Freelance rate floor: count unpaid admin before you quote
Admin, revisions, proposals, and follow-up can take real time even when you only bill for delivery. Count that work before choosing a rate.
Back to all briefsA rate floor should cover every hour the business consumes, not just the client-facing ones. Before you quote, add admin, revisions, software, taxes, and payment fees into the math so the hourly and freelance rates do not underprice the job.
Count the hours clients do not see
Proposal calls, revisions, email, scheduling, handoff, bookkeeping, and invoice follow-up all take time even when they are not separately billed. Add those hours to the annual denominator before you divide income target by billable capacity.
Turn overhead into a floor
Start with the pay you need, then add taxes, software, insurance, payment fees, and any subcontractor or platform cost you routinely absorb. If the result is lower than your monthly break-even, the rate is still too low for the business.
Put the rule in simple terms
State how many revisions are included, what counts as rush work, and how overages are billed. Confirm contract, tax, consumer, platform, and local rules before treating a rate floor as a binding offer.