A delivery estimate needs room for briefing, client questions, feedback rounds and handoff. Here is a capacity check that a solo service provider can use before agreeing to another request. Start with the hours available this week. Subtract business admin, an interruption allowance and work already promised to clients. Then compare a working estimate for the new request with a slower estimate. Illustrative example. Start with 32 working hours. Subtract 7 for admin, 5 for interruptions and 8 for booked client work. That leaves 12 hours. A request estimated at 5 hours leaves 7. If it takes 7.5 hours, it leaves 4.5. The useful decision is what that smaller remainder has to cover. List the other deadlines due that week, including review and handoff. If 4.5 hours leaves too little room, reduce the first delivery or agree a later start. Keep the interruption allowance in both estimates so that a slower project does not silently consume it. I m a maker of SoloHatch. This is the method behind our free browser calculator, which lets you compare the two estimates without signing up. https://solohatch.com/client-cap... The companion guide includes a weekly worksheet and the worked example. https://solohatch.com/solo-workf... For feedback rounds, do you budget a fixed number of hours, an allowance per round, or a range? What helps you keep that estimate close to the actual work?
Subtract admin, buffer time and booked work from your week. Compare a working estimate and a slower estimate for your next project, then see what each leaves. Free to use in your browser, with no sign-up.
