B3 fx =(LABOUR+HARD_COSTS+OVERHEAD_ALLOC)*1.10*(1+MARGIN_TARGET)
Instant Download Google Sheets 6 tabs Works in Excel too

Before you send that quote, you should know exactly whether you'll make money on it.

A six-tab Google Sheets pricing calculator built for video businesses — calculates your cost floor, recommended quote, profit margin, and effective hourly rate automatically. Type in your hours and costs. The number you should charge appears.

Get the Calculator — $19
1,423 studios priced projects with more confidence (and fewer guessy quotes)

$19 · ONE PAYMENT · YOURS PERMANENTLY · 30-DAY GUARANTEE

📊 Google Sheets (free) ⚡ Instant access 🔒 Works in Excel too ♾ Unlimited projects
William (Perth) purchased 8 minutes ago
Cost Floor
auto-calc
Recommended Quote
✓ live output
Effective Hourly Rate
✓ live output
Profit Margin %
✓ live output
Below Cost Floor?
⚠ alert
Target Margin Met?
✓ checked
Total inc. VAT
auto-calc
Retainer Equiv.
auto-calc
Know your numbers

Quote with confidence.
Charge what your work is actually worth.

A precision pricing calculator that removes the guesswork from every quote — so you can build sustainable rates, scope projects properly, and stop leaving money on the table.

As Featured On
As featured on
// the_underquoting_problem

Most video businesses don't lose money on bad projects.
They lose it on projects they priced without doing the math.

Here's how it usually goes. A client sends an inquiry. You think about how long it'll take to shoot and edit. You think about what similar projects have cost. You round up slightly from the last quote that felt right. You send the number.

Three weeks later, when you're deep in post-production and have already forgotten what you quoted, you realise you spent 12 hours in pre-production you didn't count. Your hard costs were higher than you remembered. Your overhead — the Adobe subscription, the insurance, the time spent on admin — went unallocated again. The project ends and you don't actually know if you made money.

The frustrating thing: this isn't a lack of skill. It's a lack of a system that counts every cost before the quote goes out. The calculator does the counting. You just fill it in.

ERR

You arrive at a quote number by feel rather than calculation and spend the project not quite sure if you got it right

ERR

Pre-production hours — discovery calls, concepting, scripting, scheduling — regularly go uncosted or undercosted

ERR

Your business overhead (software subscriptions, insurance, storage, marketing) doesn't get allocated to projects, so it quietly eats your profit

ERR

You've quoted a rush project at your standard rate and only realised afterwards that you disrupted your entire week for it

ERR

Clients have asked for additional revision rounds and you haven't known whether to charge because you didn't track the cost properly upfront

ERR

You've never compared what different client types — Budget vs Agency vs Enterprise — actually return to you at your cost structure

The Video Business Pricing Calculator turns your hours and costs into the number you should charge — before you send anything. Enter your rates, hours, hard costs, overhead, and profit target. The calculator produces your cost floor, recommended quote, effective hourly rate, and smart alerts automatically.

“I use this every quarter to sense-check whether my rates are still covering my real costs. Everything changes — gear, software, insurance. This keeps me ahead of it.”
Jack I.Freelance filmmaker
// six_tabs

Six tabs. Every number
your pricing needs.

Click any tab below — each one mirrors the actual spreadsheet. This is exactly what you're getting.

Start Here
Project Inputs
Pricing Outputs
Scenario Tester
Worked Example
Pricing Guide
// Overview & Legend

The orientation tab. Colour-coded legend explaining every cell type. Three-step usage guide. Duplicate the file per project; keep your master template clean.

🔵 Blue cells — your inputs (editable) 🟢 Green cells — auto-calculated (don't edit) 🟡 Amber cells — warnings to review 🔴 Red cells — pricing risk alerts
STEP 1 → Duplicate this file (File → Make a Copy)
STEP 2 → Fill in Tab 2 (Project Inputs) for each new project
STEP 3 → Read your quote from Tab 3 (Pricing Outputs)
Section A — Project Details
Client Name
● editable
Project Type
● editable
Complexity Level
● editable
Section B — Your Rates
Pre-production hourly rate
$/hr
Production day rate
$/day
Post-production hourly rate
$/hr
Section C — Pre-Production Hours (7 line items)

Discovery calls · Concepting · Scriptwriting · Shot list · Location scout · Scheduling · Client revisions (pre-prod)

Section D — Production

Shoot days · Hours per day · Crew prep · Travel · Setup/breakdown · 2nd shooter · Drone/specialist

Section E — Post-Production Hours (9 line items)

