The problem

Most time-based businesses are undercharging.

They just don't know by how much — or why. It's not laziness. It's that nobody ever gave them the framework.

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The gut-feel trap

Most businesses set rates based on what feels confident, what a competitor charges, or what a client will accept. None of those tell you what it costs to deliver the work. The Floor does.

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Costs went up. Rates didn't.

Salaries grew. Rent grew. Software stacked up. But when did you last recalculate your rates? Most businesses haven't. The gap quietly destroys margin — and by the time you notice, it's serious.

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Nobody taught you this

Rate-setting isn't in the curriculum — for anyone. Not business school, not law school, not physio training. You learned by guessing. The Floor gives you the formula that should have existed from day one.

The real question

How do you know if you're charging the right rate?

A rate isn't a guess. It's the number that covers your salaries, your business costs, and your profit — spread across the hours you actually bill.

The simple version

If everyone bills the same amount of time, the load is shared evenly.

A
1 person$90,000 each
A
B
2 people$45,000 each
A
B
C
3 people$30,000 each

The real version

But people don't bill the same. Someone who is only 50% billable carries less of the load than someone who is 90% billable.

A
Employee 1
$21,429
50%

Only 50% billable — so they carry a smaller share of the operating costs.

B
Employee 2
$30,000
70%

70% billable — near the middle of the load.

C
Employee 3
$38,571
90%

90% billable — they carry a bigger share because they bill more hours.

Total operating costs to cover: $90,000. Drag the sliders to see how the load shifts when each person's billable time changes.
Step 1 — try the calculator →It does the math for you.
The formula

Simple maths. Powerful result.

  1. 1
    Start with your salary bill
    Add up what you pay everyone. That's the only input you need to start. Everything else follows.
  2. 2
    Apply the benchmark multiplier
    If salaries should be 55% of revenue, then revenue = salaries ÷ 0.55. Multiplier = 1.82×. Business costs and profit follow automatically.
  3. 3
    Allocate revenue by role
    Each person's salary × multiplier = the revenue they need to generate. Divide by their billable hours. That's their floor rate.
  4. 4
    Senior people carry more — correctly
    Higher salaries mean proportionally more business costs allocated. A director shouldn't be subsidised by a junior. This model gets that right automatically.
Worked example — Creative & Marketing
Managing Director · $180,000 salary
  1. Start with the salary
    $180,000 per year.
  2. Apply the 55/25/20 benchmark
    Salaries should be about 55% of revenue, so multiply by 1.82× to get the revenue this role needs to generate: $327,600.
  3. Split that revenue by the benchmark
    Business costs (25%): $81,900. Profit (20%): $65,520.
  4. Count the billable hours
    60% billable × 44 weeks × 5 days = 132 days, times 8 hours = 1,056 hours a year.
  5. Divide revenue by hours
    $327,600 divided by 1,056 hours = $310/hr floor rate.
Every role's revenue adds up to the total revenue target. Nobody subsidises anybody else. ✓