Contractor Hourly Rate Formula
Use a contractor hourly rate formula to turn salary goals, expenses, unpaid work, taxes reserve, and billable capacity into a practical contractor or consulting rate.
Read guide →Guides
The Math Behind the Math
Supporting essays and teardowns to help you think clearer about your business.
Not sure where to start?
Use the Calculator Finder
Guided paths
Guided first steps
A guided OwnerMath path for solo operators who want a simple first sequence: find the right tool, calculate the baseline, plan revenue, then price work.
Price a project
A guided OwnerMath path for fixed-fee work: rate floor, project quote, scope creep guardrails, and post-project audit.
Fix undercharging
A guided OwnerMath path for solo operators who are busy, tired, and suspiciously not making enough money.
Plan recurring revenue
A guided OwnerMath path for retainers and monthly service models that need revenue targets and boundaries.
Effective hourly rate for freelancers
How to calculate the real hourly rate you earned on a fixed-fee project after taxes, expenses, and scope creep.
Read guide →Fixed-price project quote formula
How to estimate, buffer, and price a fixed-fee project without destroying your hourly rate or working for free.
Read guide →Freelance Capacity Planning: How Much Work Can You Actually Sell?
Learn how to estimate realistic freelance capacity using billable hours, utilization rate, admin time, working weeks, and revenue goals.
Read guide →Freelance Pricing Calculator: What It Should Actually Include
Learn what a useful freelance pricing calculator should include, from income goals and expenses to unpaid time, billable capacity, reserves, project risk, and pricing model selection.
Read guide →Freelance revenue goal planning
How to work backward from your desired take-home pay to calculate exactly how many projects and leads you need.
Read guide →Hourly vs fixed-price freelance projects
Should freelancers charge hourly or fixed price? Compare pricing models, risks, scope creep, profit upside, and when each model makes sense.
Read guide →Hourly vs Fixed Price vs Retainer: Which Freelance Pricing Model Should You Use?
Compare hourly, fixed-price, and retainer pricing models for freelance work. Learn which model fits your services and how to convert your baseline rate into each structure.
Read guide →How many billable hours per week is realistic for freelancers?
Most freelancers cannot bill 40 hours a week without underpricing or burning out. Use a realistic billable-hours model, see worked examples, and calculate the rate you actually need.
Read guide →How much should I charge for consulting?
Learn how to set a consulting rate based on income goals, billable hours, expertise, project risk, unpaid work, and the cost of being self-employed.
Read guide →How to calculate project profitability as a freelancer
Learn how to calculate freelance project profitability, include your own time, account for costs, compare effective hourly rate, and stop mistaking revenue for profit.
Read guide →How to calculate your freelance hourly rate
A practical guide to setting a freelance rate that covers income, expenses, taxes, savings, and slow months.
Read guide →How to charge for revisions as a freelancer
Learn how freelancers should price revisions, define revision rounds, prevent unpaid scope creep, and protect project margins without sounding like a jerk.
Read guide →How to estimate self-employment tax as a freelancer
Learn how U.S. self-employment tax works, what the 15.3% rate includes, how net earnings are adjusted, where the 2026 Social Security wage base applies, and what this estimate does not cover.
Read guide →How to price a monthly retainer
The mathematical approach to pricing a freelance retainer that guarantees your margin, limits your risk, and establishes a premium client relationship.
Read guide →How to Price Freelance Work Without Accidentally Buying Yourself a Worse Job
Learn how to price freelance work by calculating your required floor rate, sanity-checking billable hours, accounting for expenses and downtime, then choosing the right pricing model.
Read guide →The true cost of scope creep
Why saying "yes" to small extra requests destroys your profit margins, and how to calculate the damage.
Read guide →What should a freelance project quote include?
A freelance project quote should define scope, deliverables, assumptions, revisions, timeline, payment terms, exclusions, and change-order rules before the work starts.
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