Ingest/backup · Rough cut · Fine cut · Motion graphics · Sound/mix · Colour grade · Export · Revision rounds · Subtitles

Section F — Hard Costs (12 categories)

Equipment rental · Studio/location · Music licensing · Stock footage · Travel · Accommodation · Props · Talent · Crew · Catering · Insurance · Misc

Section G — Business Overhead Allocation

Monthly figures for: software subs · insurance · rent · marketing · storage · admin tools → converted to per-project cost automatically

Section H — Profit Target & Fee Modifiers
Target profit margin %
30%
Rush fee %
+15–25%
Scope risk buffer %
+5–10%
VAT / sales tax %
% rate
Section I — Optional Add-On Pricing (7 upsells)

Social cutdowns · Subtitles package · Thumbnail/key art · Aspect ratios · Monthly retainer edit · BTS footage · Raw footage handover

// 8 Headline Metrics — updated automatically
Final Quote (ex VAT)
= CALC
The number to put in the proposal
Cost Floor
= CALC
Absolute minimum — (total cost) × 1.10
Recommended Quote
= CALC
Cost floor + your target profit margin
Revenue Per Hour
= CALC
Your effective hourly rate across all hours
Profit Margin %
= CALC
Actual margin on the recommended quote
Take-Home After VAT
= CALC
What you keep
Total Invoice inc. VAT
= CALC
What the client sees on the final invoice
Retainer Equivalent
= CALC
Project fee ÷ 12 — context for retainer pitch
// Smart Alerts
Below Cost Floor?
⚠ Alerts if your quote is below the calculated floor
Hourly Rate Alert
⚠ Flags if your effective rate is below a healthy threshold
Target Margin Met?
✓ Confirms whether the quote achieves your stated profit target
// 5 Client Types — Side by Side

At your cost structure and rates, which client type do you need to be targeting? Every column calculates automatically from your inputs.

Metric Budget Standard Premium Agency Enterprise
Total Hours 20 40 60 80 120
Labour Cost calc calc calc calc calc
Cost Floor calc calc calc calc calc
Recommended Quote calc calc calc calc calc
Gross Profit calc calc calc calc calc
Effective $/hr calc calc calc calc calc
Scope Creep Risk HIGH MED LOW LOW LOW
⚡ The insight printed at the bottom of the tab: Never quote below your cost floor — regardless of the client type.
// Worked Example — Riverside Coffee Co. 3-Min Brand Film

A complete, filled-in project. Compare it to how you'd have priced the same project yourself.

Pre-production ($75/hr × 12hrs)
$900
Production ($600/day × 2 days)
$1,200
Post-production ($65/hr × 38hrs)
$2,470
Hard costs (music, equipment, location, travel)
$510
Overhead allocation (15% of $465/month)
$69.75
Total project cost
$5,149
Cost floor (× 1.10)
$5,664
Recommended quote (30% margin)
$7,357
Final quote (before tax)
$8,092
Total invoice (after tax)
$9,710
Gross profit
$2,942
Revenue per hour
$161.85
+ Add-ons (3× social cutdowns $350 + subtitles $150)
+$500
Premium quote total
$8,592
// Pricing Guide — 1,000 words of business logic

The business logic behind every formula in the calculator.

Why creatives underquote
The three traps — forgotten pre-production hours, ignored overhead, pricing from gut feeling. How the calculator forces you to count everything before the quote leaves your inbox.
The cost floor formula
Cost Floor = (Total Labour + Hard Costs + Overhead) × 1.10. Why the 1.10 multiplier exists. Working below cost floor means subsidising the client with your own money.
Margin vs hourly thinking
Target margins: 25–40% for sustainable freelance work. Below 20%, you're treading water. Below 10%, you're working for costs.
Rush fee guidance
+15% for 4 days from 2-week standard · +25% for 2 days from 1-week standard · +50% for same-day / overnight. Rush fees are compensation for disruption, not a luxury charge.
Handling revisions & scope creep
Revision rounds are the #1 margin killer. Build revision hours explicitly into quotes. How to issue a change order when a client exceeds contracted rounds.
15–25%
avg. underquote rate

The average video project underquotes by 15–25% when pre-production hours, overhead, and risk buffers aren't accounted for. On a $5,000 project that's $750–$1,250 left in the client's pocket rather than yours. The calculator costs $19. The number it shows you on the first project you run through it will justify it immediately.

