Free Tool

Rate Card to Quote Calculator

Price a project from your rate card: roles, hours, bill rates, and cost rates, with contingency, discount, and a gross margin check before you send the quote.

No signup. Everything is calculated in your browser and nothing is stored.

Roles and hours

RoleHoursBill rateCost ratePrice
$2,400.00
$12,000.00
$3,300.00

Cost rate = what an hour of that person costs you (salary, benefits, and overhead per hour, or a contractor’s rate).

Quote summary

Quote price

$19,470.00

$17,700.00 base + $1,770.00 contingency

Delivery cost

$8,050.00

130 hours

Gross margin

58.7%

$11,420.00 gross profit

Blended rate

$149.77/hr

Price per hour across all roles

At or above your 50% margin target.

Carries the roles, hours, rates, and contingency into the free Quote Generator. Cost rates are never included.

Price from margin, not from the last quote

Most service firms price new work by adjusting the last similar quote. That hides the one number that decides whether the project makes money: gross margin. Two quotes with the same total can have very different margins depending on who does the work.

Putting cost rates next to bill rates shows the margin before the quote goes out, and the price needed to hit your target if you are below it. A discount that looks small against the price can be a large share of the margin, which this calculator makes visible.

Frequently asked questions

What is a rate card?

A rate card lists the hourly or daily rate you charge for each role on a project, such as project manager, developer, or designer. Multiplying each role’s rate by the estimated hours gives the project price.

What gross margin should an agency target?

Many service firms aim for a 40-60% gross margin on delivery, meaning the cost of the people doing the work is 40-60% of the price. Below about 30%, overruns and non-billable time can erase the profit. Set your own target in the calculator.

How is gross margin calculated here?

Gross margin = (price - delivery cost) / price, where delivery cost is hours x each person’s fully loaded cost rate (salary, benefits, and overhead per hour, or a contractor’s rate).

Should I add contingency to a fixed-price quote?

Usually yes. A 10-20% contingency on fixed-price work covers estimation error and small scope changes. On time-and-materials work it is less important because extra hours are billed.

What is the difference between markup and margin?

Markup is profit as a percentage of cost; margin is profit as a percentage of price. A 100% markup on cost is a 50% margin. Pricing from margin makes it easier to see how much of each dollar you keep.

Quoting the same way for every deal? We automate quoting from your CRM with your rate card, approval rules, and margin guardrails built in.

See quote automation

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