The arithmetic behind the quote
Consulting proposals are usually priced by phase or by outcome, which keeps attention away from the simplest question in professional services: how many people, at what rate, for how long. Multiplying consultants by day rate by days per week by weeks reconstructs the run-rate the pricing was built from. Firms are not hiding this arithmetic maliciously. But a weekly burn figure invites a scrutiny that a phase price does not, which is why you should do the reconstruction yourself before the negotiation, not after it.
A twelve-week example
A proposed team of five (say two directors at €3,200 a day and three analysts at €1,200, an average of €2,000) works four days a week on site for a twelve-week diagnostic. The engagement cost is 5 × €2,000 × 4 × 12 = €480,000. Notice what the blended average conceals: the directors account for €6,400 of each day's €10,000, and if their attendance quietly falls to two days a week from month two, you are paying an analyst-heavy team at a director-weighted price.
Costs the run-rate does not show
The multiplication captures the fee. The engagement will cost more than the fee.
- Your own organisation's time. Workshops, data requests, interview schedules and steering preparation routinely absorb the equivalent of two or three internal full-time people, and no invoice ever arrives for them.
- Extension probability. Many engagements are structured so that the diagnostic ends by recommending an implementation phase. Price the arc you are likely to buy, not the phase in front of you.
- Expenses clauses. Travel, accommodation and "administrative charges" at a percentage of fees can add a meaningful margin on top of the run-rate, so read the clause before comparing proposals.
- Team composition drift. The seniority mix that was pitched is a staffing intention, not a contractual fact, unless the contract names the individuals and prices their substitution.
Boundaries of the estimate
The calculator assumes a stable team, a stable rate and full chargeable weeks, none of which survives contact with a real engagement calendar. It also says nothing about whether the work is worth buying at any price. Its job is narrower: to convert a phase-priced proposal back into a weekly burn that a budget holder can compare with alternatives, including doing less of the work internally.
