Estimate Work Before Quoting a Price
Consultant effort is time spent doing the assignment. Elapsed time is the calendar it occupies. Fees, expenses and the client's own effort are further separate quantities. Keeping them visible makes it possible to negotiate a change without pretending that analysis or review happens for free.
This worked case continues the fictional technical offer: assess whether to combine two office purchasing processes. It is estimating practice, not a recommended rate, staffing norm or procurement authorization.
Build the Base Estimate
One consultant uses an agreed eight-hour estimating day. This is a calculation assumption, not a legal definition of a working day. The client supplies two redacted logs, arranges eight one-hour interviews and returns one consolidated set of comments. The consultant records six purchase traces and compares three operating options.
| Work Package | Basis | Consultant Days |
|---|---|---|
| Confirm question, access and work plan | Kickoff and preparation | 1.5 |
| Review records and design interview/trace approach | Two supplied logs; test the record structure | 2.0 |
| Conduct and document interviews | Eight interviews, each one hour plus one hour for preparation and notes: 16 hours / 8 hours per day | 2.0 |
| Travel | Two travel days, no analysis assumed on the same hours | 2.0 |
| Complete purchase traces and compare options | Six bounded traces, contradictions and option analysis | 3.0 |
| Draft outputs | Options note, role map and open decisions | 2.0 |
| Review meeting and consolidated revision | One meeting and one comment round | 2.0 |
| Coordination and handover | Scheduling, progress contact and explanation of the final reasoning | 1.5 |
| Base Total | Sum of all work packages | 16.0 |
The allocation is an explicit planning judgment for this exercise. Two interview days do not cover the travel or the later cross-interview analysis. The coordination line covers ordinary scheduling, not an unlimited response to every stakeholder request.
Show the Client's Contribution Separately
Eight staff interviews require eight staff-hours in total. Suppose the client also allows four hours to prepare redacted records, two hours for its review meeting and six hours to consolidate comments. That is 20 client staff-hours across the named tasks, separate from the consultant's 128 hours. It excludes any additional time required by privacy or contracting reviewers. Identify who can supply those inputs and confirm their availability before treating them as commitments.
The 16 consultant days fit within 20 working days only if activities can be sequenced around interviews and the three-working-day client review. Draw the schedule: preparation and review first, interview/trace work next, options/draft next, then client comments and revision. Do not add 16 consultant days to three waiting days and conclude that the calendar is guaranteed. Staff availability, travel days and overlapping tasks determine the actual dates.
Test Two Changes
Access change: Only four interviews can happen on site. The remaining four move online. If travel is still necessary for process tracing, the two travel days remain. Moving interview format alone does not save two days. If the client also confirms remote access sufficient for all six traces, removing travel reduces the estimate from 16 to 14 days; document the resulting evidence limitations and any new remote-support costs.
Review change: Two departments now request separate comment rounds. The estimate allowed one consolidated round. The consultant estimates one extra day for the additional round and half a day to resolve conflicting instructions: 16 + 1 + 0.5 = 17.5 days. If the client retains the 16-day cap, agree a real tradeoff, such as retaining a single consolidated review. Cutting analysis by 1.5 days without explaining what will no longer be checked would conceal the change.
If both the confirmed remote-trace option and the extra review are selected, the revised estimate is 16 - 2 + 1.5 = 15.5 days. These are alternative assumptions, not savings already achieved.
Translate Effort Into a Commercial Discussion
With an agreed rate R per day, the base fee calculation is 16 × R. Add only the agreed expense categories and applicable tax treatment, making clear what is included in the rate. Do not assume travel expenses disappear when travel time is already in the fee. A fixed fee can still have an underlying effort estimate; it does not automatically permit extra billing when actual days exceed it. A time-based arrangement needs its agreed limits and approval route. Read the actual contract with the responsible commercial/finance owner.
For a real change, record the trigger, revised assumptions, days by task, calendar consequences, output limits and authorized decision. Use the scope-change guide. A calculation explains a proposal; it does not approve the fee or change.
Source and Scope
The Consultancy Playbook, September 2022, printed pages 28-29, distinguishes time-based, fixed-price and results-based arrangements. Its UK government context does not set NGO rates or terms. All days, hours, client inputs and sensitivity calculations here are fictional OpenAid estimates, not source benchmarks.