Rate Builder

The Rate Builder is a calculator for working out what to charge. You enter your income target, working days, team size, overheads, and a few details about your studio, and it shows you a recommended day rate, an hourly rate, your profit margin, and suggested prices per deliverable. When the numbers look right, one button turns them into a ready-priced rate card.

Open Rates in the sidebar, then click the Rate Builder tab.

Fill in your numbers

The left panel has the inputs. Type a number into any field and the results on the right update straight away — nothing is saved while you experiment.

In the Your Business card:

• Target annual income — what you want the studio to earn in a year
• Billable days per year — the days you actually charge for (after holidays, admin, and quiet spells)
• Team size — how many people the income needs to cover
• Monthly overheads — your fixed monthly costs (software, rent, hardware)

In the Your Profile card:

• Experience level — Junior (0-2 years), Mid-Level (3-5 years), Senior (6-10 years), or Expert (10+ years)
• Geographic region — United Kingdom, Western Europe, United States, Asia, or Other

Under Market Position, click one of four buttons to say where you sit in the market: Budget, Mid-Market, Premium, or Luxury.

Read your results

The right panel reads out what your inputs produce.

You'll see:

• Recommended day rate — what to charge for a day's work
• Hourly rate — the same figure broken down per hour
• Profit margin — what's left after your costs
• A calculation breakdown — the working behind the day rate, so you can see how each input changed it
• Suggested per-deliverable rates — prices for common archviz deliverables (stills, animations, and so on)
• An annual projection — what the recommended rate adds up to across your billable year

Generate a rate card from your results

When the numbers look right, turn them into a rate card in one step.

1. Scroll to the bottom of the results panel.
2. Click Save Profile & Generate Rate Card.
3. Wait for the button to finish. It saves your inputs, then builds a new rate card.

The new card is named Generated Rates (DD/MM/YYYY) and arrives pre-filled with priced items for the common archviz deliverables. You can rename it, change any price, or add items the same way as any other card — see Rate cards.

Generate again from a saved profile

Once you've saved a profile, a Generate from rate calculator button appears at the bottom of the left panel on the Rate Cards tab. Click it to build a fresh card from your last saved numbers, without reopening the calculator. It uses the figures you already saved — it doesn't re-read anything you've typed since.

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What's next

• Rate cards — adjust the generated card, add your own items, and assign it to clients
• Quotes overview — use your rate card on a client proposal