Free calculator
Effective hourly rate calculator
You quoted a fixed price. Then the project ran long. Find out what you really earned per hour, how many hours you could spend before dropping below your target rate, and what the extra hours cost you. Runs in your browser, no signup.
What the fixed price really paid you
- Planned hourly rate: $100/hr
- Effective hourly rate: $71.43/hr
- Hours over estimate: 12
- Break-even at your target rate: 30 hours
- Billed hourly at your target, you'd have earned $1,200 more.
If the project runs over
| Overrun | Hours | Fixed price pays | Hourly would earn |
|---|---|---|---|
| +0% | 30 | $100/hr | $3,000 |
| +10% | 33 | $90.91/hr | $3,300 |
| +25% | 37.5 | $80/hr | $3,750 |
| +50% | 45 | $66.67/hr | $4,500 |
| +100% | 60 | $50/hr | $6,000 |
Runs in your browser. Nothing is stored.
How to use it
- Enter the fixed price you quoted and the hours you planned to spend.
- Set the hourly rate you actually want to earn.
- Enter the hours you have really spent so far, from your time tracker or your best guess.
- Read your effective hourly rate and how much more you would have earned billing hourly.
- Use the overrun table before you quote the next project, so a 25% overrun doesn't wipe out your margin.
Quoting the next one? Start with the project quote calculator, cap rounds with a revision clause and price extras with a change order.
Turn the extra hours into paid change orders
ScopeLine stores your original deal, logs each client request against it and turns extras into change orders the client approves through a link, no login. Extra work raises the fee instead of lowering your rate. Free for 3 active projects, no card.
Start free on ScopeLineFAQ
- What is an effective hourly rate?
- It's the fixed price divided by the hours you actually worked. If you charged $3,000 and spent 42 hours, you earned about $71 an hour, no matter what rate you had in mind when you quoted.
- Why does my effective rate drop on fixed-price projects?
- Extra revisions, small add-on requests and slow feedback all add hours without adding money. That's scope creep, and on a fixed price it comes straight out of your hourly rate.
- Should I charge hourly or a fixed price?
- Fixed prices are easier for clients to approve and can pay more when you work fast, but only if the scope is written down and extras become paid change orders. Hourly is safer when the scope is vague.
- How do I protect my rate on a fixed-price project?
- List what's included and what isn't, cap revisions, and price anything new as a change order the client approves before you start it. Then extra work raises the fee instead of lowering your rate.
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