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Free fixed-price calculator

What should you charge for this project?

Price the delivery work, hidden admin time, ordinary revisions, direct expenses, upfront cash exposure, and payment structure before the client sees one fixed number.

Quick answer

A safer fixed price covers delivery, hidden project work, normal uncertainty, and direct costs.

Use a loaded hourly rate built across all project-allocatable time, apply it once to delivery and project-specific administration, add a defined scope buffer, account for direct expenses, and verify that the deposit covers costs due before the next payment. Round only after the underlying quote is calculated.

Protected hours = (delivery hours + admin hours) × (1 + scope buffer)

Quote = protected hours × loaded rate + direct costs × (1 + cost markup)

Cash exposure after deposit = max(0, upfront direct costs − deposit)

Reviewed September 16, 2026

Step 1

Build the real project scope

Example already loadedA 20-hour job with 3 hours of admin, a 15% scope buffer, $350 in direct costs, and a 50% deposit. Replace the fields with your job.
Labor and hidden time
$/ hour

Use a loaded, profit-aware rate—not an employee wage or take-home target.

hours

Hands-on client work needed to create and deliver the promised outcome.

hours

Scoping, meetings, email, scheduling, handoff, invoicing, and collections.

%

Time protection for revisions, estimation error, and ordinary unknowns.

Do not know your loaded rate? Calculate your true hourly rate first.

Project costs and payment
$

Materials, permits, travel, subcontractors, rentals, and other project-specific costs.

$

The portion of direct costs you must pay before receiving the next client payment. The calculator caps this at total direct costs.

%

Compensates for sourcing, coordination, financing, and risk on pass-through costs.

%

The portion requested before work begins. This splits the pre-tax quote only.

$increment

Rounds the protected price upward to a clean selling price. Enter 0 for no rounding.

Quote excludes applicable sales tax. The buffer is not permission for unlimited revisions; define scope, exclusions, and change-order terms in writing.

Understand this decisionHourly or fixed price? Choose based on risk.Choose a pricing model based on scope risk, client control, repeatability, and your ability to manage changes.Read the guide →

Why fixed prices go bad

The estimate usually covers production—not the whole project.

A 20-hour deliverable can quietly become 25 hours after scoping, meetings, email, revisions, handoff, invoicing, and collection. Direct costs create more coordination and cash risk than their receipt alone shows. A deposit can look substantial and still leave the business financing materials or subcontractors.

This calculator starts with a loaded hourly rate that already supports a healthy business across project-allocatable hours. It prices delivery and project-specific administration once, adds a visible buffer for ordinary scope uncertainty, then separates reimbursable costs from the work of managing them.

Review the exact quote formula →

Quote discipline

Before the price reaches a client

What is a loaded hourly rate?

It is an internal rate designed to cover owner pay, normal overhead, reserves, shared non-project time, and business profit. When using OwnerClarify's project-allocatable convention, calculate it across delivery and job-specific admin hours, then apply it to both once in the quote. It is not an employee wage.

What belongs in admin and communication time?

Include discovery, scoping, estimating, scheduling, meetings, client email, status updates, file preparation, handoff, invoicing, and reasonable collection work. If the project requires the time, the price has to carry it.

Is a scope buffer the same as unlimited revisions?

No. A buffer protects against normal estimation error within a clearly defined scope. The quote should still state deliverables, revision limits, client responsibilities, exclusions, and a change-order process.

Why mark up direct project costs?

Buying, coordinating, financing, transporting, warranting, and replacing project inputs creates work and risk. A markup makes that burden visible. If a cost is truly passed through with no effort or risk, use 0%.

Does the recommended quote include sales tax?

No. Taxability and collection rules depend on the service, location, and business circumstances. The calculator produces a pre-tax project price. Add applicable tax separately using qualified guidance.