Pay & rates
Project Rate Calculator
Estimate a project charge from hours, an hourly rate, and explicit project costs.
Use this planning model to expose labor and named project costs without claiming a market rate or guaranteed margin.
What the result means
The result adds hourly labor arithmetic to supplied project costs. It does not estimate tax, contingency, profit beyond the rate, or scope risk.
The formula
Project hours * hourly rate + explicit project costs
Results are displayed to at most two decimal places. Calculations use the unrounded inputs.
A worked example
Put the formula to work
- Project hours (hours)
- 120
- Hourly rate (currency per hour)
- 75
- Explicit project costs (currency per project)
- 1,500
Estimated project charge (input currency): 10,500.00
120 hours at 75 plus 1,500 of explicit costs gives a 10,500 project estimate.
How to use this calculator
- Estimate the work hours.
- Set the gross planning rate.
- List only costs intended for this estimate.
- Add scope review and contingency decisions separately.
Why this number matters
Separating hours, rate, and costs exposes what a project estimate actually includes.
Input definitions
- Project hours (hours)
- Estimated paid or billable project hours.
- Hourly rate (currency per hour)
- Gross planning rate for project labor.
- Explicit project costs (currency per project)
- Named costs included in this estimate.
Assumptions and limitations
- Does not predict scope changes, taxes, profit, contingency, payment timing, or market acceptance.
- Unlisted costs and nonbillable work remain outside the result.
- Use a written scope and contract rather than treating this as a quote.
Methodology
The default result and worked example use the same calculation functions as the interactive tool. The formula cannot verify the quality or scope of your source data.
Read our calculation methodology
Last updated .