No matter what way you set your consulting fees, be sure to use a consulting contract and agreement for consulting services. Respondents working with clients in Utilities again reported the highest median hourly rates at $190 an hour. Those working with educational institutions and private defense industry reported a median hourly rate $20 below the overall median ($150 an hour). As you can see, the average hourly rate varies widely by industry.

Jesse Sumrak is a writing zealot focused on creating killer content. He’s spent almost a decade writing about startup, marketing, and entrepreneurship topics, having built and sold his own post-apocalyptic fitness bootstrapped business. However, remember that this kind engineering consulting fees per hour of pricing still excludes the true value of your work. Think back to the Declaration of Independence example. If you’re performing business-altering work, that has a financial price tag to it, as well. Don’t discount your ambitions as a consultant and business owner.

Machine learning consulting rates

But there is no better method for raising your rates and creating more value. You’ll have to improve your sales skills, accounting skills, project management skills, and more. Using the value-based method is just as much art as it is science. If you don’t feel like you are being compensated fairly for the value you’re providing, you won’t do your best work. Use an app like Toggl to track your time spent on each deliverable.

It could also mean that you aren’t communicating your value properly. Obviously, they’re going to look for the best value for them. Either way, they aren’t the type of client you want to work with. There is one more factor to consider that makes this a bit easier.

Hourly Wage for

The best way to determine your per-project rate is to figure out how many hours you estimate the job will take. You can make an educated guess based on your knowledge of the subject and how long it’s taken you to complete certain tasks in the past. Feel free to look at consulting rates by industry, but don’t use them as your bible to pricing—use them as another data point to reference. Yet, setting your consulting rates doesn’t need to be an anxiety-inducing experience that keeps you up at night.

So use this information as a guide when setting your consulting rate. We suggest talking to a tax professional before going into the consulting world. If you’re consulting as a side hustle to help some friends with their marketing, it might be OK just to claim the income as an independent contractor. But the more you consult, especially B2B, the greater your risk of being liable for legal action. Forming an LLC for your consulting business will protect your personal assets.

How Many Consultants Offer Productized Services

Project managers charge average consulting fees of $70 to $150 per hour. Maybe you create websites or develop marketing plans — no matter what you do, you’re bound to get better at it the more you do it. You could raise your hourly fee to compensate, but clients may have a hard time swallowing the higher hourly rate. Given all this, in the long term, it’s better to move to a model that represents the value you offer and that allows you to move beyond the limits of charging by the hour.

However, remember that your client is likely going to be looking for these same numbers. They’ll want to know how much they should be charging a consultant, so they don’t get duped. If your rates vary from industry benchmarks, be prepared to back it up. You’re most likely transitioning to a consultant career from a previous job, business, or corporation. How much you made there might contribute to going off on your own, but it can help provide a baseline of what you need to hit.

Consulting Fees By Project

And 21% of consultants are not actively looking to increase their fees. They are based on the levels of ROI calculated in step 4. If you are a more experienced consultant with 2-5+ years of experience, we recommend switching to a higher-leverage pricing model like value-based pricing. Eventually, you’ll get to the point where charging by the hour is no longer the best method for you or your clients.

Millions of companies use Square to take payments, manage staff, and conduct business in-store and online. Annual Salary divided by 50 weeks (the number of weeks in a year minus 2 for vacation) divided by 40 hours (the average number of hours worked in a week). If there is a cause you support, you could even consider donating your time to a nonprofit or charging a nominal fee in order to build up your portfolio. I recommend rounding up to the nearest $5 or $10 multiple, because a $78/hr or $117 fee looks odd. And while that may work for certain big box discount stores, it’s probably not the approach that will work for independent consulting.

How To Get Into Marketing Analytics In 6 Steps (

In this case, you can charge for a few hours upfront, then charge the rest at the end of the week or month. Independent contractors aren’t the only experts who can be consultants, small businesses that operate like agencies can charge consultant fees, too. In this case, a small business consulting fee may look a little different than it would for an individual consultant. That number can be as high or as low as those parties accept. If you’re a business consultant who wants to make $10,000 a day and you find a client who is willing to pay $10,000 a day, you’ve just determined the “value” of your service.

• By following these tips, you’ll be able to negotiate consulting rates that work for both you and the client.
• You’re also making sure you get the base line rate for consulting in your market.
• To calculate your hourly rate, you’d divide $60,000 by 52 (which is roughly $1,154), then divide that by 40 (which is $28.85).
• For example, it may be quicker for you to write a 2,000-word article for a company than to help produce a 5-minute podcast episode.
• The company may not cooperate with you in implementing your full recommendations, compromising your ability to reach the potential you projected.
• If you’re specialized in data science, you can make an average of $200 to $350 per hour.

You will get tailored insights from results achieved by our proven practitioners as well as thousands of students. For example, a client’s budget might not be able to afford you. Instead of altogether rejecting the client (or the client rejecting you), steer the client towards negotiation. Understanding what the client needs (and how well they understand it themselves) play a major role in how you price or whether you want to move forward at all. Toss out a number too early, and it might be hard to change it later if the project evolves. Do your research and prepare yourself with the rates we outlined above, and you’ll be ready and adaptable going into any conversation.

How do Engineering Consultants Rate Their Jobs?

Knowing what your competitors are up to is crucial in deciding on your pricing. Their experience, like special skills and certifications, could be impacting their prices. Maybe their prices are low but their customer service is rated poorly.