Act on the result
Use the fee as a quote floor unless the cost stack changes.
Educational only: Business decision support, not accounting, tax or legal advice.
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Update policy: Reviewed when formulas or official dependencies change.
Scope: Market-neutral small-business planning using your own assumptions.
What this planner helps you decide
Best for
Service owners setting a defensible minimum project price.
Outputs
Total internal hours, labour, direct cost and overhead recovery, minimum fee, contribution and effective rates.
Start here
Enter sales, onboarding, administration and delivery hours, loaded cost, direct costs, overhead and target margin.
Use a different tool when: Do not use this to price compressed delivery; use Rush Fee Pricing Planner for that decision. Use this tool to set a minimum project fee.
Quote & capacity
Minimum Project Fee: total internal hours
Total internal hours, labour, direct cost and overhead recovery, minimum fee, contribution and effective rates.
Amounts use the same currency as your inputs. No currency conversion is performed.
Minimum Project Fee
Solve a project price floor that separately recovers sales, onboarding, admin and delivery.
Your numbers stay in this browser
Pre-sale effort to recover.
Setup effort before delivery.
Project management and administration.
Expected billable delivery effort.
Internal hourly cost.
Project-specific non-labour costs.
Overhead applied to labour plus direct costs.
Contribution retained from revenue.
Decision result
Every result is derived by the registered service and project engine.
PDF and CSV exports stay on this device. Clean page links contain no inputs.
- Total Internal Hours
- 32 hours/project
- Labour Cost
- 2,240.00/project
- Overhead Amount
- 249.00/project
- Project Cost
- 2,739.00/project
- Minimum project fee
- 3,912.86/project
- Target Contribution
- 1,173.86/project
- Minimum Effective Rate
- 122.28/hour
- Delivery Hour Effective Rate
- 163.04/hour
Scenario comparison
Each row names the assumption axis changed from the baseline.
ScenarioResultDifference
Current scenario3,912.86/projectBaseline
Lower Target margin3,830.77/project−82.09/project (−2.1%)
Higher Target margin3,998.54/project+85.68/project (+2.2%)
Save these results, change an input, then compare the updated figures with this baseline.
The baseline is temporary in this tab and is not added to shared scenario links or generated reports.
Calculation details
View calculation detailsView the formulas and inputs used for these results.
Minimum project fee
Minimum Project Fee
project cost ÷ (1 − target margin)3,912.86/projectResult3,912.86/project
Reports/project from the entered project, capacity and ex-tax commercial assumptions. The engine retains full precision; presentation is bounded for readability.
Minimum Project Fee Planner formulas →Inputs used by these formula steps
- Minimum Project FeeSales Hours
- 3
- Minimum Project FeeOnboarding Hours
- 2
- Minimum Project FeeAdmin Hours
- 3
- Minimum Project FeeDelivery Hours
- 24
- Minimum Project FeeLoaded Cost Per Hour
- 70
- Minimum Project FeeDirect Costs
- 250
- Minimum Project FeeOverhead Rate
- 0.1
- Minimum Project FeeTarget Margin
- 0.3
Total Internal Hours
Total Internal Hours
sales + onboarding + admin + delivery hours32 hours/projectResult32 hours/project
Reports hours/project from the entered project, capacity and ex-tax commercial assumptions. The engine retains full precision; presentation is bounded for readability.
Minimum Project Fee Planner formulas →Inputs used by these formula steps
- Total Internal HoursSales Hours
- 3
- Total Internal HoursOnboarding Hours
- 2
- Total Internal HoursAdmin Hours
- 3
- Total Internal HoursDelivery Hours
- 24
- Total Internal HoursLoaded Cost Per Hour
- 70
- Total Internal HoursDirect Costs
- 250
- Total Internal HoursOverhead Rate
- 0.1
- Total Internal HoursTarget Margin
- 0.3
Labour Cost
Labour Cost
total internal hours × loaded cost2,240/projectResult2,240.00/project
Reports/project from the entered project, capacity and ex-tax commercial assumptions. The engine retains full precision; presentation is bounded for readability.
Minimum Project Fee Planner formulas →Inputs used by these formula steps
- Labour CostSales Hours
- 3
- Labour CostOnboarding Hours
- 2
- Labour CostAdmin Hours
- 3
- Labour CostDelivery Hours
- 24
- Labour CostLoaded Cost Per Hour
- 70
- Labour CostDirect Costs
- 250
- Labour CostOverhead Rate
- 0.1
- Labour CostTarget Margin
- 0.3
Overhead Amount
Overhead Amount
(labour cost + direct costs) × overhead rate249/projectResult249.00/project
Reports/project from the entered project, capacity and ex-tax commercial assumptions. The engine retains full precision; presentation is bounded for readability.
Minimum Project Fee Planner formulas →Inputs used by these formula steps
- Overhead AmountSales Hours
- 3
- Overhead AmountOnboarding Hours
- 2
- Overhead AmountAdmin Hours
- 3
- Overhead AmountDelivery Hours
- 24
- Overhead AmountLoaded Cost Per Hour
- 70
- Overhead AmountDirect Costs
- 250
- Overhead AmountOverhead Rate
- 0.1
- Overhead AmountTarget Margin
- 0.3
Project Cost
Project Cost
labour cost + direct costs + overhead2,739/projectResult2,739.00/project
Reports/project from the entered project, capacity and ex-tax commercial assumptions. The engine retains full precision; presentation is bounded for readability.