// who_this_is_for

Built for video businesses
that want to stop guessing

// FOR YOU
  • ✓You're a freelance videographer, filmmaker, editor, or small production studio
  • ✓You send quotes and genuinely aren't always sure if you'll make money on the project
  • ✓You've never properly calculated your business overhead and allocated it to projects
  • ✓You want to know your effective hourly rate before agreeing to take a project on
  • ✓You want to understand how Budget vs Agency vs Enterprise clients compare at your cost structure
  • ✓You've quoted rush projects at your standard rate and regretted it
// NOT FOR YOU
  • ✕You have a fully built financial model that already calculates cost floor, margin, and effective rate per project
  • ✕You only do a small number of very simple projects where gut-feel pricing works reliably
Proof, not promises
A few wins people got after using The Video Business Pricing Calculator
★★★★★
“I'd been guessing at my rates for two years. Once I ran the numbers through the Video Business Pricing Calculator, I realised I was undercharging by nearly 35%. I raised my rates that month.”
Charlie S.
Freelance videographer
★★★★★
“Before using this I had no idea how to price a corporate video versus a social content package. The breakdown made it so clear. I finally have a logic behind my numbers instead of just a gut feel.”
Jack X.
Video producer
★★★★★
“I raised my prices by 25% after running the calculator and was terrified. Every single client accepted. I'd been leaving money on the table for years.”
Maeve D.
Corporate videographer
// objection_handling

The questions you're
probably asking

Most informal quoting spreadsheets cover labour hours and hard costs. This calculator specifically adds: business overhead allocation per project (most quoting sheets skip this entirely), a cost floor calculation with a 10% buffer, a profit margin target that feeds the recommended quote, a rush fee and scope risk field, a VAT calculation, an effective hourly rate output, and automated alerts when a quote is below the cost floor or below a healthy hourly rate. The Scenario Tester — five client types side by side — is a tool most video businesses have never had.
No. Three steps: fill in your rates and hours on the Project Inputs tab, read your quote on the Pricing Outputs tab, check the Scenario Tester if you want to compare client types. The worked example on Tab 5 shows every input and output for a complete real project. Most users have a usable quote generated within ten minutes of opening the file.
No. Google Sheets is completely free with any Google account.
Your cost floor is the minimum you can charge without losing money on a project. The calculator computes it as: (total labour + hard costs + overhead allocation) × 1.10. The 10% buffer accounts for the small surprises that happen on every project. Any quote below the cost floor means you're subsidising the client.
The cost floor is the minimum. The recommended quote applies your target profit margin on top — so if your cost floor is $5,000 and your target margin is 30%, your recommended quote is approximately $7,143. The calculator shows both so you can see how far your quoted price is from each threshold.
Yes. The file opens in Microsoft Excel. Some formatting may differ slightly from the Google Sheets version, but all formulas work.
Yes. Duplicate the file per project (File → Make a Copy in Google Sheets). Keep your original as a master template with your standard rates and overhead pre-filled. Each project copy takes five minutes to fill in from that starting point.
30 days, full refund. Run your next real project quote through the calculator. If the numbers it generates don't give you a clearer picture of what you should charge than your current process, email within 30 days for a full refund.
Results

What happens when you finally
know your numbers

"I'd been guessing at my rates for two years. Once I ran the numbers through the Video Business Pricing Calculator, I realised I was undercharging by nearly 35%. I raised my rates that month."
CS
Charlie S.
Freelance videographer
"Before using this I had no idea how to price a corporate video versus a social content package. The breakdown made it so clear. I finally have a logic behind my numbers instead of just a gut feel."
JX
Jack X.
Video producer
"I used the pricing calculator to work out what I actually needed to earn to replace my day job salary. It gave me a real target, not just an aspiration. That clarity was what I needed to take the leap."
FL
Finn Lin
Freelance filmmaker
"The overhead section was an eye-opener. I'd been completely ignoring things like equipment depreciation, subscriptions, travel. No wonder I was barely covering costs."
JG
Jonah Gibson
Production company owner
"I raised my prices by 25% after running the calculator and was terrified. Every single client accepted. I'd been leaving money on the table for years."
MD
Maeve D.
Corporate videographer
"This is the tool I wish I'd had in year one. I spent ages underpricing myself and burning out trying to make up the shortfall in volume. Now I price properly and work on projects I actually want."
MN
Milo N.
Commercial filmmaker
"The profit margin calculator showed me exactly where my business was and wasn't sustainable. I restructured two service offerings as a result and now every project is actually profitable."
AR
Ada Rivera
Video business owner
"The best $25 I've spent on my business. I ran the numbers for my wedding packages and immediately saw why some shoots were costing me more than I was charging. Fixed it overnight."
MN
Maeve Novak
Wedding videographer
"I use this every quarter to sense-check whether my rates are still covering my real costs. Everything changes — gear, software, insurance. This keeps me ahead of it."
JI
Jack I.
Freelance filmmaker
"I stopped apologising for my prices."
"Every time I quoted a job I felt like I was asking for a favour. Once I'd run the pricing calculator and understood exactly where every number came from, I started presenting my rates with confidence. Something about knowing the math made me stop hedging. My conversion rate has actually gone up since I stopped underselling myself."
— Remy Kofi
"Went from survival mode to actually profitable."
"I'd been freelancing for three years and never properly analysed whether I was actually making money. The calculator laid it all out. I was barely breaking even on half my projects. Two months later, after restructuring my pricing, I had my best month ever. Not because I got more clients — because I was charging what the work was worth."
— Sloane O.
Matt Crawford

