Enter your project numbers and find out what you actually earned per hour, after scope creep ate into your time.
Effective hourly rate
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Most freelancers set a target hourly rate and quote projects based on it. But scope creep (the extra rounds of revisions, additional deliverables, and expanded requirements that arrive after the project starts) quietly erodes that rate on every job. A $150/hr freelancer who spends 35 hours on a project quoted at 20 hours is actually earning $86/hr.
This calculator runs the backwards math: given what you agreed to charge and how many hours you actually worked, what did you truly earn per hour? It then shows you the total dollar value of the hours you worked without pay, and projects that cost across a full year of similar projects.
Freelancers billing at $75–$150/hr who absorb 2 uncompensated hours per week lose $7,800–$15,600 annually. No major survey has produced a single average figure for scope creep losses, but the Project Management Institute's 2023 Pulse of the Profession report found scope creep affects the majority of projects even in professionally managed environments. If your annual projection is close to or above that range, defining scope clearly before each project starts, and tracking change requests as they come in, is the most direct way to recover it.
Scope Creep Cost Calculator
See your annual loss from ongoing scope creep across all clients.
Free Response Generator
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Change Order Calculator
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Scope Risk Scorecard
Answer 10 questions and find out how exposed your next project is before work starts.