Source: https://guthlabs.ai/docs/instruments/hourly-rate-freelance-pricing-calculator/mechanism/

instrument mechanism / verified-clean

# Hourly Rate / Freelance Pricing Calculator mechanism

The inspectable method record for Hourly Rate / Freelance Pricing Calculator, kept separate from implementation and qualification.

Status: **VERIFIED_CLEAN**Lifecycle: **verified-clean**

## Model scope

The core hourly-rate formula is mathematically valid only when target_income plus overhead represents the required annual revenue and utilization_pct is converted from a percentage to a decimal. The specification needs an explicit tax-buffer formula or removal of that input, definitions for day and project rates, and validation and unit conventions before approval.

- The tax buffer % input is not used in the hourly-rate formula. If target_income is a desired after-tax income, the formula needs an explicit tax-buffer convention, such as (target_income+overhead)/(1-tax_buffer_pct), subject to the intended interpretation.

- No formulas are provided for the declared day rate or project rate suggestion outputs, so those outputs cannot be verified or reproduced.

- The formula does not state whether target_income and overhead are annual amounts in the same currency and accounting basis.

## Units and conventions

- target_income and overhead are annual monetary amounts in the same currency.

- working_weeks is measured in weeks per year and hours_per_week is hours per working week.

- utilization_pct is entered as a percentage from 0 to 100 and converted to a decimal by dividing by 100.

- The hourly rate output is monetary units per billable hour.

- No tax adjustment is applied in the listed formula; tax_buffer_pct is ignored unless a revised formula defines how it is used.

- Day rate and project rate cannot be calculated without definitions for hours per day and project scope or estimated project hours.

## Inspectable vector

One of 4 source-bound review vectors:

````
{
  "inputs": {
    "target_income": 60000,
    "overhead": 12000,
    "working_weeks": 48,
    "hours_per_week": 40,
    "utilization_pct": 60,
    "tax_buffer_pct": 25
  },
  "expected_outputs": {
    "billable_hours": 1152,
    "required_hourly_rate": 62.5,
    "day_rate": null,
    "project_rate_suggestion": null
  },
  "working": "billable_hours = 48 × 40 × (60 ÷ 100) = 48 × 40 × 0.60 = 1,152 hours.\\nrate = (60,000 + 12,000) ÷ 1,152 = 72,000 ÷ 1,152 = 62.50 per billable hour.\\ntax_buffer_pct = 25 is not used by the supplied formula. Day rate and project rate are undefined because no formulas are supplied."
}
````

## Failure boundary

**BREAK_CLAIMED** · SELF_FLAGGED

The zero-utilization case produces a division by zero and must be rejected. Additionally, tax_buffer_percent is an input without a defined role in the supplied formula, and project_rate_suggestion cannot be computed without project-duration inputs.

## Other records

[01**Overview**](<https://guthlabs.ai/docs/instruments/hourly-rate-freelance-pricing-calculator/>)[03**Implementation**](<https://guthlabs.ai/docs/instruments/hourly-rate-freelance-pricing-calculator/implementation/>)[04**Qualification**](<https://guthlabs.ai/docs/instruments/hourly-rate-freelance-pricing-calculator/qualification/>)

## Sources and evidence

These pointers bind the page to evidence. They do not grant authority or collapse verification into deployment.

- `VERIFIED_LEDGER.json`

- `evidence-tranche5/tranche5-results.json`

- `BOUNDARY_HAZARD_CATALOG.json`