target income ÷ (1 − charges) + costs. Billable days = (52 − weeks off) × billable days/week. Minimum day rate = revenue ÷ billable days. The resilient rate adds 15% because some invoices arrive late, some weeks stay empty, and some scopes creep.
How to read your number
- If the rate looks high, good. It is the honest cost of your target. The common failure is quoting a rate derived from an old salary, then discovering in November that the year cannot add up.
- Utilization is the lever people ignore. Moving from 2.5 to 3.5 billable days a week cuts the required rate by nearly 30%. Pipeline work is what makes that possible, which is exactly why it deserves protected time.
- Charge for days, deliver in outcomes. Clients accept a rate more easily when the deliverable is sharp: a clear proposal, a readout that lands, a steering deck the sponsor forwards without edits.
Frequently asked questions
Should I quote per day or per project?
Start per day: it is legible and easy to compare. Move specific, repeatable deliverables to fixed prices once you know your real time cost. This calculator gives you the floor under any fixed price: days you expect to spend times your minimum rate.
My market seems to pay less than my number. Now what?
Three honest options: raise your value (specialize, so comparison shopping gets harder), raise utilization (more billable days lowers the required rate), or revise the income target. Quietly billing below your floor and hoping is the one option that never works.
Does the calculator store my data?
No. Everything runs in your browser. Nothing you type is sent anywhere.
Your rate says an hour of your time is expensive
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