§ Tool · Fixed-fee pricing

Fixed-fee Calculator.

Price a fixed-fee matter so it stays profitable — with the buffer, overrun headroom, and stress test baked in.

→Turn a rough hours estimate into a defensible fee
→See how much overrun you can absorb before it's a loss
→Stress-test the fee against a 50% overrun

Inputs

Estimated hours to deliverhours

Your realistic most-likely case. Not the best-case.

Blended hourly cost of delivery£/hr

Salary + overhead ÷ billable hours. Not your hourly rate.

Disbursements and external costs£

Risk / contingency buffer%

Padding for scope creep, rework, and complications.

Target profit margin%

Net margin on the fee after fully-loaded cost and buffer.

Result

Recommended fixed fee

Covers 22 hrs of delivery + 15% buffer at 35% target margin.

£3,574

Effective hourly rate

Net fee ÷ estimated hours — what you're actually charging per hour.

£156/hr

Breakeven hours

You can spend 18.3 hrs over estimate before profit disappears.

40.3 hrs

Margin if it overruns 50%

At 33.0 hrs — does the fee still make sense?

17.3%

Benchmark: well-priced fixed-fee matters at small firms clear 30–45% margin after fully-loaded cost and buffer, with 15–20% contingency built in and at least 30–40% overrun headroom before breakeven. Margins under 20% mean one bad matter will wipe out the profit on three.

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Fixed fees vs hourly — what works where→Matter profitability calculator→Matter margin by type (benchmarks)→

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