Project Pricing Calculator

Price a project so it actually earns your target margin: estimated hours at your cost rate, plus expenses, grossed up to the margin you want on the final price.

Inputs

Estimated hours

Internal cost per hour

What an hour truly costs you, incl. overhead.

Out-of-pocket expenses

Target margin on price

Results

Recommended price

$7,384.62

Total cost: $4,800.00
Profit: $2,584.62
Implied markup: 54.0%

Add a contingency if scope is uncertain — underestimation is the most common cause of project margin erosion.

Formula

Price = (Hours × Rate + Expenses) ÷ (1 − Margin)

FAQ

Cost rate or billing rate for hours?

Use your internal cost rate to protect margin; the difference between cost-based price and market price is your actual margin. Using billing rate inside the formula double-counts.

How do I handle scope creep?

Define change-order terms before starting. A price is only as good as the scope it assumes.