Project Budget & Profitability Calculator
Price a project before you quote it, then watch its budget and margin while it runs.
Try before you buy.
- Free preview: the project margin in full, with the first rows of each table (up to 3) and the first step of the working; every other figure is hidden.
- Locked until you unlock it: download and copy.
- Unlock: Pro pass, ₹179 for 30 days or ₹79 for 1 week, a one-time payment that never renews. Unlock: Pro pass, $5.99 for 30 days or $2.99 for 1 week, a one-time payment that never renews.
Ways to unlock shows how to get the full result.
Printing this result is locked in the free preview.
The budget
| Role | Hours | Cost | At bill rates | Margin |
|---|
The pricing options
During the project
| Role | Budgeted hours | Worked | Used |
|---|
How it is worked out
Total cost = Σ (hours × cost rate) × (1 + contingency) + expenses
Revenue = fees after the discount + re-billed expenses with their mark-up
Margin = (revenue − total cost) ÷ revenue · Mark-up = (revenue − total cost) ÷ total cost
Fees for a target margin = total cost ÷ (1 − target) − re-billed expenses
With your numbers
Locked in the free preview. Opens the ways to unlock this result.
Locked in the free preview. Batch runs unlock with a pass.
Locked in the free preview. Query results unlock with a pass.
Results are estimates for general information and planning, not financial advice. Banks and institutions may calculate differently (rounding, fees, rate changes). Confirm figures with your lender or a qualified adviser before deciding.
How this tool is checked
- Based on
- the method set out under ‘How it is worked out’.
- Tests
- 20 automated tests check its results.
- Found an error?
- Report a problem or write to support@mysmartcopilot.com, with what you entered and the result you expected.
About the Project Budget & Profitability Calculator
Work out what a project costs and what it earns before you quote it. List the team — each role with what an hour costs you, what you bill for it and the hours you plan — add expenses and a contingency, and choose how you price it: a fixed fee, time and materials or a retainer for a number of months, with a discount if you give one. You get the total cost, the fees and revenue, the profit, the margin (profit as a share of revenue), the mark-up (profit as a share of cost), the fees per budgeted hour, the break-even fee and the fee that reaches your target margin.
Up to three pricing options sit side by side, so you can see whether a fixed fee, hourly billing or a retainer suits the work. While the project runs, add the hours worked so far — typed, or read from a time tracker’s CSV — to see how much of the budget is used, the margin you are heading for, whether a retainer is over-serviced and the price change that brings the margin back to your target.
In the free preview the project margin shows in full; the other figures, the full tables, the copied summary and the CSV come with a Pro pass. Nothing you enter leaves your browser.
How to use it
- Choose the currency and how you price the project: a fixed fee (leave the fee empty to see the one that reaches your target margin), time and materials, or a retainer with its fee a month, its months and the hours a month it includes.
- Add a row for each role of the team with its cost an hour (pay and overheads), its bill rate and the hours you plan for the whole project.
- Add expenses. Tick “Re-billed” for those the client pays on top, with your mark-up.
- Set the contingency (extra hours for the unexpected) and your target margin. A discount applies to the fees, not to re-billed expenses.
- Open “Compare pricing options” to add a second and third way of pricing the same work.
- During the project, open “During the project”, tick it and type the hours worked so far, or read them from a CSV export of your time tracker, matched to the roles by person or task. With a Pro pass, copy the summary or download the plan as CSV; in the free preview both stay locked.
Examples
Designer 60 h at a cost of 40 and a bill rate of 90 · developer 100 h at 50 / 110 · project manager 20 h at 45 / 100 · contingency 10% · stock photos 300 re-billed at +10% · software 200 · fixed fee 15,000 · target margin 30%
Labour 8,300 + contingency 830 + expenses 500 = a total cost of 9,630. Revenue 15,000 + 330 = 15,330, profit 5,700: a margin of 37.2% and a mark-up of 59.2%, 75.76 per budgeted hour (198 h). A 30% margin needs fees of 13,427.14, so the quote has room for a discount of up to 1,572.86.
The same team and expenses, billed at the bill rates with a 5% discount
Fees 20,240 (180 h plus 18 h of contingency at the bill rates) less 1,012 = 19,228; revenue 19,558, profit 9,928, a margin of 50.8%.
