Glossary
Rate card
A rate card is a standardised document that lists the hourly or daily rates charged by an agency for different roles, skill levels, or service types. It is the pricing reference used when building project estimates, responding to RFPs, and negotiating client agreements. A well-maintained rate card ensures pricing consistency across the business and simplifies the estimation process.
What a rate card typically includes
A rate card usually lists rates by role or seniority level. A typical creative agency rate card might include rates for a strategy director, senior designer, designer, junior designer, project manager, and copywriter. Technology agencies might list rates for principal engineers, senior developers, mid-level developers, and QA engineers.
Some agencies maintain multiple rate cards: a standard external rate card used for most clients, and discounted rates for long-term retainer clients or specific industry sectors.
How rate cards are used in project pricing
When scoping a project, the project manager or account team estimates the hours required per role, then multiplies those hours by the relevant rate from the rate card to calculate the project fee. A project requiring 40 hours of senior designer time and 20 hours of project management time is priced by multiplying each block of hours by the respective rate.
Rate cards should be reviewed at least annually to account for salary inflation, market rate changes, and the agency's evolving positioning. Agencies that have not reviewed their rate cards in several years often find they are undercharging relative to the market.
Blended rates vs role-specific rates
Some agencies present clients with a single blended rate per day that averages across all roles. This simplifies pricing conversations but can obscure the profitability of individual project types. Role-specific rate cards give more accurate margin visibility when projects are staffed differently.
Example
An agency's rate card lists: Strategy Director £185/hour, Senior Consultant £145/hour, Consultant £110/hour, and Analyst £75/hour. When scoping a strategy project, the account team estimates 12 hours of director time, 40 hours of senior consultant time, and 20 hours of analyst time. The project fee is calculated as: (12 × 185) + (40 × 145) + (20 × 75) = £9,120.