Freelance business
Rush fee calculator
Price a rush job from the overtime hours it forces on you, a premium multiplier and a fee for bumping other work.
Rush price = standard price + overtime hours x rate x (multiplier - 1) + displacement fee. A 20-hour job at $100 with 8 hours pushed into nights and weekends at 1.5x plus a $150 fee for bumping other work costs $2,550, which is 27.5% above the standard $2,000.
Your numbers
Result
Worked example
Standard: 20 hours x $100 = $2,000. Eight of those hours must happen outside normal hours at 1.5x, which adds 8 x $100 x 0.5 = $400. Adding a $150 displacement fee gives a rush price of $2,550: $550 or 27.5% over standard, an effective $127.50 an hour.
How it works
Building the fee from what the rush actually costs you is easier to defend than picking a percentage. The multiplier and displacement fee are your own choices. Some freelancers quote a flat uplift for short deadlines instead; 1.5x to 2x is a common rule of thumb, not a published standard.
State the rush fee as a separate line on the quote and agree it before work starts.
Sources and basis (checked 2026-10-08): arithmetic on the numbers you enter. No published rates, tax rules or benchmarks are built in; any figure described as a rule of thumb is labelled as one. This is a planning estimate, not financial, tax or legal advice.
Everything runs in your browser. Nothing you type is sent or stored.
FAQ
How much should I charge for a rush job?
Price the extra cost to you: the hours moved to nights and weekends at a premium, plus anything you have to bump. In the example that takes a $2,000 job to $2,550.
Is there a standard rush fee percentage?
No. Some people use a flat uplift, commonly described as 1.5x to 2x. That is a rule of thumb, not a published standard.
Should the rush fee be a separate line item?
Yes. A separate line shows the client what speed costs and makes it easy to drop if the deadline moves.
What if no hours are outside my normal hours?
Set out-of-hours time to 0. You can still charge a displacement fee for moving other work.