Will this fixed fee actually make money?
Lay out the team, the rates, and the fee, and see your cost to deliver, blended rate, and gross margin before the proposal goes out. Free, no signup.
If the team spends 0% more hours than planned, margin becomes ₹3,86,000 (38.6%). Scope creep is where fixed-fee margin quietly disappears.
Price it once, then watch it hold.
In a 30-minute demo we run PYNGYN on an engagement like this one and show how live effort tracking flags the overruns that erode fixed-fee margin before they land.
Honest math, your inputs.
Most fixed-fee proposals are priced on instinct, then the margin is discovered after delivery. The model here is deliberately transparent. For each role you estimate the hours and a cost rate, and the sum is your labor cost. Add an optional overhead uplift if your cost rates are not already fully loaded, plus any pass-through costs like travel or subcontractors, and you have the true cost to deliver.
Gross margin is simply the quoted fee minus that cost. The tool also turns the fee into a blended bill rate so you can sanity-check it against your usual rates, and it shows how far the fixed fee sits below the same work priced on time and materials. The breakeven fee, the point where margin reaches zero, is the floor you should never quote beneath.
The overrun slider is the part worth watching. Fixed-fee margin rarely dies at pricing; it dies in delivery, when the work takes more hours than planned. Treat the output as a directional estimate, not a quote, and use it to price with your eyes open. When you want to track real effort against the estimate, book a demo.
Questions, answered.
- What does the cost and margin estimator do?
- It estimates the cost to deliver a fixed-fee engagement from the hours and cost rates of each role, adds any overhead and pass-through costs, and compares the total to your quoted fee. It returns gross margin in money and percent, your blended bill rate, and the breakeven fee.
- What is the difference between cost rate and bill rate?
- Cost rate is what a person costs your firm per hour, fully loaded. Bill rate is what you would charge a client per hour on time and materials. Margin lives in the gap between them, and the tool also shows how much your fixed fee discounts off the same work priced at bill rates.
- How is gross margin calculated?
- Labor cost is each role's hours times its cost rate, summed. Add optional overhead on labor and any other costs to get the cost to deliver. Gross margin is the quoted fee minus that cost, and the percentage is margin divided by fee.
- What is the breakeven fee?
- It is the fee at which margin is zero, equal to the total cost to deliver. Quoting below it means the engagement loses money before you have done any work. It is a useful floor when you are negotiating.
- Why does the effort overrun slider matter?
- Fixed-fee work carries the risk of scope creep. If the team spends more hours than planned, the extra cost comes straight out of your margin. The slider shows how quickly margin erodes, which is the single biggest reason fixed-fee projects underperform.
- Is the estimator free?
- Yes, it is free with no signup. Add as many roles as you like, adjust every rate, and copy a summary of the result. To track effort against the estimate once the work starts, book a demo.
Stop managing the tool. Start shipping the work.
See PYNGYN run a real project in 30 minutes, and let AI handle the project management busywork.
30-minute walkthrough · Tailored to your team · No commitment