$600 monthly overhead across 30 expected jobs gives $20 per job. If only 20 jobs are booked, the same $600 would require $30 per job; revisit your assumption.
Choose a period
List expenses for a month or year: software, workspace, business phone, and other actual fixed costs relevant to your operation.
Choose an allocation base
Divide monthly overhead by the number of jobs or productive hours you realistically expect in that month. Use the same base consistently.
Add one share to the quote
Enter the resulting amount as overhead for that job. Do not add the full monthly bill to every individual quote.
When to use this method
Choose a period and expected workload before allocating overhead. If your workload changes, recalculate the per-job or per-hour share and update future quotes.
A mistake to avoid
Do not assign the whole monthly software bill to every job, and do not divide by an unrealistically high job count to make each quote look cheaper.
What this does not tell you
These are calculation examples using stated assumptions. They are not national service rates, local quotes, tax advice, or a prediction of demand. Confirm your own scope, costs, fee basis, and any local requirements before sending a price.
Source and updates
The formulas and assumptions are explained in our methodology. This guide was prepared on 2026-11-06. If you find an error, send a correction.