How to Price a Freelance Project (With a Buffer and Deposit)

How to turn an hourly rate into a fixed-price project quote, with a buffer for surprises and a worked example.

An hourly rate is not a project quote

Once you know your minimum hourly rate, pricing a fixed-scope project takes a few more steps: estimating the hours honestly, protecting yourself against the work running long, and deciding how much to ask for upfront.

Estimate the hours honestly

Break the project into the actual tasks — discovery calls, drafts, revisions, testing, handoff — and add up realistic hours for each, rather than guessing a round total. Include the calls and the revision rounds; they are easy to forget and rarely small.

Add a buffer for surprises

Projects rarely run exactly to estimate. A buffer of 10 to 20% of the labour cost is a common starting point — set it higher when the scope is vague, the client is new, or the project depends on things outside your control (their content, their feedback turnaround, third-party approvals).

Pass through hard costs separately

Stock assets, subcontractors, licences, travel — costs that are not your labour should be listed separately from the buffer, so the client can see exactly what they are paying for.

Decide on a deposit

A deposit of 30 to 50% before work starts reduces your exposure if the client disappears or the project stalls, and it filters out people who were never serious. It is standard practice, not an imposition.

The formula

labour = hours × hourly rate

total = labour + (labour × buffer%) + pass-through costs − discount

Worked example

30 estimated hours at $85/hr, $200 in pass-through costs, a 15% buffer, no discount, and a 30% deposit.

Labour: 30 × $85 = $2,550.00
Buffer (15% of labour): $382.50
Plus pass-through costs: $2,550 + $382.50 + $200 = $3,132.50 quote
Deposit to ask upfront (30%): $939.75
You earn per hour, on plan: ($3,132.50 − $200) ÷ 30 = $97.75/hr
You earn per hour, if it runs 25% over: ($3,132.50 − $200) ÷ 37.5 = $78.20/hr

Try your own numbers in the project quote calculator — it shows both of those per-hour figures live as you adjust the buffer and discount.

Watch what a discount really costs you

A discount comes straight out of your labour and buffer, not out of the pass-through costs. Watch the "on plan" hourly figure as you raise a discount — it drops faster than the headline percentage suggests, because it is being taken off a total that already includes your buffer.

Once the invoice is out, the next step is getting paid on time — see the invoice guide.

Related tools

Price your work