How the project price calculator works
Why fixed prices beat hourly for projects
Clients buy outcomes, not hours — and freelancers who bill hourly are punished twice for getting faster. Fixed pricing with an honest estimate transfers efficiency gains to you, but only if the price carries a buffer for the unknowns. A project at your rate with zero buffer is a donation of your efficiency and an absorption of every surprise.
How to estimate hours honestly
Break the work into chunks small enough to picture finishing (half-days), estimate each, then add the invisible lines: kickoff, revisions, file handoff, and the email thread. If a chunk has never been done before, double it. The estimate that "sounds reasonable" is the one that unpaid overtime is made of.
The change-order clause that makes buffers honest
A fixed price is a bet on scope. Write the scope in one page, then add: "work beyond this scope bills at $X/hour." Clients respect it, you stop arguing about whose surprise it was, and the buffer stays reserved for risks you priced — not risks they added.