Minimum Project Fee Planner formulas →Inputs used by these formula steps
- Project CostSales Hours
- 3
- Project CostOnboarding Hours
- 2
- Project CostAdmin Hours
- 3
- Project CostDelivery Hours
- 24
- Project CostLoaded Cost Per Hour
- 70
- Project CostDirect Costs
- 250
- Project CostOverhead Rate
- 0.1
- Project CostTarget Margin
- 0.3
Target Contribution
Target Contribution
minimum project fee − project cost1,173.86/projectResult1,173.86/project
Reports/project from the entered project, capacity and ex-tax commercial assumptions. The engine retains full precision; presentation is bounded for readability.
Minimum Project Fee Planner formulas →Inputs used by these formula steps
- Target ContributionSales Hours
- 3
- Target ContributionOnboarding Hours
- 2
- Target ContributionAdmin Hours
- 3
- Target ContributionDelivery Hours
- 24
- Target ContributionLoaded Cost Per Hour
- 70
- Target ContributionDirect Costs
- 250
- Target ContributionOverhead Rate
- 0.1
- Target ContributionTarget Margin
- 0.3
Minimum Effective Rate
Minimum Effective Rate
minimum project fee ÷ total internal hours122.28/hourResult122.28/hour
Reports/hour from the entered project, capacity and ex-tax commercial assumptions. The engine retains full precision; presentation is bounded for readability.
Minimum Project Fee Planner formulas →Inputs used by these formula steps
- Minimum Effective RateSales Hours
- 3
- Minimum Effective RateOnboarding Hours
- 2
- Minimum Effective RateAdmin Hours
- 3
- Minimum Effective RateDelivery Hours
- 24
- Minimum Effective RateLoaded Cost Per Hour
- 70
- Minimum Effective RateDirect Costs
- 250
- Minimum Effective RateOverhead Rate
- 0.1
- Minimum Effective RateTarget Margin
- 0.3
Delivery Hour Effective Rate
Delivery Hour Effective Rate
minimum project fee ÷ delivery hours163.04/hourResult163.04/hour
Reports/hour from the entered project, capacity and ex-tax commercial assumptions. The engine retains full precision; presentation is bounded for readability.
Minimum Project Fee Planner formulas →Inputs used by these formula steps
- Delivery Hour Effective RateSales Hours
- 3
- Delivery Hour Effective RateOnboarding Hours
- 2
- Delivery Hour Effective RateAdmin Hours
- 3
- Delivery Hour Effective RateDelivery Hours
- 24
- Delivery Hour Effective RateLoaded Cost Per Hour
- 70
- Delivery Hour Effective RateDirect Costs
- 250
- Delivery Hour Effective RateOverhead Rate
- 0.1
- Delivery Hour Effective RateTarget Margin
- 0.3
Inputs used
- Sales hours
- 3
- Onboarding and setup hours
- 2
- Administration hours
- 3
- Delivery hours
- 24
- Loaded cost per hour
- 70
- Direct costs
- 250
- Overhead rate
- 0.1
- Target margin
- 0.3
Open this calculator with preset values
This calculator supports documented, shareable scenario URLs. Compatible assistants and applications can construct links using the parameters below.
Scenario links contain only allowlisted numeric and closed-choice inputs shown in the URL; Margin101 excludes free text and identifying fields. Anyone you share the URL with can read those numbers, so do not include private or identifying data.
| Parameter | Meaning | Unit | Allowed values | Presence | Default |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| adminHours | Project management and administration. | hours/project | 0 to 10000000 | Required | 3 |
| deliveryHours | Expected billable delivery effort. | hours/project | 0 to 10000000 | Required | 24 |
| directCosts | Project-specific non-labour costs. | currency units/project | 0 to 10000000 | Required | 250 |
| loadedCostPerHour | Internal hourly cost. | currency units/hour | 0 to 10000000 | Required | 70 |
| onboardingHours | Setup effort before delivery. | hours/project | 0 to 10000000 | Required | 2 |
| overheadRate | Overhead applied to labour plus direct costs. | proportion of labour cost allocated as overhead | 0 to 0.99 | Required | 0.1 |
| salesHours | Pre-sale effort to recover. | hours/project | 0 to 10000000 | Required | 3 |
| targetMargin | Contribution retained from revenue. | proportion of project fee retained as contribution | 0 to 0.99 | Required | 0.3 |
Minimum Project Fee: total internal hours
The minimum project fee result uses only the entered commercial assumptions.
Formula summary
- Primary formula
- minimum fee = project cost ÷ (1 − target margin)
Data used here
- The estimate uses your inputs and the general business formula documented in the methodology.
Decision checks
Stress-test the decision
Increase setup effort, direct costs or overhead before finalising the floor.
When this estimate can be misleading
- Results depend on the accuracy and consistent basis of user-entered assumptions.
- The planner does not forecast demand, delivery performance or contract outcomes.
- Use the result as educational business decision support, not accounting, tax or legal advice.
- The minimum project fee result uses only the entered commercial assumptions.
Educational estimate, not advice. See all assumptions & limitations →
Related reading
Guides to interpret the decision and its assumptions.
- Service Pricing and Quoting: From Capacity to Scope
Turn cost and sellable capacity into a service rate, then test scope, duration, delivery risk and commercial model.
Read guide
Frequently asked questions
How do I set a minimum project fee?
Use the fee as a quote floor unless the cost stack changes.
Which planning assumptions should I stress-test?
Compare a plausible alternative scenario and verify the decision-critical assumption that changes the plan most.