Two calculations, the same ones every time. First your floor and day rate, from real overheads and the days you can actually sell. Then a quote built in four sections with the fee and contingency on the page. Nothing leaves your browser. The method behind it is in How to price a video project so every quote isn't a guess.

Step one: your floor and day rate

Enter your monthly numbers. The floor is what a day has to earn before you make anything. The day rate is the floor plus the margin you've decided on.

Your monthly salaryWhat you'd have to pay someone to do your job. Unpaid is not the same as free.

Other monthly overheadsRent, insurance, software, gear upkeep and upgrades, marketing, accounting, subscriptions.

Days you can actually sell each monthNot twenty. After admin, sales, quoting and life, most owners have ten to fourteen.

Decided marginA choice you make once, not a hope on every quote.

Total monthly overheads (salary included)$18,000

Your floor per day (overheads divided by sellable days)$1,500

Your day rate (floor plus margin)$2,100

Step two: build the quote

Price the three sections, then the fee and contingency go on as visible lines. Use your day rate above to price the days in each section. The fee is 15 to 30 per cent: toward 15 for retainer and repeat clients, toward 30 for new clients, tight turnarounds, or jobs with more unknowns.

Pre-productionRecce, scripting, interview prep, planning calls, crew and location booking.

ProductionCrew, kit, travel, the shoot days themselves.

Post-productionEdit, grade, sound mix, delivery, and the included revision rounds.

Production company feeOn top of the three sections above, as its own line.

ContingencyIts own line, billed only if it's used.

Subtotal (the three sections)$9,000

Production company fee$1,800

Contingency (billed only if used)$900

Quote total$11,700

What a day-rate-only quote would have asked for (the subtotal, and hope nothing changes)$9,000

The work you'd have given away$2,700

The number you can explain

This is the quote in words, built from your figures. Copy it into the quote, or keep it beside you on the call.

What the numbers mean

The floor is the line you never quote under, the fee is work you were already doing, and the margin is a decision you make once.

The full method, with the worksheet, the quote skeleton, the ballpark script and what to say when a client pushes back: How to price a video project so every quote isn't a guess. For ranking the clients you already have by profit per day, use the Client Profitability Calculator.

Pricing Calculator: your day rate and a quote that holds

Step one: your floor and day rate

Step two: build the quote

The number you can explain

What the numbers mean