How to price a done-for-you service (2026)

Price a done-for-you service from the cost of one delivered hour, not from competitors’ rate cards. LeadsNow sees booked-call costs of $30–$400, depending on industry, offer, price and many other variables, and that acquisition cost belongs in the price too. Using the Loaded-Hour Price below, 25 delivery hours a month at a 50% margin comes to about $5,194 a month.

• The formula (the Loaded-Hour Price): (delivery hours × cost per delivered hour × 1.15 scope buffer + tools + monthly acquisition cost) ÷ (1 − target margin) = the monthly price.
• Cost per delivered hour: wage × on-cost multiplier ÷ utilisation. In US private industry, benefits were 30.0% of employer compensation costs in June 2026 (BLS), a 1.43× multiplier on wages.
• Acquisition cost per month: cost per booked call ÷ close rate ÷ expected client months. A $100 booked call at a 25% close rate over a 4-month term adds $100 a month.
• Converting to per-result pricing: divide the monthly price by the results you are confident of, then add a risk premium (30% in our worked example), because you now carry the shortfall.
• Currency: figures are in dollars; the method works in AUD, USD or GBP.

How to price a done-for-you service: the Loaded-Hour Price

The Loaded-Hour Price sets a done-for-you service’s monthly fee from delivery hours, true hourly cost, tools and acquisition, then divides by one minus your target margin. Every input below is a labelled assumption, because no credible public benchmark exists for done-for-you delivery hours or margins across service types. Replace them with your own timesheets.

Worked example, middle cell. Assumed inputs: a $40 hourly wage; the 1.43× on-cost multiplier from the BLS figures; 70% utilisation; 25 delivery hours a month; a 15% scope buffer; $150 of tools per client; and $100 a month of acquisition cost. Step one: $40 × 1.4287 (shown rounded as 1.43×) = $57.15 loaded cost per paid hour. Step two: $57.15 ÷ 0.70 = $81.64 per delivered hour. Step three: 25 × $81.64 × 1.15 = $2,347. Step four: $2,347 + $150 + $100 = $2,597 of cost. Step five: $2,597 ÷ (1 − 0.50) = $5,194 a month. The quotable version: a done-for-you service priced at its wage cost per hour loses money, because on-costs, unbillable time and scope creep roughly double what an hour of delivery really costs.

What does one delivered hour of a done-for-you service really cost?

One delivered hour of a done-for-you service costs the wage multiplied by on-costs, divided by the share of paid hours that are actually spent on client work.

The on-cost multiplier comes from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics: in June 2026, private-industry employer costs averaged $46.89 per hour worked, of which $32.82 was wages and salaries (70.0%) and $14.07 was benefits (30.0%). That is a 1.43× multiplier. On-costs differ by country (retirement contributions, payroll taxes, insurance), so substitute your own. Utilisation is the share of paid hours that go on client delivery rather than sales, admin, training and internal meetings; the bands below are assumptions.

The gap between 50% and 85% utilisation is $47.07 an hour, which on 25 hours a month is more than $1,100 of cost per client. A productised, repeatable process lowers the price you need more reliably than any discount you could negotiate on tools.

How much of a done-for-you price should cover winning the client?

A done-for-you price should recover the cost of winning each client within the minimum term: cost per booked call, divided by close rate, spread over those months.

The three booked-call costs are inputs picked from LeadsNow’s general $30–$400 range across industries, not a figure measured for done-for-you services; the 25% close rate and the client terms are assumptions. Our guide to calculating cost per booked call lists the costs that belong in the first column.

Use the minimum term, not the hoped-for lifetime: a client who leaves after the minimum still has to have paid for their own acquisition. A service sold on month-to-month terms should either price acquisition into the first months or charge an upfront build charge that covers it.

Retainer, project, per-result or revenue share: which model fits my done-for-you service?

A done-for-you service should choose its pricing model by how measurable its result is and how much of that result it controls. The threshold table below makes that a decision.

The first two rows decide the shape a buyer approves; the Loaded-Hour Price decides the number inside it, so run the formula before choosing the model.

