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Freelance Quote & Estimate Template

A quote that shows its working. Hours at a rate, fixed items, expenses and an explicit contingency line — so when the client asks why it costs what it costs, the answer is on the page rather than in your head.

Who it is for. Freelancers quoting a piece of work where the client already knows what they want and is asking what it will cost.

Download this template

Free · No signup · No email · Version 1.0, updated September 2026

The files are generated when the site is built and served as ordinary static downloads. Nothing you type into them is ever sent anywhere — once the file is on your machine it has no connection to Freshlance at all.

What the file looks like

This preview is generated from the same definition the downloads are built from, so what you see here is what opens. The figures below are the file’s own formulas, calculated — switch to formulas to see the arithmetic behind them.

Estimate — document preview1 page

ESTIMATE

Estimate {{ESTIMATE_NUMBER}} · {{PROJECT_NAME}}

For
{{CLIENT_NAME}}{{CLIENT_CONTACT}}
From
{{FREELANCER_NAME}}, {{FREELANCER_BUSINESS}}
Project
{{PROJECT_NAME}}
Issue date
{{ISSUE_DATE}}
Valid until
{{VALID_UNTIL}}
Currency
{{CURRENCY}}

Estimated work

ActivityHoursRateAmount
{{ACTIVITY_1}}{{HOURS_1}}{{RATE}}{{AMOUNT_1}}
{{ACTIVITY_2}}{{HOURS_2}}{{RATE}}{{AMOUNT_2}}
{{ACTIVITY_3}}{{HOURS_3}}{{RATE}}{{AMOUNT_3}}
{{ACTIVITY_4}}{{HOURS_4}}{{RATE}}{{AMOUNT_4}}
Estimated labour{{TOTAL_HOURS}}{{LABOUR_TOTAL}}
Fixed-price items and expenses
ItemTypeAmount
{{FIXED_ITEM_1}}Fixed price{{FIXED_AMOUNT_1}}
{{FIXED_ITEM_2}}Fixed price{{FIXED_AMOUNT_2}}
{{EXPENSE_1}}Expense{{EXPENSE_AMOUNT_1}}
Estimate total
LineAmount
Estimated labour{{LABOUR_TOTAL}}
Fixed-price items{{FIXED_TOTAL}}
Expenses{{EXPENSES_TOTAL}}
Risk contingency ({{CONTINGENCY_PERCENT}}){{CONTINGENCY_AMOUNT}}
Subtotal{{SUBTOTAL}}
Discount ({{DISCOUNT_PERCENT}}){{DISCOUNT_AMOUNT}}
Tax ({{TAX_RATE}}){{TAX_AMOUNT}}
Estimate total{{ESTIMATE_TOTAL}}
Deposit ({{DEPOSIT_PERCENT}})
{{DEPOSIT_AMOUNT}}
Balance
{{BALANCE}}
Estimated start
{{START_DATE}}
Estimated completion
{{ESTIMATED_COMPLETION}}

What this estimate assumes

  • The scope is as described above. Work outside it is quoted separately before it begins.
  • Content, assets and access are supplied by {{CLIENT_NAME}}.
  • The contingency covers reasonable variation within the described scope, not additional scope.
  • {{ASSUMPTION_4}}
Validity

This estimate is valid until {{VALID_UNTIL}}. After that date the work would need to be re-estimated against current availability and rates.

An estimate is a prediction, not an invoice. Replace every {{PLACEHOLDER}} and delete any row that does not apply.

Freshlance Template · version 1.0 · freshlance.app/templates/freelance-estimate-template

Estimate — workbook preview

Type into the cream cells. Labour, contingency, tax, total and deposit are formulas.

ESTIMATE
Hours × rate, plus fixed items, expenses and a contingency you can point at.
DETAILS
Estimate numberEST-2026-018
ClientNorthbeam Coffee Co.
ProjectWebsite redesign — Phase 1
Issue date2026-09-21
Valid until2026-10-21
CurrencyUSD ($)
YOUR RATE
Hourly rate$85.00Used by every labour line below
ESTIMATED WORK
ActivityHoursRateAmountNotes
Discovery, content audit and requirements6.00$85.00$510.00Two workshops plus write-up
Wireframes and information architecture10.00$85.00$850.00Five key templates
Visual design and review rounds16.00$85.00$1,360.00Includes two revision rounds
Build, content load and testing14.00$85.00$1,190.00Responsive, two breakpoints
Estimated labour46.00$3,910.00
FIXED ITEMS AND EXPENSES
ItemKindAmountNotes
Licensed page-builder templateFixed$450.00One-off licence, recharged at cost
Stock photographyExpense$120.00Three images
Fixed-price items$450.00
Expenses$120.00
ESTIMATE TOTAL
Risk contingency %12.0%Applied to labour and fixed items, not expenses
Risk contingency$523.20
Subtotal$5,003.20
Discount %0.0%Set to 0% if none
Discount$0.00
Tax rate20.0%Set to 0% if you are not registered
Tax$1,000.64
ESTIMATE TOTAL$6,003.84
Deposit %40.0%Payable before work begins