Hey, it’s Matt

Matt here, from Filmmaking Lifestyle 👋

Pricing video work used to be one of the hardest parts of running my business.

I’d sit there second-guessing every quote:

  • Am I charging too much?
  • Am I undercutting myself?
  • Have I actually covered all the work involved?

Sometimes I’d win the job… and regret it halfway through.

That’s when I realised I needed a system — not guesswork.

So I built what became this six-tab Google Sheets calculator (Excel-friendly too) — break projects down properly, see cost floor and margins, and feel confident hitting “send” on every quote.

I created this product for three reasons:

  • Price With Confidence: Know exactly what your projects should cost — no more guessing.
  • Avoid Undercharging: Capture all the hidden work that usually gets missed.
  • Make Better Decisions: Test different scenarios before committing to a project.

Any questions? Ask me at [email protected]

// get_the_calculator

The next quote you send should be a number
you calculated — not a number you guessed.

The more likely outcome: you'll run a past project through the worked example tab, see what you should have charged, and immediately understand what this is worth.

  • ✓
    Tab 1: Start Here — overview, colour-coded legend, three-step usage guide
  • ✓
    Tab 2: Project Inputs — 9 sections, 40+ line items covering every cost a video project carries
  • ✓
    Tab 3: Pricing Outputs — 8 headline metrics, smart alerts, confidence meter
  • ✓
    Tab 4: Scenario Tester — 5 client types side by side with full calculation
  • ✓
    Tab 5: Worked Example — complete filled-in project from first input to final invoice
  • ✓
    Tab 6: Pricing Guide — 1,000-word business logic guide covering underquoting, cost floor, margins, rush fees, scope creep, and premium clients
  • ✓
    Works in Google Sheets (free) and Microsoft Excel
  • ✓
    Unlimited projects — duplicate per quote, keep your master clean
  • ✓
    Free updates included
$19

ONE PAYMENT · NO SUBSCRIPTION · INSTANT DOWNLOAD · YOURS PERMANENTLY

Get the Video Business Pricing Calculator — $19
30-Day Guarantee. Run your next real project quote through the calculator. If the numbers it generates don't give you a clearer picture of what you should charge than your current process, email within 30 days for a full refund.
— JOIN 2,400+ VIDEOGRAPHERS AND PRODUCTION STUDIOS —

Google Sheets · 6 tabs · Instant download
30-day guarantee · One payment, works forever

Get the Calculator — $19
“Every time I quoted a job I felt like I was asking for a favour. Once I'd run the pricing calculator and understood exactly where every number came from, I started presenting my rates with confidence. Something about knowing the math made me stop hedging. My conversion rate has actually gone up since I stopped underselling myself.”
Remy KofiFilmmaking Lifestyle

A Bit About Our Company

At Filmmaking Lifestyle, we focus on helping filmmakers and video business owners build stronger, more sustainable businesses.

I created Filmmaking Lifestyle as a way to share what I’ve learned from years in the industry — from agency-side and corporate video work to running my own production company and serving wedding clients. Across those experiences, I encountered the same challenges many creators face: finding clients, pricing work correctly, managing projects, and building systems that actually scale.

Filmmaking Lifestyle exists to make that process easier.

Everything we create is built around practical, real-world application — tools, frameworks, and resources designed to help you work more efficiently, make better decisions, and avoid common pitfalls.

We believe success in this industry comes from combining creativity with solid business foundations. Whether you’re just getting started or refining an established operation, our goal is to support you with resources that help you move forward with clarity and confidence.

Join us, and take the next step in building your video business the right way.

The Video Business Pricing Calculator is provided for educational and operational support purposes. Results vary based on implementation and market conditions.
filmmakinglifestyle.com
=RECOMMENDED_QUOTE / your_hours = true_hourly_rate
Get the Calculator — $19 →