How do you price a project you’ve never done before?
Estimate the days it takes, add a share for what you can’t see yet, quote one number, and take half up front. Write down what’s out of scope, so the unknowns you didn’t price stay outside the quote. The first one teaches you what the second should cost.
- Step 1
Break it into parts.
A kickoff, the research, two drafts, the final. Small parts are easier to guess.
- Step 2
Estimate each in days.
Your best honest guess, not the hopeful one.
- Step 3
Add a share for the unknown.
A quarter more for work you’ve done something like; a half more for work you haven’t.
- Step 4
Multiply by your day rate.
And round up to a number you can say without apologizing.
- Step 5
Quote one number.
Not a range. A range is a negotiation the client will start at the bottom of.
- Step 6
Take half up front.
It commits the client, and it pays you if the project stops halfway.
- Step 7
Keep a log of the hours.
Not to bill them. To price the next one.
The statement of work builder puts the deliverables, the scope and the payment on one page.
Checked 2026-10-11.