A fixed-fee freelance quote: scope, hours and revisions in one worked example
By Small Step Works · Published · Updated
A fixed fee is easier to explain when you can show what work it covers. Start with the deliverable, then estimate the activities behind it. This fictional brochure project shows the calculation and the questions to settle before sending a quote. The figures illustrate a method; they are not market rates, customer results or a promise of profit.
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1. Define a result someone can approve
Suppose a client asks for a five-page A4 brochure in English. The deliverables are a print-ready PDF and a screen PDF. The client supplies final copy, photographs and brand files before design starts. One named approver returns one consolidated set of comments. Your fee includes one visual direction and one revision round.
Write the exclusions beside the inclusions: copywriting, translation, printing, extra pages and a new visual direction are outside this example. Agree what a revision round means. Correcting supplied text within the agreed design is different from replacing the brief. A short description such as “brochure design” leaves those boundaries unresolved.
2. Estimate activities, not just design time
Here is a sample estimate for that exact scope. Replace each number with your own experience and project requirements. Count communication, checks and delivery as work.
- Brief and supplied-file review: 2 hours.
- Layout and visual direction: 8 hours.
- Client communication and presentation: 2 hours.
- One consolidated revision round: 3 hours.
- Export, preflight checks and delivery: 2 hours.
- Total planned work: 17 hours.
3. Make the price calculation visible
For illustration, use a planning labor rate of $60 per hour: 17 × $60 = $1,020. Add $80 of project-specific licensed assets, giving a $1,100 base. A chosen 20% contingency on that entire base adds $220. The resulting planning quote is $1,320 before any applicable tax. That contingency is a modeling choice, not a universal rule.
This is not a calculation of take-home pay or net profit. Your chosen rate must account for your own operating costs and nonbillable time; taxes, payment fees and actual overruns may change the outcome. Also check whether the client values the defined result enough to accept the price. If the budget does not fit, reduce or phase the deliverable explicitly instead of quietly removing time for essential work.
4. Offer a smaller result for a smaller budget
Before agreeing the original scope, suppose the client says the budget is $1,000 before applicable tax. First ask which result they actually need. If a shorter digital document is useful to them, offer a three-page A4 brochure in English as a screen PDF only, instead of the five-page print-ready and screen PDFs. Keep the supplied final materials, one visual direction, one named approver and one consolidated revision round explicit. This is an alternative proposal, not an automatic reduction to an existing agreement.
Re-estimate that smaller scope: the illustrative 12 hours below at the same $60 planning rate total $720. A deliberately chosen $50 asset allowance brings the base to $770; the same chosen 20% contingency adds $154. The alternative quote is $924 before any applicable tax. The lower asset allowance is valid only if a real asset plan supports it: fewer pages do not automatically reduce licensing costs. The shorter layout, revision and export estimates are assumptions to check against your own work, not permission to skip essential checks.
The $924 option replaces the original $1,320 scope; it does not include the extra-page or extra-revision scenarios below. Agree the smaller deliverable, exclusions, client inputs and delivery date before starting. A later print-ready version or extra pages require a fresh estimate; the $396 difference is not a guaranteed upgrade price. If the smaller result is not useful or no viable scope fits, decline or renegotiate the work. These fictional figures demonstrate a calculation, not a promised profit or a price that will fit every client.
- Brief and supplied-file review: 2 hours, unchanged.
- Layout and visual direction: 5 hours instead of 8.
- Client communication and presentation: 2 hours, unchanged.
- One consolidated revision round for the shorter brochure: 2 hours instead of 3.
- Screen-PDF export, checks and delivery: 1 hour instead of 2; no print-ready file.
- Total planned work: 12 hours; replace these estimates with your own.
5. Price a change before doing it
Now suppose the client adds two pages after approving the scope. You estimate four additional hours at the same $60 planning rate, with no new asset costs: $240 base plus a 20% contingency is $288. If agreed, the combined example becomes $1,608 before applicable tax. The delivery date must also be reviewed.
A practical message is: “The two additional pages are outside our five-page scope. I estimate an additional $288 and two working days after receiving final content. Please confirm the additional fee and revised delivery date before I begin.” This is a communication example, not a legal contract template.
6. Decide what to do with another revision
First ask the named approver for one complete list of requested changes. Compare it with the agreed brief and the revision round already delivered. Separate correcting your own mistake or finishing included work from a genuinely additional request; do not treat every comment as a new charge.
Consider an alternative to the extra-page scenario above: the brochure stays at five pages, but the client requests another round of changes within the same visual direction. You estimate two additional hours, with no new asset costs. At the illustrative $60 planning rate, $120 plus the same chosen 20% contingency gives an additional quote of $144. Starting from the original $1,320 quote, the revised total is $1,464 before any applicable tax. This does not include the two extra pages from the previous example. The time and contingency are assumptions to replace with your own estimate.
Check your schedule before offering a revised delivery date, then adapt this fictional reply: “The agreed revision round is complete. For the additional changes in your consolidated list, I propose $144 before any applicable tax, bringing the project total to $1,464. The revised delivery date would be [confirmed date], provided I receive approval and the final inputs by [date]. Please confirm the changes, fee and dates before I start this additional work.”
If the client instead wants a different visual direction, reassess the brief and estimate that work separately; the two-hour figure above does not apply automatically. If your original revision limit was unclear, resolve the ambiguity together before proposing a new agreement. Do not present a proposed additional fee as an amount the client has already accepted.
7. Turn the original estimate into a client-facing summary
The scope card collects your inputs; this fictional communication example brings them together with the illustrative price. Copy it, then replace the scope, amount, approver and dates with the details you have actually agreed.
Use the summary to check that you and the client mean the same thing before work starts. Set payment arrangements and other necessary project terms separately; this short summary is not a complete contract.
- Project: Five-page A4 brochure in English, supplied as print-ready and screen PDFs.
- Included: One visual direction and one consolidated revision round from [named approver].
- Client supplies: Final copy, photographs and brand files by [date].
- Excluded: Copywriting, translation, printing, extra pages and a new visual direction.
- Fixed fee: $1,320 before any applicable tax.
- Delivery: [date], subject to receiving the agreed inputs and feedback on time.
- Additional work requires an agreed fee and revised schedule before it begins. Please confirm the scope, fee and dates, or flag anything that needs changing.
8. Check the estimate against the next real project
Before quoting, confirm the supplied materials, approver, revision limit and exclusions. After delivering, compare estimated and actual hours for each activity. A repeated gap in file preparation or revisions is useful evidence for the next quote; a single accepted price is not proof that the method is profitable.
Use the free Margin & Method scope card to define your next project. The full kit adds connected exercises and an offline calculator. You can use the method above and the free sample without an account.
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