Global Procurement Standard

Team Pricing
Simplified.

The professional weighted average calculator for IT staffing, consulting, and legal teams. Accurate, defensible, and ready for your next bid.

Launch Calculator Explore Methodology

Process

How the calculator works.

Simple averages ignore volume. Weighted averages show the real cost of your project team.

Step 1 — Add your team roles

Multi-Role Blended Rates: Field teams with Seniors, Mids, and Juniors while presenting one simplified rate to your client. Perfect for staff augmentation and consulting bids.

Step 2 — Set headcount and hours per week

Weekly & Monthly Burn: Instantly see the burn rate for any duration. We use the professional standard 4.33x multiplier for accurate monthly projections.

Step 3 — Read your blended rate and burn numbers

Margin & Bill-Rate Calculator: Enter your target gross margin and see the exact bill rate required to meet your profit goals on every proposal.

A

Simple Average

$125.00/hr

W

Weighted Average

$112.50/hr

"Weighted averages prevent over-quoting and keep you competitive."

Deep Dive

What is a blended rate?

Understanding the impact on your bids.

When a staffing agency, IT consultancy, or law firm builds a project team, that team is rarely made up of people who all charge the same rate. A typical IT project might include two senior developers at $185 per hour, three mid-level developers at $120 per hour, and a business analyst at $95 per hour. Quoting each rate line separately to a client adds complexity, creates room for negotiation on individual roles, and makes proposals harder to compare. The solution is a blended rate — a single weighted average hourly rate that represents the true cost of the whole team per hour worked.

How the formula works.

The blended rate formula is a weighted average based on total cost divided by total hours — not a simple average of rates. The formula is:

Blended Rate = Σ (Headcount × Hours/week × Rate) ÷ Σ (Headcount × Hours/week)

This matters because a simple average ignores how many people fill each role. If five people work at $100 per hour and one person works at $200 per hour, the simple average gives you $116.67 — but the blended rate gives you $116.67 only if all six work equal hours. If the five junior staff work 40 hours and the senior works 10, the blended rate is actually $107.14.

Arriving at your Bill Rate.

The blended rate represents your cost base. To arrive at the client-facing bill rate, you apply a margin using the correct formula:

Client Bill Rate = Blended Rate ÷ (1 − Margin%)

This is the professional-standard markup formula used by staffing agencies and MSPs globally. A 25% margin on a $141.50 blended rate produces a bill rate of $188.67 per hour. The common mistake — multiplying the blended rate by 1.25 — only gives you a 20% margin on the bill rate, which means you are systematically undercharging clients.

Who utilizes these calculations?

A blended rate calculator is an essential tool across multiple professional service verticals. IT staffing agencies use it to build compliant rate cards for government frameworks like GSA Schedule, UK G-Cloud, and government Statements of Work (SOWs). Law firms use a weighted average billing rate to simplify client invoicing across partner, associate, and paralegal tiers. Marketing agencies, engineering consultancies, and construction project managers all face the same challenge.

Why Choose BlendyRate?

BlendyRate is a free online blended rate calculator that runs entirely in your browser — no login, no data storage, and no subscription required. Add up to any number of roles, adjust headcount and hours per week per role, set your target margin, and get your blended rate, weekly burn, monthly burn, and client bill rate instantly. Export the result as a CSV, copy a ready-to-paste proposal snippet, or share a direct link.

Free Resource

Free rate card template

Download a simple template to turn your estimate into a client-ready rate card.

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Built for the global procurement standard.

"Finally, a tool that matches the rigor of our internal audit process. We use this to verify every vendor proposal."

— IT Procurement Lead, Fortune 500

"The proposal snippet feature saves our account managers hours every week. It's accurate, clean, and professional."

— VP of Delivery, Global Staffing Agency

"Essential for complex framework contract bidding. The CSV export is perfect for our internal finance reviews."

— Bid Manager, Engineering Firm

Insight & Support

Frequently asked questions.

Everything you need to know about blended rates, team costing, and margin protection for professional services.