How to convert a retainer into a per-result fee

A done-for-you retainer converts into a per-result fee by dividing the monthly price by your confident monthly results, then adding a risk premium for shortfall months.

The risk premium is not profit: it pays for the months when volume comes in under forecast, and it should shrink as your forecasting record lengthens. As an example of how a done-for-you service structures this, LeadsNow prices its appointment setting at 5–25% of the revenue it generates for a client (revenue share), or an equivalent pay-per-appointment fee, or a mix of both, depending on lead volume, what is being sold and its price, the type of product and business, and which part (or all) of the sales funnel it runs; no-shows aren’t charged. The buyer’s view of that trade-off is set out in pay-per-result versus retainer agencies.

How to stop scope creep eating a done-for-you margin

Scope creep in a done-for-you service is controlled by writing the scope as countable units and pricing every extra unit at the delivered-hour rate plus margin.

• Count deliverables, not effort. “Eight posts, two revision rounds each” can be checked; “ongoing social support” cannot.
• Set the change rate in the proposal. At $81.64 per delivered hour and a 50% margin, extra work is $163.28 an hour. Write it down before the client asks.
• Track the buffer. The 15% buffer in the formula is an assumption. Compare logged hours with scoped hours monthly; if overruns pass 15% for two months running, re-price or re-scope.
• Charge pass-through costs at cost. Ad spend, printing and third-party software the client owns go on a separate line, so your margin is not diluted by money you only handle.

How done-for-you pricing differs from coaching, masterminds and membership

A done-for-you service is priced on the cost of doing the work for the client, whereas coaching, masterminds and memberships are priced on access to expertise or a group.

Coaching scales by selling more seats at the same delivery cost, so its price comes from what you can afford to spend acquiring a buyer; our guide to how to price a high-ticket coaching offer works that way. A mastermind is priced per seat from facilitation and venue cost, as in how much to charge for a mastermind. A done-for-you service is different because each new client adds delivery hours almost one for one, so utilisation and scope matter more than audience size. Firms selling high-value services by consultation will find the acquisition side covered in lead generation for high-ticket service businesses.

What does pricing a done-for-you service yourself cost?

Pricing a done-for-you service yourself costs about a month of honest time-tracking plus a few hours in a spreadsheet, and the tracking is the part most operators skip.

You need logged hours per client for at least four weeks, wage and on-cost figures from payroll, every tool subscription allocated per client, and a cost per booked call measured on your own pipeline. Without the timesheets, the Loaded-Hour Price is a guess with a formula on top. Expect the first honest run to show at least one client priced below cost; re-price that one at renewal rather than mid-term.

Frequently asked questions

How much should I charge for my done-for-you service?

Charge at least the Loaded-Hour Price: delivery hours times cost per delivered hour, plus a scope buffer, tools and monthly acquisition cost, divided by one minus your target margin. In the worked example on this page, 25 hours a month at a 50% margin comes to about $5,194 a month.

How do I work out the true hourly cost of my team?

Multiply the wage by your on-cost multiplier, then divide by utilisation. In the US, the Bureau of Labor Statistics Employer Costs for Employee Compensation release shows benefits were 30.0% of private-industry compensation costs in June 2026 ($14.07 of $46.89 per hour worked), so wages carry about a 1.43× multiplier before utilisation.

Should a done-for-you service charge a retainer or per result?

Charge a retainer when the result is hard to attribute to you alone, and per result when you control the result and can count it. Below about 10 results a month, a hybrid of a lower base plus a per-result fee smooths out the months when volume is thin.

What margin should a done-for-you service aim for?

No credible public benchmark sets a margin for done-for-you services across industries, so this page models 40%, 50% and 60%. Choose the margin that still leaves profit after a month in which delivery runs 15% over scope.

How often should I raise the price of my done-for-you service?

Re-run the Loaded-Hour Price whenever wages, tools or acquisition costs change, and at every renewal. Raise prices for new clients first, and for existing clients at renewal rather than mid-term.