NickWorks Target Billing Rate and Project Estimate Toolkit.xlsx
331 KB
This is an Excel file containing three components:
- Contractor Billing Rate Calculator
- Freelancer Billing Rate Calculator
- Project Cost Estimate Generator
Many contractors and freelancers undercharge for their services, or overestimate their actual profit margins.
First, non-billable hours you spend estimating, communicating, researching, planning, scheduling, or driving, don’t show up on your invoices. Or maybe it’s a lot of blades, bits, PPE, shop supplies, or other consumables you buy without tracking. If you’ve never thoroughly added up and examined all of your costs, you might not be running the margins you thought you were.
Second, to meet your forward-looking goals, it’s vital to track not only actuals, but also what it would take to build your company into you want it to be. That might include accounting for aspirational things like formalized paid leave, long-term disability, added retirement benefits, or being ready in case you suddenly need to cover health insurance costs.
This Target Billing Rate and Project Estimate Toolkit spreadsheet is a straightforward but thorough practical system for figuring out what to charge and why.
What’s in it: Three calculators in one workbook.
The Contractor Rate tab walks you through real costs of being in business: shop, insurance, vehicle, equipment, and employee benefits, for example. It also takes into account your desired take-home pay and your actual schedule – as you know, running the business doesn’t actually leave a full week of time billable clock time. Then use the sample job analysis section to see how your actual pay & profit per hour shakes out in particular job scenarios. Some strategy and philosophy notes included as well
The Freelancer Rate tab employs the same logic and structure as the Contractor calculator, but tuned for freelancers – writers, designers, consultants, et al.
Both tabs have a sample job analysis section to see how your actual pay & profit per hour shakes out in particular job scenarios. And then some strategy and philosophy notes included as well.
The goal is to equip you to meet your financial goals without constantly squeezing yourself into unrealistic rhythms and timelines. For me, personally, it helped me not to feel bad about raising my rates over the years. Turns out it’s actually been completely reasonable, and clients have continued expressing appreciation for the value of my services.
The Project Estimate tab is just my internal system for building out detailed project estimates: materials line by line, labor by type, margin, sales tax, mileage, disposal. Everything gets accounted for here carefully so I don’t undercharge or miss my actual expenses to get the job done. In my workflow, I just pull these sub-total lines out to my formal estimate in QuickBooks.