{{project}} / estimator {{business}} / client {{contact}} / review {{deadline}}

Purpose: produce a traceable cost floor for one defined option. Start a fresh copy for every option or changed scope. A floor is the modeled cost target, not automatically the price you should charge.

1. Define the work before estimating
Version and currency: [ID / currency]
Buyer task and intended output: [What must they be able to do?]
Deliverables, quantities, and acceptance checks: [List exact outputs]
Included feedback rounds and approver: [Number / one feedback owner]
Client-supplied inputs and dates: [Content / access / approvals]
Excluded work: [Name likely assumptions explicitly]

2. Build the task ledger
Use decimal hours: 15 minutes = 0.25 hours. Count an hour once. Include research, production, included revisions, testing, and handover in delivery; put calls, correspondence, scheduling, and invoicing in admin. Mark estimates separately from recorded evidence.

Task | output or purpose | delivery hours | admin hours | evidence | uncertainty
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
Discovery | [Agreed output] | [Hours] | [Hours] | [Comparable project/date] | [What may change]
Production | [Each named deliverable] | [Hours] | [Hours] | [Source] | [Uncertainty]
Included review | [Round and feedback owner] | [Hours] | [Hours] | [Source] | [Uncertainty]
QA and handover | [Test and transfer] | [Hours] | [Hours] | [Source] | [Uncertainty]
Totals: delivery [ ] + admin [ ] = planned hours [ ]

3. Record costs and assumptions
Chosen hourly rate: [amount / currency / compensation and overhead included]
Direct expense | amount | source/date | already covered by rate? | refundable?
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
[Item] | [Amount] | [Source] | [No/yes] | [Conditions]
Remove duplicates. Record fixed transaction charges here if using the included model; its contingency also applies to these expenses, which may overstate a known fixed charge. Record that modeling choice.
Contingency: [percentage / named uncertainties / why this allowance]
Payment fee: [percentage / provider schedule checked on date / applicable base]
If fees apply to tax, shipping, converted currency, or a different base, this simplified model needs adjustment outside the tool.

4. Compare two scenarios in calculator.html
Base: delivery [ ], admin [ ], rate [ ], expenses [ ], contingency [ ], fee [ ].
Difficult case: change the specific inputs affected by one plausible problem; do not add hours already included in the base. Explain the change: [ ].
Export each scenario. Cost target = ((delivery + admin) × rate + expenses) × (1 + contingency/100). Floor = cost target ÷ (1 - fee/100), rounded upward to a cent.

5. Make the price decision
Base floor [ ]; difficult-case floor [ ]; proposed fee before tax [ ].
Reason for any amount above the floor: [commercial decision].
If the proposed fee is below a plausible difficult-case floor, choose: confirm the assumption / reduce scope / separate discovery / increase fee / accept and record the exposure. Do not conceal this gap with an unexplained contingency percentage.
Decision, evidence, owner, next check: [ ].

Ready when: each deliverable has time, every cost appears once, material unknowns have a decision, and the selected proposal option matches the saved scenario.

Your decision
Which tasks have no time allowance yet?
My answer: [ ]
Source and date: [ ]
Still to check: [ ]
Next action, owner, and due date: [ ]

Before you start
- Delivery tasks: [Source or notes]
- Admin hours: [Source or notes]
- Direct costs and fee schedule: [Source or notes]

What you will make
A checked quote floor and distinct, independently costed scope options.