Put in your rate and the hours the project needs. You'll get a fixed price that covers the work, the revisions and the unexpected.
The rounds you didn't quote
Costs you
$640on this project
One round more than you quoted adds 7 hours, drops what this project pays from $98 to $92 an hour, and pushes delivery back about 3 working days of waiting for feedback (at 3 days a round).
Dora is an AI account manager that keeps rounds from piling up. Clients ask in plain words, she asks for what's missing before work starts, and signing off takes one click. Your first client is free, then it's $10 a month per client. See how Dora works
How the quote is worked out
- 1.
Add up the hours
Planning, plus the main work, plus revision rounds × hours per round.
- 2.
Add project management
Multiply by (1 + project management) for calls, updates and coordination.
- 3.
Add a buffer
Multiply by (1 + buffer) for the parts nobody saw coming.
- 4.
Price and round it
Hours × your rate, rounded up to the nearest 100.
Example
A project needs 10 hours of planning, 60 hours of main work and 2 revision rounds of 6 hours each: 82 hours.
Adding 10% for project management and a 10% buffer makes 99 hours.
At $97 an hour that's $9,624.34, so the quote is $9,700: $4,850 up front and $4,850 on delivery.
Questions
Estimate the hours for each part of the project, including revision rounds. Add time for project management (usually 10 to 15%) and a buffer for the unknown (10 to 20%). Multiply by your hourly rate and round to a clean number.
Two rounds is a common starting point for design and content work. Write the number into the quote, say what counts as a round, and price extra rounds separately.
10 to 20% covers most projects. Go higher when the brief is vague, the client is new to you, or the work depends on other people delivering on time.
Many agencies and freelancers ask for 30 to 50% up front, with the rest on delivery or split across milestones for longer projects. A deposit also confirms the client is ready to start.
You don't have to. A fixed price is about the outcome, so many teams show the price and what's included rather than hours × rate. The hours are for you, so the price covers the work.
If the extra work is outside the agreed scope, quote it as a change before doing it. If it's inside the scope, that's what the buffer is for, and it's a signal to price the next project higher.
Get a clear brief before work starts, agree on the number of rounds, and collect feedback in one place instead of scattered emails. Dora does this on the client side: she asks for what's missing up front and every approval is one click.
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