Build an internal cost floor
Estimate the hours or days for discovery, production, meetings, project management, quality checks, handoff, and included revisions. Multiply the total by an internal rate that covers pay, overhead, non-billable time, and target profit. This is your floor, not necessarily the client price.
Add a risk allowance when the brief is incomplete, dependencies are outside your control, or the client has many approvers. If uncertainty is too high to price responsibly, sell a paid discovery phase first.
Choose a pricing structure
Use a fixed fee when the outcome and boundaries are stable. Use a day or hourly rate when the client controls the queue or the work cannot be predicted. Use milestones for larger projects so cash flow follows progress.
Present a small number of options when there are meaningful levels of value. Each option should change the result or service level, not hide necessary work in an upgrade.
Protect the price with boundaries
State the number of concepts, pages, meetings, revision rounds, and final formats included. Connect new directions, added deliverables, and delayed client inputs to a written change request.
Review the final fee against the business value and alternatives available to the client. A clear price should be commercially sensible for both sides, not merely the sum of estimated hours.