line, or need to batch several quotes? The same logic ships as a Python CLI (in this repository) that reads/writes JSON, Markdown, and CSV.
Common questions
How do I calculate my effective hourly rate on a fixed-price quote?
Add up every hour the project will actually take you — delivery work, admin, and revisions — then subtract any direct costs (overhead, subcontractors) from the price, and divide what's left by the total hours. That is your effective hourly rate: what you're really being paid per hour once every task is counted, not just the billable delivery hours.
Why does a quote that looks profitable still underpay me?
Fixed-price quotes usually price only the visible delivery work. Admin time (calls, invoicing, project management), revision rounds, and subcontractor or tool costs quietly eat into the same fixed price, so the effective hourly rate ends up well below the rate you meant to charge.
What if materials or a subcontractor quote go up after I send a fixed price?
Keep the quoted price and hours fixed and raise only overhead plus subcontractor cost. The calculator shows the new effective hourly rate and the price that would still hit your target rate at +10%, +25%, and +50%. That is arithmetic on your inputs, not a forecast of supplier prices.
What if the client asks for 10% off a fixed-price quote?
Keep hours and direct costs fixed and lower only the quoted price. On the calculator example ($2,400, 35 hours, $480 of direct costs, $75 target), 10% off is $2,160 and $48.00/hour. Holding $75/hour would take cutting 12.60 hours of scope. That is arithmetic on your inputs, not a negotiation script.
Should I send a fixed-price quote or bill hourly?
Compare the same hours and direct costs both ways. A fixed quote stays the same if the work runs long; hourly bills those hours at your target rate plus the same costs. On the calculator example ($2,400, 35 hours, $480 of direct costs, $75 target), hourly at planned hours would bill $3,105 — $705 more than the fixed quote. That is arithmetic on your inputs, not a recommendation of which to send.
Should I take a kill fee or finish the remaining hours?
Compare cash kept if you finish, cash kept if you take the kill fee, and cash kept if you walk with only what is already paid. On the calculator example ($2,400, 35 hours, $480 of costs, 14 hours already spent, $1,200 already paid, $360 kill fee, $180 sunk), finishing keeps $1,920.00 — $540.00 more cash than the kill fee. Booking the 21 freed hours at $75/hour would make the kill fee $1,035.00 ahead. That is arithmetic on your inputs, not advice to cancel or finish.