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Agency rate card template: roles, day rates and project pricing
Free Excel template, Google Sheets compatible. A client-ready rate card, plus a tab that prices any team mix. No sign-up.
Free. No sign-up. Example data included. Opens in Excel, Google Sheets and LibreOffice.
An agency rate card lists what you charge for each role, as day and hourly rates. It's the basis for every quote.
This template gives you the internal card, a client-ready version that never shows your costs, and a tab that prices any team mix as one fee and one blended rate.
Hourly rate = day rate ÷ hours per day
Blended day rate = total fee ÷ total days
Margin = 1 − internal cost ÷ rate
In the example file:
- £40,850.00fee for a 60-day mix across six roles
- £680.83blended day rate, or £90.78 an hour
- 57.9%margin, falling to 53.2% after a 10% discount
Preview: the example in the file
These rates are invented for the example. They aren't market rates or benchmarks.
| Role | Discipline | What's included | Day rate | Hourly rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strategy director | Strategy | Brand and digital strategy, workshops, senior oversight | £1,200.00 | £160.00 |
| Senior strategist | Strategy | Research, positioning, planning | £950.00 | £126.67 |
| Creative director | Creative | Creative leadership, concept sign-off | £1,100.00 | £146.67 |
| Senior designer | Design | Concepts, design systems, art direction | £750.00 | £100.00 |
| Designer | Design | Layouts, assets, production design | £600.00 | £80.00 |
| Senior developer | Development | Architecture, complex builds, code review | £800.00 | £106.67 |
| Developer | Development | Front-end and back-end build | £600.00 | £80.00 |
| Project manager | Delivery | Planning, budgets, client reporting | £650.00 | £86.67 |
| Account manager | Account management | Day-to-day client contact, briefs, approvals | £600.00 | £80.00 |
| Role | Days | Day rate | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strategy director | 2 | £1,200.00 | £2,400.00 |
| Senior strategist | 5 | £950.00 | £4,750.00 |
| Senior designer | 10 | £750.00 | £7,500.00 |
| Designer | 15 | £600.00 | £9,000.00 |
| Developer | 20 | £600.00 | £12,000.00 |
| Project manager | 8 | £650.00 | £5,200.00 |
| Total | 60 | £40,850.00 |
60 days for £40,850.00: a blended rate of £680.83 a day (£90.78 an hour). Margin against internal cost: 57.9%. With a 10% discount the fee is £36,765.00, the effective blended rate £612.75 a day (£81.70 an hour), and the margin 53.2%.
What's in the template
- SettingsAgency name, card name, valid-from date, currency, day or hourly basis, hours per day and a tax note.
- Rate cardThe internal card: discipline, role, what's included, your rate, day and hourly rates, and optional internal cost per hour with the margin.
- Client versionA print-ready card built from formulas. It shows role, what's included and rates, and never your costs or margins, not even in hidden columns.
- Blended ratePrices a team mix in days, with an optional discount and the margin.
How to create an agency rate card
- Group roles by discipline: strategy, creative, design, development, delivery, account management.
- Set a rate for each role. Don't know what it should be yet? Work it out with the consultancy rate calculator, then record it here.
- Write a one-line "what's included" for each role, in words a client understands.
- Choose whether you quote day rates or hourly rates.
- Set a valid-from date and decide when you'll review the card.
- Send the Client version tab, as a PDF or print.
Day rates vs hourly rates
UK agencies mostly quote day rates; many US agencies quote hourly. The template converts between them with the hours-per-day setting, so enter rates the way you quote them and the card shows both.
Worked example. A £600 day rate is £80.00 an hour at 7.5 hours a day, but £75.00 at 8 hours. $600 works the same way.
The blended rate tab: pricing a project with a mixed team
Each role's fee is its days × its day rate. The blended day rate is the total fee ÷ total days.
Worked example. 2 days of a strategy director, 5 of a senior strategist, 10 of a senior designer, 15 of a designer, 20 of a developer and 8 of a project manager come to 60 days and £40,850.00: a blended rate of £680.83 a day, or £90.78 an hour.
- Quote a blended rate for retainers and simple scopes, where the client buys a team's time.
- Quote by role for complex scopes and change requests, where the mix will shift.
- Watch discounts. A 10% discount takes the example fee to £36,765.00 and the margin from 57.9% to 53.2%: every pound off comes out of the margin, not the cost.
Plan the days per role week by week first with the project staffing plan template.
Margin vs markup
Margin is profit as a share of the rate you charge. Markup is profit as a share of your cost. A 25% margin is a 33.3% markup, and the rate card shows margin.
For the full explanation, and how utilisation changes the rate you need, see the consultancy rate calculator and the billable utilisation calculator.
Join Kavaro
When a spreadsheet stops working
A rate card in a file drifts away from what's quoted and what's booked. Different clients end up on different versions, and nobody sees the margin on the work actually scheduled until month-end.
Kavaro is resource management software for agencies and consultancies. Rate cards live in one place: each project uses its own card or the client's default, and a booking on a billable project takes its charge rate from that card or a custom rate. For people with finance access, reports show revenue from those rates and margin against each person's saved cost rate, for the work that's booked. Card rates are looked up live, so editing a card changes past and future revenue; save a new card when rates change.
Put your rate card on real bookings and see the margin: try Kavaro freeQuestions people ask
What should an agency rate card include?
Each role or seniority level you sell, a one-line description of what's included, the day or hourly rate, the currency, whether tax is included, and the date the rates are valid from.
Should an agency charge day rates or hourly rates?
Use whichever your clients expect. UK agencies mostly quote day rates and many US agencies quote hourly. Show both if clients compare you with agencies that quote the other way.
What is a blended rate?
A blended rate is one rate for a mixed team: the total fee for all the roles on a project divided by the total days or hours. It's simpler for the client, but it hides the mix, so check it whenever the team changes.
How often should an agency update its rate card?
Most agencies review rates once a year and date each version. Review sooner if salaries, overheads or the mix of work change a lot.
Should you show your rate card to clients?
Many agencies do, as a client version with role rates only. Keep internal costs and margins on a separate tab or file, as this template does.