Start with the schedule consequence
A rush request changes more than the delivery date. It may displace booked work, create extra handoffs, require out-of-hours coordination, increase error risk, or require expedited purchases. A useful rush minimum adds those measurable costs to the normal project fee.
The resulting premium percentage is an output, not the starting assumption. You can still compare a familiar 20% or 30% premium with the modeled minimum, but a standard percentage is only adequate when it covers the actual disruption.
Disruption model
Test a proposed rush premium
Count only capacity genuinely displaced or added by the deadline.
Worked example: a 20% premium falls short
An $8,000 base quote must move forward. The change displaces 12 hours of planned work, adds six hours of coordination, and creates $300 of direct acceleration costs. At a $100 internal floor, the added capacity quote is $1,800. A 40% combined revenue set-aside means the purchase requires $300 / 60% = $500 of extra revenue.
The rush minimum is $8,000 + $1,800 + $500 = $10,300. The required premium is 28.75%. A 20% premium produces $9,600, leaving a $700 gap. The added $2,300 retains $1,080 after its 40% set-aside and the $300 purchase, exactly matching the $1,800 capacity quote after the same set-aside.
- Capacity disruption
(12 + 6) x $100 = $1,800The hourly floor already includes annual percentage allowances.
- Direct purchase revenue
$300 / (1 - 0.40) = $500Money collected for purchases is included in the same revenue base.
- Required premium
($1,800 + $500) / $8,000 = 28.75%Compare the proposed fee with the minimum dollar amount, not a rounded-down percentage.
Round a minimum upward, not to the nearest percent
If the combined revenue set-aside is explicitly 0%, the same example needs $10,100, or 26.25% above the base. Displaying 26% would be misleading: applying it produces $10,080, which is $20 short. The tool therefore gives a sufficient percentage rounded upward to a hundredth of a percentage point and tests the actual quote against the minimum.
The normal base fee must already protect its own labor, costs, and risk. This tool adds incremental capacity and purchases; it does not automatically extend the base project's risk percentage to the new work. If acceleration changes estimate uncertainty as well, rebuild that scope and reserve in the project-fee tool.
Do not charge twice for ordinary delivery
The normal project fee should already cover planned delivery hours, client operations, annual overhead, and ordinary estimate risk. The rush calculation adds only the incremental effect of acceleration. Counting the full delivery effort again would duplicate cost.
Displaced hours are not automatically equal to every hour worked on the rush project. Count time that must be moved, abandoned, outsourced, or performed under a materially different schedule. Keep a short note describing the operational consequence. Include only extra coordination not already funded through annual utilization, and only purchases not already included in the base fee or annual costs.
Availability is a separate decision
A profitable rush quote can still be a bad operational choice if it harms another client, creates unsafe working conditions, or reduces quality below an acceptable standard. Price does not make every deadline feasible.
This calculator does not determine market norms, enforceability, employee overtime obligations, or contract rights. It assumes the base fee remains valid and the entered disruption is incremental. Define the new deadline, approval schedule, client dependencies, and scope in writing.