Guide · Fixed price vs. hourly rate
You quote 15.000.
You earn 333 kr/t.
A fixed price is an hourly rate you discover too late. Here is when a fixed price makes sense, when it wastes your work, and how to work out the implied rate before you say yes.
Written 16 April 2026 by Mathias Søndberg-Madsen, founder of Timerr.
Two ways to sell your work
An hourly rate is payment for time. A fixed price is payment for a result. Both are legitimate, and neither is universally better than the other. But they handle risk differently.
Charge by the hour and the client carries the risk. If the job ends up taking twice as long as planned, you still get paid for every hour. The client pays for the surprise.
Charge a fixed price and you carry the risk. If it takes twice as long, you cover the extra hours yourself. Your effective hourly rate is cut in half, and the client feels no difference. That can be a good trade, or an expensive lesson. The difference comes down to whether you have a handle on scope.
Hourly rate
You bill per hour. The longer it takes, the more you earn.
Risk: on the client. Predictability: low.
Fixed price
You bill one sum for the result. Efficient work is rewarded, overruns are punished.
Risk: on you. Predictability: high (for the client).
How a fixed price collapses
Take Rasmus. He is a wedding photographer with a target hourly rate of 500 kr/t, and he is asked to quote for a wedding: 6 hours of coverage, 150 edited photos, standard delivery.
Rasmus builds his hour estimate first:
Rasmus' estimate
With 500 kr/t as the target, the minimum fixed price is 12.500 kr. Rasmus quotes 15.000 kr to give himself a bit of buffer. That works out to 600 kr/t if everything goes to plan. A solid level.
But it does not go to plan. The couple wants to come by first to see the location. They ask for 30 extra photos, and later for a round of revisions on the selected shots. Rasmus does not charge extra for any of it, because "it is only a little":
Estimate: 25 h
600 kr/t
Above the target of 500.
Reality: 35 h
429 kr/t
Below target.
Scope creep: 45 h
333 kr/t
A real loss.
Where do the 20 extra hours come from?
Editing the 150 photos took closer to 16 hours than 12. Emails back and forth about timing, outfits, and locations. Small requests Rasmus answered because he is a nice guy. No drama, just reality.
- Location meeting with the couple (travel + time)2 h
- 30 extra photos (shot and edited)4 h
- Revision round on the selected shots4 h
The point: The fixed price of 15.000 kr stays put. The only thing that changes is Rasmus' hourly rate. When you say yes to a fixed price without control over scope, you sell your time without knowing at what rate.
When does each make sense?
Four types of work, four recommendations. Match the model to the work, not the other way around.
Fixed price
Familiar work, fixed scope
You have done the same kind of deliverable many times before. Wedding photos, logo redesign, a standard website. You know exactly how long it takes. A fixed price rewards your efficiency.
Hourly rate
Discovery, analysis, advisory
Scope is unclear. The client does not know exactly what they want. The work can evolve as it goes. Here an hourly rate is honest: the client pays for the time the job actually takes.
Fixed price + buffer
Creative work with a clear brief
Copywriting, design, photography where the brief is tightly described. Add a 15-20 % buffer to the estimate, write scope into the contract, and bill change requests separately.
Retainer
Ongoing support or maintenance
Unpredictable but recurring: monthly support, ongoing optimization, small tasks over time. A fixed monthly price with an hour cap gives you predictable income and the client predictable availability.
Work out your implied hourly rate
Drag the sliders. See what a fixed price is really worth, hour by hour.
The sum quoted for the whole job.
Everything in: meetings, revisions, admin.
What you should earn per hour.
kr/t
Fixed price ÷ actual hours.
Break-even
hours
Past that, and you work below target.
Gap to target
+ kr/t
The difference from your target hourly rate.
Drag "Actual hours" up and watch how fast your implied hourly rate drops.
Four rules for charging fixed price without losing money
A fixed price is not dangerous on its own. A fixed price without discipline is.
Estimate in hours first, set the price after
If you set a fixed price without an hour estimate, you are guessing. Write down every sub-task, add up the hours, multiply by your target hourly rate. Now you have a floor to negotiate from.
Add a buffer of 15-20 %
Reality takes longer than your estimate. Always. Build in a buffer, not because you are slow, but because projects have unforeseen details. If everything goes to plan, the buffer is profit.
Write scope into the contract
"150 photos, two revision rounds, two weeks delivery." Anything not in the contract, you charge extra for. That is not being stingy. It is the only way a fixed price makes sense. Change orders are your friend.
Measure your real hourly rate afterward
Log your time even on fixed-price work. When the project is done, you know exactly what your implied hourly rate turned out to be. That information drives your next quote. Without measuring, you guess every time.
Read on
Guide
What should I charge per hour?
Set your income goal first. Work backward through tax, holidays, and non-billable time. Land on the number you actually need to charge.
Read the guideGuide
Effective hourly rate: you say 500, you earn 300
The hidden time that eats your calendar. Find out what you really earn per hour after all the time nobody pays for.
Read the guideHow Timerr does it automatically
See your real hourly rate, even on fixed price.
Timerr works out your implied hourly rate per project, per client, per task. If your fixed-price quotes collapse when the hours run away, you know it before it happens again.
1.
Create the task as fixed price, not hourly.
2.
Log your time while you work, like you always do.
3.
Watch your implied hourly rate fall (or rise) in real time.
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