Freelance tools for the maths nobody teaches you

Quote a project, price a retainer, and find out what that demanding client really earns you. Everything stays on your device.

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Project quote builder

Build a quote from real tasks and hours, then hand the client something clear.

Tasks

Contingency isn't padding — it's the honest acknowledgement that estimates are wrong in one direction more often than the other. Quoting without it means absorbing every surprise yourself.
How this is calculated

subtotal = Σ (hours × rate), then contingency and discount are applied to that subtotal, expenses added, and tax applied to the net figure.

This produces a planning document, not a contract. Terms, liability, ownership and cancellation are legal matters — have an adviser draft those.

Scope creep impact

What all those "quick extras" did to the rate you're actually earning.

Nobody asks for a 30% budget increase. They ask for six small things, none of which felt worth arguing about at the time. Showing the arithmetic is usually a calmer conversation than trying to describe the feeling.
How this is calculated

extra hours = direct extras + (meetings × length) + (revisions × length)

effective rate = agreed fee ÷ (quoted hours + extra hours). The unbilled value is those extra hours at your normal rate — the money you chose to give away.

Retainer pricing

You're selling reserved availability, not a block of hours. Price it that way.

The risk runs both ways. A client who never uses their hours eventually cancels because it feels wasted; a client who consistently overruns is being subsidised. Price the capacity, then charge for genuine overage.
How this is calculated

cost of capacity = reserved hours × your cost + account admin · fee = cost ÷ (1 − margin)

The two effective rates show what you earn if the retainer is fully used versus typically used — the second is the number that matters.

Client profitability

The big client isn't always the good client. This counts everything they actually cost.

A low effective rate isn't automatically a reason to walk away — a client may cover fixed costs, teach you a market, or send referrals. It is a reason to know the number before you renew.
How this is calculated

net revenue = revenue − discount · total cost = (delivery + support + rework hours) × your cost + direct costs + acquisition

Slow payment carries a real cost even when the money eventually arrives: net revenue × days ÷ 365 × cost of capital.

Utilisation & billable hours

Where the working year actually goes — and what that means for your rate.

People price themselves as though every working hour is sellable, then wonder why the year's income falls short. The hours you don't bill are not waste — they're how the work arrives — but they have to be paid for by the hours you do bill.
How this is calculated

gross hours = (weeks − leave) × hours per week · billable = gross − non-billable work · utilisation = billable ÷ gross

The maths freelancers learn the expensive way

Independent work goes wrong in predictable places. A rate set by looking at a salary and dividing by 2,080 hours, ignoring that a third of the year isn't sellable. A fixed price quoted without contingency, then eroded by extras nobody logged. A retainer priced on hours used rather than capacity reserved. A demanding client who pays well but consumes so much unbilled time they earn less than the quiet one.

None of these are hard to calculate — they're just rarely calculated at all, because the work is happening and the invoices are going out and it feels like it must be fine. These five tools do that arithmetic, on your device, without any of it being sent anywhere.