Your number
$1,200
Your rate card
- Day rate$1,150 per day
- Hourlyfor anything that does not fit a day$150 per hour
- An engagement$10,500 per project
- Monthly retainer$8,400 per month
What to charge for each thing (4)
- Advisory hour$200 per hour
- Diagnostic or audit (two weeks)$5,600 per project
- Monthly advisory$3,500 per month
- Workshop or offsite day$2,975 per day
US rates for consultant or advisors at your level, adjusted for your market. What you last got wins.
For 8 hours at $150, the quote is $1,200.
To take home $85,000 after $9,000 of costs and 30% tax you need to bill $134,286 a year. At 24 billable hours a week for 47 weeks that is $125 an hour, $950 a day. Anything under that is a pay cut you did not agree to.
Consultant or advisors at your level in your market day at about $1,150 ($800 to $2,500 in New York and LA). Your income math lands under that, so the market number is the one to quote; the gap is a raise you are owed.
An engagement runs $5,000 to $25,000 and takes about 60 hours of your time; at your hourly that is $9,000. The number is the higher of the two, because the client is buying the outcome, not the hours.
A retainer is the month, not the hours: a set scope, paid up front on the 1st. It is priced about 20% under the same work bought one at a time, in exchange for the certainty; three months minimum, or it is not a retainer.