Estimate your project fees

A lot of us who are new to working independently face the problem of not knowing exactly what to charge, and may often lose projects due to too high a fee level, or end up undercharging. To understand this better, we conducted a survey and found that 70% of independent professionals and freelancers depend on the client's budget to negotiate fees. What was more surprising was that only 20% of companies have standard slabs and parameters to determine the fee levels for independent consultants/contractors they bring on for projects.

To address this gap, we have created a calculator that will help indicate what a consultant/freelancer should charge for a project on a monthly basis to achieve a certain target income. The current version is a basic calculator that incorporates assumptions for higher marketing & business development expenses incurred as a consultant, as also an imputed risk benefit . It also adjusts for the duration of a project and its impact on % capacity utilisation. In phase two of the product we plan to introduce benchmark rates/per diems based on the industry, field of specialisation, and experience.

The calculator uses different assumptions if you are a full-time freelancer vs a moonlighter taking on projects after work hours or on weekends. There is also an option for you to tailor the assumptions to determine an indicative monthly fee that you should charge.

The calculator provides an approximate amount that a full-time consultant should charge for a project on a monthly basis to achieve a certain target income.

Expected annual income net of tax and benefits *

INR

If you are currently an independent professional: What would you expect to earn as an annual salary (net of taxes and benefits) if you worked a traditional job? In other words, what's your market rate as a salaried employee? If unsure about the market rate check this link for an indicative number (http://www.payscale.com/index/IN)
If you are currently an employee looking to work independently, enter your annual net income.

Industry *

Area of specialisation *

Years of experience *

Years

Duration of the project *

Month

(This is an indicative duration of the types of projects you are interested in)

Basis for fee *

Basic assumptions in this scenario:

Higher marketing and business development expenses incurred as an independent consultant
Uncertainty of working independently and the absence of company-provided benefits
Productive working time, based on capacity and time spent on administrative issues, and marketing
Project duration and its impact on utilisation

If you think these assumptions are not suitable, you could use the 'Full-time consultants (No pre-set assumptions)' calculator and customise the numbers.

* These factors are not a part of the current fee calculation, but will be immensely helpful in phase 2 of the calculator where we plan to share indicative benchmarks by skill area, industry and experience.

The calculator provides an approximate amount that a moonlighter should charge for a project on a monthly basis to achieve a certain target income.

Expected annual income net of tax and benefits *

INR

Industry *

Area of specialisation *

Years of experience *

Year

Duration of the project *

Month

(This is an indicative duration of the types of projects you are interested in)

Hours available for additional projects every week *

Hours

If you are currently an independent professional:

Time spent on marketing and business development (if any) *

(% of hours put in each week)

Basis for fee *

The calculator provides an approximate amount that a full-time consultant should charge for a project on a monthly basis to achieve a certain target income.

Expected annual income net of tax and benefits *

INR

Industry *

Area of specialisation *

Years of experience *

Year

Duration of the project *

Month

(This is an indicative duration of the types of projects you are interested in)

Hours worked every week *

Hours

Time spent on marketing and business development (if any) *

(% of hours put in each week)

Time spent on administrative issues incl. invoicing, managing expenses etc*

(% of hours put in per week)

Proportion of income spent on marketing, business development and other work-related expenses *

(% of the expected target annual compensation)

Basis for fee *

We are now developing the next avatar - a smart fee benchmarking tool, 'FeeBee', through which consultants can find out what their peers charged for similar projects in their area of specialisation and interest. Read more and share your benchmarks here

Fee Calculator