← Sign language interpreter rate calculator
A lot of freelance interpreters already track fees in a spreadsheet: one column for hours, one for rate, a formula that multiplies them. That arithmetic is trivial and a spreadsheet does it fine once you already know the billable hours and the right multiplier. What it does not do on its own is apply the booking minimum, the after-hours differential, and portal-to-portal travel together -- three formulas to write and keep in sync, before you even get to the team-interpreting question a spreadsheet has no way to ask.
| Question | Where to answer it |
|---|---|
| What's hours times a rate? | Either one — a spreadsheet multiplies fine. |
| Should this booking bill the 2-hour minimum instead of the hours requested? | This calculator — it bills the greater of the two automatically; a spreadsheet needs an IF formula you write and remember to apply. |
| Does an evening, weekend, or holiday differential apply, and by how much? | This calculator — you pick it from a dropdown and the multiplier is derived, so it can't drift from what you picked. |
| Should this booking be staffed with two interpreters? | This calculator — checks the setting and billable hours against RID's own Standard Practice Paper guidance and flags it; a spreadsheet has no way to ask this on its own. |
| What does travel time and mileage add, billed as their own fraction of the rate? | This calculator — separate travel-time and mileage line items, computed from the minutes and miles you enter. |
| Is anything I enter uploaded anywhere? | No, on either — but this calculator needs no template, no formula to maintain, and nothing to keep in sync across cells. |
This tool needs no account and nothing installed: it is a static page, the arithmetic runs in your browser, and the hours, rate, setting, and travel details you enter stay on this device — nothing is uploaded anywhere.
The multiplication itself is trivial and a spreadsheet does it fine once you already know the billable hours and the right multiplier. What a plain spreadsheet does not do on its own is apply the booking minimum (billing the greater of hours requested or the minimum, not just the hours typed in), the after-hours/weekend/holiday differential, and portal-to-portal travel together — each is its own formula to write and keep in sync with the others.
No. That is a judgment call from RID's own Standard Practice Papers, not an arithmetic rule a spreadsheet formula can express on its own unless you build and maintain a lookup by setting and length. This calculator checks the booking's setting and billable hours against that guidance automatically and surfaces it as a finding — it never forces the team rate on, but it also never lets a six-hour legal deposition go quietly priced for one interpreter.
Nothing catches it — a spreadsheet returns whatever the formula says, whether the 1.5x evening/weekend or 2x holiday multiplier you typed matches the booking you actually have or not. This calculator derives the multiplier from the dropdown you select, so it can't drift from what you picked, and it separately reports the booking minimum, the differential, travel, and mileage as their own line items rather than one collapsed number.
No. A spreadsheet or ledger that tracks every booking, every invoice, and every month's total over a year is still the right tool for that ongoing record. This page answers one question at a time — what should this one assignment cost, and does its setting and length suggest a team — and nothing it computes is saved anywhere once you leave the page.