What is a blended rate?
A blended rate is a single weighted average hourly (or daily) billing rate that represents the combined cost of an entire project team. Instead of quoting separate rates for each role — senior developer at $185/hr, mid developer at $120/hr, business analyst at $95/hr — a staffing agency or consultancy calculates one rate that reflects the true average cost per hour across all team members, weighted by how many hours each role contributes.
How do you calculate a blended rate?
Blended Rate = Total Team Cost ÷ Total Team Hours. Total Team Cost is the sum of (Headcount × Hours per week × Hourly Rate) for every role. Total Team Hours is the sum of (Headcount × Hours per week) for every role. This is a weighted average — not a simple average — so it correctly accounts for the proportion of hours each role contributes to the project.
What is the blended rate formula?
The formula is: Blended Rate = Σ(Headcount × Hours × Rate) ÷ Σ(Headcount × Hours). For example, a team with 2 Senior Developers at $185/hr (40 hrs/week each) and 3 Mid Developers at $120/hr (40 hrs/week each) has a blended rate of [(2×40×185) + (3×40×120)] ÷ [(2×40) + (3×40)] = (14,800 + 14,400) ÷ 200 = $146/hr.
What is the difference between a blended rate and a simple average rate?
A simple average adds all hourly rates and divides by the number of roles, ignoring headcount and hours. A blended rate is a weighted average that accounts for how many people fill each role and how many hours they work. If a team has five junior staff at $80/hr and one senior at $200/hr, the simple average is $113.33/hr — but the blended rate (assuming equal hours) is $100/hr. The blended rate is the correct number to use for project costing and client proposals.
How is the client bill rate calculated from the blended rate?
Client Bill Rate = Blended Rate ÷ (1 − Margin%). For example, if your blended rate is $120/hr and you want a 25% gross margin, the bill rate is $120 ÷ 0.75 = $160/hr. This is the margin-on-bill-rate formula used by staffing agencies and MSPs. Avoid the common mistake of multiplying the blended rate by 1.25 — that only gives you a 20% margin on the bill rate, which systematically undercharges clients.
Why does the monthly burn rate use 4.33 instead of 4?
There are 52 weeks in a year and 12 months, giving an average of 52 ÷ 12 = 4.33 weeks per month. Using a flat 4× multiplier underestimates monthly cost by approximately 8.25%. On a $50,000/week engagement, that is a $20,000 error over a 12-month contract. The 4.33 multiplier is the professional standard used by staffing agencies, law firms, and enterprise procurement teams for accurate contract pricing.
Is a blended rate calculator free to use?
Yes. BlendyRate is a completely free online blended rate calculator. There is no login, no subscription, and no data is stored on any server — all calculations run entirely in your browser. You can add unlimited roles, export results as CSV, copy a proposal snippet, and share your team configuration via a direct link, all at no cost.
Who uses a blended rate calculator?
Blended rate calculators are used by IT staffing agency account managers building RFP responses, managed service providers (MSPs) setting programme-level rate cards, law firms setting partner/associate/paralegal billing rates, engineering and construction project managers estimating crew costs, marketing agency principals quoting mixed-seniority creative teams, and procurement officers benchmarking vendor proposals.
What is a blended rate in IT staffing?
In IT staffing, a blended rate is a single hourly bill rate that covers a mixed team of developers, analysts, architects, and testers with different individual rates. IT staffing agencies use blended rates when responding to government frameworks (GSA Schedule, G-Cloud), SOW engagements, and enterprise managed service contracts where the client wants one rate per job category rather than per-worker pricing.
What is a blended labor rate in construction?
In construction, a blended labor rate (also called a composite labor rate) is the weighted average hourly wage for a crew that includes workers at different pay grades — helpers, apprentices, journeymen, and foremen. It is calculated by multiplying each worker's hourly rate by their hours, summing the totals, and dividing by total crew hours. Construction project managers use the blended labor rate to estimate job costs, prepare bids, and track budget variance.
Can I use this blended rate calculator for a law firm?
Yes. BlendyRate supports law firm billing structures. Enter partner, associate, and paralegal roles with their respective hourly rates and weekly hours. The calculator will produce the weighted average billing rate, which law firms use to quote blended rates to clients on large matters, corporate retainers, and government legal service frameworks. Top Am Law 100 firms charged an average blended rate of $1,057 per hour in 2024.
How do I calculate a blended rate for an RFP or SOW proposal?
To calculate a blended rate for a proposal: (1) List every role in your team with headcount, weekly hours, and cost rate. (2) Multiply headcount × hours × rate for each role to get role cost. (3) Sum all role costs to get total weekly cost. (4) Sum all headcount × hours to get total weekly hours. (5) Divide total cost by total hours for the blended cost rate. (6) Apply your margin using: Bill Rate = Blended Cost Rate ÷ (1 − Margin%). BlendyRate performs all six steps automatically.
What is the difference between bill rate and blended rate?
The blended rate is your internal cost rate — what it costs you per hour to deliver the team. The bill rate is what you charge the client per hour — the blended rate plus your agency margin. If your blended cost rate is $130/hr and you charge the client $173.33/hr, your gross margin is 25%. The blended rate is the foundation; the bill rate is what appears on the invoice.
Can I share my blended rate calculation with a client?
Yes. BlendyRate generates a shareable URL that encodes your complete team configuration — roles, headcount, hours, and rates — into the link. Anyone who opens the link sees exactly the same calculation. You can also copy a pre-written proposal snippet (e.g. 'A team of 6 professionals across 3 roles at a blended rate of $141.50/hr with an estimated weekly cost of $28,300') ready to paste into a proposal document.
Does the blended rate calculator work for multiple currencies?
Yes. BlendyRate supports 15 global currencies including USD, GBP, EUR, CAD, AUD, JPY, CNY, INR, BRL, SAR, TRY, KRW, SEK, PLN, and CHF. Select your currency from the picker and all outputs — blended rate, bill rate, weekly burn, and monthly burn — display in the correct local format, including zero-decimal currencies like JPY and KRW.
What is a weighted average billing rate?
A weighted average billing rate is another term for a blended rate. It is the average hourly rate for a team, weighted by the hours each role contributes. The term 'weighted average billing rate' is commonly used in legal billing, consulting, and government contracting contexts. It is calculated using the same formula: Total Billed Cost ÷ Total Billed Hours.
How do I calculate the monthly burn rate for a project team?
Monthly Burn Rate = Weekly Team Cost × 4.33. Weekly Team Cost is calculated as the sum of (Headcount × Hours per week × Hourly Rate) across all roles. The 4.33 multiplier converts weekly cost to monthly cost using the accurate average of 52 weeks ÷ 12 months. BlendyRate calculates weekly burn and monthly burn automatically as you build your team composition.
Is the blended rate calculator accurate for professional proposals?
Yes. BlendyRate uses the professional-standard weighted average formula for blended rates, the margin-on-bill-rate formula for client pricing, and the 4.33 weekly multiplier for monthly burn — all consistent with how staffing agencies, MSPs, law firms, and consulting firms calculate team rates for client proposals, SOW engagements, and framework contracts.

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