The fixed fee above · designer 30 h, developer 60 h, project manager 12 h worked · half the work done
102 of 198 budgeted hours used (51.5%). At this pace the project needs 204 hours and costs 9,980, so the margin at completion is 34.9% — still above the 30% target.
Common uses
- An agency or consultancy pricing a project and deciding between a fixed fee and hourly billing.
- A freelancer checking whether a retainer still pays when the client asks for more hours.
- A project manager checking the budget burn and the margin at completion halfway through.
How it is worked out
- Labour cost = the sum of each role’s hours × its cost an hour; contingency = labour hours and cost × the contingency percentage.
- Total cost = labour cost + contingency + every expense.
- Fees: a fixed fee as typed; time and materials = (planned hours + contingency hours) × the bill rates; a retainer = its fee a month × its months. A discount comes off the fees.
- Revenue = fees + re-billed expenses with their mark-up.
- Margin = (revenue − total cost) ÷ revenue; mark-up = (revenue − total cost) ÷ total cost. A 30% margin is a 42.9% mark-up.
- Fees for a target margin = total cost ÷ (1 − target margin) − re-billed expenses; break-even fees = total cost − re-billed expenses.
- Fees per budgeted hour = fees ÷ (planned hours + contingency hours): what an hour of work really earns.
Fixed fee, time and materials or a retainer
- Fixed fee: you keep what you save and carry the overrun. The contingency is a cost you budget for; the tracking shows how much of it is used.
- Time and materials: the client pays for the hours worked at your bill rates, so the margin depends on the rates more than on the hours. The bill-rate change to reach your target margin is shown while you track.
- Retainer: a fee a month for a number of months (part months allowed: 15 January to 31 March is 17/31 + 2 = 2.55 months). If it includes hours a month, budgeted hours beyond them are over-servicing unless you bill them.
Tracking a project as it runs
With the hours worked so far, the forecast at completion comes from one of three things, in this order: the share of the work you say is done (hours so far ÷ that share), the pace of a retainer (hours so far over the months passed, for the whole term), or the plan (each role’s budgeted hours, or its hours so far when it is already over). The budget burn is the hours (and labour cost) used as a share of the budget with its contingency. The margin at completion uses the same fees for a fixed fee or a retainer, and the forecast hours at the bill rates for time and materials.
Limitations
- Costs and rates are hourly; costs that do not scale with hours go under expenses.
- The forecast is as good as the share of the work done you type: a project that is 50% done in hours may be less done in deliverables.
- Taxes on the fees (VAT, GST, sales tax) are left out: margins are worked out on amounts before tax.
- The cost an hour is yours to set: include pay, employer contributions and a share of overheads, or the margin looks better than it is.
Privacy
On this device: nothing is sent
Everything happens in your browser. What you enter or open here is not uploaded or stored by MySmartCoPilot.
Frequently asked questions
What do I get without a pass?
Without a pass, Project Budget & Profitability Calculator shows the project margin in full, with the first rows of each table (up to 3) and the first step of the working; every other figure is hidden. Until you unlock it, the result can’t be downloaded or copied. A Pro, Premium or Ultimate pass, a one-time payment that never renews, unlocks the full result. The pricing page lists the passes and their prices.
What is the difference between margin and mark-up?
Both compare profit with something else: margin with the price (revenue), mark-up with the cost. A project that costs 7,000 and sells for 10,000 has a margin of 30% and a mark-up of 42.9%. Quote targets as margins, because a margin can never pass 100%.
How much contingency should I add?
It depends on how well you know the work: a repeat of a past project needs less than something new. The contingency here adds hours and cost to the budget; in time and materials those hours are billed too if they are used.
What does “fees per budgeted hour” tell me?
What an hour of the planned work really earns after the discount, contingency hours included. Compare it with your usual bill rate: on a fixed fee it falls whenever the hours grow.
Which CSV files can I read the hours from?
Any CSV with an Hours or Duration column: the Time Tracker on this site, Toggl Track, Harvest or a spreadsheet. Choose the column that matches the team’s roles (person, task or role) and, when the file covers several projects, the project to count.