Freelance proposal template

This builds the money page of a freelance proposal from the two numbers you actually know: your rate and how long the work will take. It adds expenses at cost, applies any discount you have decided to give, takes the deposit you want at signing and shows the balance that falls due on delivery and the terms it is due on. Every figure is yours: change the rate, change the hours, change the deposit, and the proposal moves with them. What you get is the price section a client reads first, worked and defensible, rather than a number you arrived at by feel the night before.

Price the scope, not the client

The most common way a freelance proposal loses money is that the hours are guessed after the price has already been decided from what the client seems able to pay. Working it the other way round, hours first and price second, gives you a number you can explain line by line, and a scope you can point to when the work grows. If the client cannot afford that number, the honest move is to remove scope, not to quietly keep the scope and drop the rate.

Why the deposit is on the front page

A deposit at signing is not a sign of distrust, it is the thing that makes the proposal real. It reserves your time, it funds the first weeks of work and it turns a client who is thinking about it into a client who has started. Half up front is common for short projects; the field here is yours to set, and the balance and the terms it is due on are stated so that nobody is surprised later.

Discounts are a scope decision in disguise

A discount line is shown separately so that both of you can see what it cost. If you give one, say what it is for: a first project, a referral, a longer commitment. A discount with no reason attached becomes the client's expectation for the next job and the one after. The effective hourly rate after discount is shown so that you can see what you have actually agreed to work for.