How much margin do you add when estimating client projects?

[AdamThompson]

After you calculate how many hours you need to complete a marketing project for a client, how much extra do you add for project management, communication, all the little things that come up, unexpected problems, client questions, etc.?

One resource I read said to add 10% to 20% for project management, then add 25% to 33% more for fluctuations, then state a +/-15% margin of error on the estimate. I was wondering what percentages others use when estimating client projects.

[EvolveCreative]

From my experience it's much easier to go back to the well with larger clients. Smaller clients don't tend to appreciate the "margin of error" bit so I'll try to over-estimate the quote when dealing with them. Smaller clients tend to ask 2x as many questions as well.

10-20% sounds about right for project management, but I won't put that in the proposal. I'll mark project management and reporting as "free" and just include them in the package (with the markup in other areas). I don't put the hours estimated for each task either... though i know some agencies do.

That doesn't 100% answer your question, but I hope it can help.

[AdamThompson]

Do you have a specific % you use when over-estimating for small clients, or do you just go by "feel"? We've tended to do the latter, but are trying to be more disciplined about it.

[EvolveCreative]

Not really. We go by "feel" most of the time too. If you know they're not willing to pay as much as you think it's actually going to cost 'hours' wise, sometimes you just have to charge what you think they're willing to pay. Obviously, if you do this for too many clients you'll loose out, but if you're really slow it can make sense.  Moral of the story, try to go for bigger clients :). The smaller ones usually end up burning you if you're on a Cost Per Hour model....in my humble opinion at least.