How to Price a Project When You Have No Idea What to Charge

Ask most solo business owners how they landed on their rate, and the honest answer is some version of "I picked a number that didn't feel insane, and I've been too scared to raise it since." That's not a criticism — pricing is one of the only parts of running a business where there's no manager, no market survey handed to you, and no obvious feedback loop until a client either books you or goes quiet.

The fix isn't more confidence. It's a formula that works backward from what you actually need to earn to a number you can quote without flinching — and shows its own arithmetic, so you stop wondering if you pulled it out of thin air.

The formula, in plain terms

There's one calculation underneath every sustainable freelance rate:

(target annual income + annual business expenses) ÷ (working days per year × billable percentage) = minimum day rate

Each piece matters:

• Target income is what you want to earn before tax — the number that actually needs to land, not a vague "more than last year."
• Business expenses — software, insurance, a laptop replacement fund, anything the business pays for — get added on top, because your day rate has to cover the business, not just your salary.
• Working days per year is smaller than you think once you subtract weekends, holidays, sick days, and days spent on admin instead of billable work. A common starting estimate: 5 weeks off plus roughly a day a week lost to non-billable admin lands you somewhere around 220 working days, not 260.
• Billable percentage is the share of those working days actually spent on paid client work, not sales calls, invoicing, or content. Most solo businesses land somewhere between 60–75%, even when it feels like they're "always working."

Run the numbers, and the formula usually produces a rate higher than what people were already charging — which is exactly the point. Most underpricing isn't a strategic choice; it's a number nobody ever actually calculated.

From day rate to project price

Once you have a day rate, pricing a specific project is two more steps:

1. Estimate the time honestly. How many days will this actually take, including revisions — not the optimistic version you'd quote if everything went perfectly.
2. Add a buffer. 15–20% on top of the bare-minimum price, to absorb scope drift and revision rounds without eating into what you need to earn. This isn't padding — it's the cost of the client changing their mind twice, which happens on almost every project.

That gives you two honest numbers: a bare-minimum price and a buffered price. Quote the buffered one. If a client asks why it's higher than they expected, you have real arithmetic behind it, not a guess you have to defend on the spot.

Two ways to present it, so you're not locked into one format:

• Flat project fee — a single number, easiest for the client to say yes to.
• Day-rate range — useful when scope is genuinely fuzzy and you want the flexibility to bill actual time within stated bounds.

One more thing worth doing every time: flag it to yourself if the math implies a rate wildly out of step with your field's norms — in either direction. A day rate that's too low relative to your experience is the more common trap, but occasionally the math points the other way, and it's worth a reality check before you send the quote.

Once you're quoting with a number you can defend, the proposal template is where that price gets presented — stated once, plainly, no hedging. And if a client tries to add scope after the price is agreed, how to say no to scope creep without losing the client covers the conversation that keeps the number honest.

The copy-paste prompt

Paste this in with your real numbers — it shows the full arithmetic, not just a final figure, so you can see exactly how the price was built.

You are a pricing analyst for a one-person service business. Turn my numbers into a clear
day rate and project price, showing the math, not just a final figure.

Context:
- Target annual income before tax: [AMOUNT]
- Working days per year, after holidays, admin days, and sick days: [NUMBER, OR "NOT SURE,
  ESTIMATE FROM 5 WEEKS OFF"]
- Annual business expenses (software, insurance, etc.): [AMOUNT, OR "NOT SURE"]
- Percentage of working days that are actually billable, not admin/sales: [PERCENTAGE, OR
  "NOT SURE, ESTIMATE 70%"]
- The project I want to price, and roughly how many hours or days it takes: [PROJECT TYPE
  AND ESTIMATED TIME]

Task:
1. Calculate a minimum day rate: (target income + expenses) divided by (working days x
   billable percentage). Show the formula with my numbers filled in.
2. Round that into a practical day rate and hourly rate.
3. Price the specific project using the day rate, then add a 15-20% buffer for revisions
   and scope drift — show both the bare-minimum price and the buffered price.
4. Give me two ways to present the project price: a flat project fee, and a day-rate
   estimate with a range.
5. Flag if my target income and working days imply an unrealistic day rate for the field I
   mention, and say so plainly.

Constraints: show all arithmetic, don't just give a number. If target income or working
days is missing, ask me one question, then continue.

What the math actually looks like

Elin, an illustrator in Stockholm, wanted €48,000 before tax, estimated 220 working days a year, €3,000 in annual expenses, and guessed she was billable about 65% of the time. The output:

The math: (€48,000 + €3,000) ÷ (220 × 0.65) = €357/day, rounded to €360/day.

This project priced two ways (a 4-day book-cover illustration): Flat fee — bare minimum €1,440, buffered (+15%) €1,656. Day-rate estimate: €360–€414/day.

Seeing the arithmetic laid out mattered more than the final number. Elin had been charging €900 flat per cover — roughly half what her own numbers said she needed. The formula didn't just give her a new price; it gave her a reason she could say out loud if a client asked.

That's the real value of doing the math instead of guessing: the next time someone pushes back on your rate, you're not defending a feeling. You're pointing at arithmetic.