7 further empty rows are in the file, ready for your own entries.

Cream cells are yours to type into; grey cells are formulas. This sheet prints landscape.

What is included

  • Three pricing models in one sheet

    Hours at a rate, fixed-price items, and milestone lines. Most real quotes are a mixture, and this one adds them up together.

  • A contingency line you can defend

    A percentage applied to eligible work, shown separately rather than quietly buried in the hourly rate. A client can argue with 12%; they cannot argue with a rate you inflated in secret.

  • Deposit arithmetic

    The deposit is a percentage of the total, calculated, so changing the total changes the deposit rather than leaving a stale number behind.

  • A validity date

    An estimate that never expires is a price you are still honouring next year.

How to use it

Five steps, in the order that keeps the work out of trouble.

  1. 1

    Estimate the hours per activity rather than for the project as a whole. Whole-project guesses are consistently low, and nobody can check them.

  2. 2

    Add fixed items for anything you are not selling by the hour — a licence, a fixed deliverable, a third-party cost.

  3. 3

    Set the contingency to reflect how uncertain the work actually is. Well-specified work might take 5%; a project with an unknown integration is closer to 20%.

  4. 4

    Decide whether expenses are taxable in your jurisdiction and put them in the right row.

  5. 5

    Check the estimate total and deposit, then send the PDF with the validity date visible.

The worked example

The worked example estimates 46 hours of design and build at $85 an hour, adds a fixed $450 template licence and $120 of expenses, applies 12% contingency, and arrives at a total with a 40% deposit.

Labour
$3,910.00
Fixed items
$450.00
Contingency (12%)
$523.20
Subtotal
$5,003.20
Estimate total
$6,003.84
Deposit (40%)
$2,401.54

Every figure above is read out of the workbook you can download, by evaluating its own formulas. If the file changes, this changes with it — there is no second set of numbers maintained on this page.

What to change

The parts that are deliberately yours to decide.

  • Contingency

    It applies to labour and fixed items by default, not to expenses — you are pricing the risk of the work taking longer, not the risk of a licence costing more. Change the formula if your risk sits elsewhere.

  • The activity list

    The rows are design-project shaped. Replace them with your own activities; the arithmetic does not care what they are called.

  • Deposit percentage

    The example uses 40%. Enough to cover the work you will do before the first invoice is the useful rule.

  • Estimate vs quote

    If you are issuing a firm quote rather than an estimate, say so in the notes and remove the contingency line — a fixed quote absorbs the risk by definition.

About the formats

What differs between the files, and why you might pick one over another.

XLSX
Labour, contingency, subtotal, discount, tax, total and deposit are all live formulas. Change a rate and everything below it moves.
ODS
The same live formulas for LibreOffice Calc, generated natively rather than converted.
DOCX
The document version, for a quote you would rather present as a letter than as a spreadsheet.
PDF
The calculated example, laid out to print on one page.

Questions

What is the difference between an estimate and a quote?
An estimate is a considered prediction that may move; a quote is a price you are committing to. The template works for both — for a firm quote, remove the contingency row and say in the notes that the price is fixed.
How much contingency should I add?
Enough to cover what you genuinely do not know yet. Work you have done many times before needs very little; anything involving someone else’s system needs more. The point of the line is that the number is visible and arguable.
Should the client see the hours?
For an estimate, usually yes — it is what makes the number credible. For a fixed-price proposal, usually no. That is one of the reasons these are two different templates.
Does an accepted estimate become a contract?
Not by itself. It records the price; the contract template covers everything else.

Download it

Download this template

Free · No signup · No email · Version 1.0, updated September 2026

The files are generated when the site is built and served as ordinary static downloads. Nothing you type into them is ever sent anywhere — once the file is on your machine it has no connection to Freshlance at all.