Ledger · the open book

One price list. Two readers. Same numbers.

The professional names a rate and keeps it in full. YRproject charges the client a fee on top. That fee is on this page, with every line of arithmetic. The client sees what the professional receives. The professional sees what the client pays. Nothing else sits in between.

The fee table.

A percentage of the professional's rate, charged to the client on top of that rate. Marginal by hours on the project: each band applies only to the hours inside it.

Standard: YRproject finds the project, contracts it and invoices.
Hours on the projectIn working days of 8 hFee on top of the rate
Hour 1 to 500day 1 to 62.520%
Hour 501 to 1,500to day 187.515%
Hour 1,501 and beyondbeyond day 187.512%

100% of the rate goes to the professional, in every band.

The variants.
SituationThe client paysThe professional receivesYRproject keeps
Standard projectrate + 20% / 15% / 12% by hoursthe ratethe fee
Shorter than three months, or an executive profilerate + 20% flat, no taperthe rate20%
The professional brought the client and does the projectthe same scale as standardrate + 5%the fee minus that 5%

If the client already has the professional.

What we do and what it costs are agreed together, per assignment. It depends on the duration, the hours per week, the function and the rate. It is settled before the start, it does not change while the assignment runs, and it is a line of its own on every invoice — the one both sides see.

Five percent, twice.

  1. On your own project. You bring the client and do the project: you receive 5% on top of your own rate for as long as the project runs. It comes out of YRproject's fee. The client pays nothing extra.
  2. On the hours of others. You introduce an organisation where YRproject later places other professionals: you receive 5% over their hours, for 24 months from the first invoiced hour — also after your own project has ended. It comes out of YRproject's fee. Those professionals keep their full rate, and the client pays the normal scale.

One introduction per client. The first registration counts. It is a percentage of hours worked, not a fixed sum: if nobody else works there, there is nothing to share. Worked example G.

Units.

  • One day8 hours
  • Day rate to hourly rate÷ 8
  • The 500-hour thresholdday 62.5
  • The 1,500-hour thresholdday 187.5
  • Hours are countedper professional, per project
  • All amounts on this pageexclude VAT

Marginal means: only the next hour gets cheaper.

Reaching hour 501 does not re-price the first 500. Each band applies to the hours inside it, so the average fee glides down while the steps drop. Move the hours to see both.

Fee on hour 1,200
15%

the step you are on

Average over all 1,200 h
17.08%

what the whole project costs on top of the rate

Against a flat 20%
−2.92

percentage points the taper takes off

20%first 500 h
15%501 – 1,500 h
12%above 1,500 h
average fee
14.33% at 3,000 h
Orange steps: the fee on each next hour (20% → 15% → 12%). Black line: the average fee over all hours so far. The vertical marker is the project length you entered. Percentages are on top of the professional's rate.
The same chart as numbers. Computed by the fee engine, not typed in.
Hours on the projectFee on the last hourAverage fee over the project
250 h20%20%
500 h20%20%
1,000 h15%17.5%
1,500 h15%16.67%
2,000 h12%15.5%
2,400 h12%14.92%
3,000 h12%14.33%
4,000 h12%13.75%

Worked examples.

Every example shows what the client pays, what the professional receives and what YRproject keeps. Rates are examples, not market data. The tables are computed by the same engine as the calculator, each time this page loads.

Example A

€140 per hour, 1,200 hours

LineArithmeticAmount
Professional1,200 h × €140.00€168,000.00
Fee, hours 1–500 at 20%20% × €140.00 = €28.00 per hour; 500 h × €28.00€14,000.00
Fee, hours 501–1,200 at 15%15% × €140.00 = €21.00 per hour; 700 h × €21.00€14,700.00
YRproject's fee€14,000.00 + €14,700.00€28,700.00
Client pays€168,000.00 + €28,700.00€196,700.00
Client's average per hour€196,700.00 ÷ 1,200 h€163.92
Fee as share of the rate€28,700.00 ÷ €168,000.0017.08%
  • Client pays €196,700.00
  • Professional €168,000.00 85.4%
  • YRproject keeps €28,700.00 14.6%
Open in the calculator

The same project, self-introduced

The professional brought the client.

LineArithmeticAmount
Client paysunchanged: €168,000.00 + €28,700.00€196,700.00 (avg €163.92/h)
Professional€168,000.00 + 5% × €168,000.00 = €168,000.00 + €8,400.00 (= 1,200 h × €147.00)€176,400.00
YRproject keeps€28,700.00 − €8,400.00€20,300.00
  • Client pays €196,700.00
  • Professional €176,400.00 89.7%
  • YRproject keeps €20,300.00 10.3%
Open in the calculator

The same project, when the client already has the professional

No worked example here. That fee is agreed per assignment, so any figure printed on this page would be an invention.

Example B

€95 per hour, 1,200 hours

LineArithmeticAmount
Professional1,200 h × €95.00€114,000.00
Fee, hours 1–500 at 20%20% × €95.00 = €19.00 per hour; 500 h × €19.00€9,500.00
Fee, hours 501–1,200 at 15%15% × €95.00 = €14.25 per hour; 700 h × €14.25€9,975.00
YRproject's fee€9,500.00 + €9,975.00€19,475.00
Client pays€114,000.00 + €19,475.00€133,475.00
Client's average per hour€133,475.00 ÷ 1,200 h€111.23
Fee as share of the rate€19,475.00 ÷ €114,000.0017.08%
  • Client pays €133,475.00
  • Professional €114,000.00 85.4%
  • YRproject keeps €19,475.00 14.6%
Open in the calculator

Example C

A short assignment: €110 per hour, 300 hours

Shorter than three months, so 20% flat.

LineArithmeticAmount
Professional300 h × €110.00€33,000.00
YRproject's fee, 20% flat20% × €110.00 = €22.00 per hour; 300 h × €22.00€6,600.00
Client pays€33,000.00 + €6,600.00€39,600.00
Client's rate per hour€39,600.00 ÷ 300 h€132.00
  • Client pays €39,600.00
  • Professional €33,000.00 83.3%
  • YRproject keeps €6,600.00 16.7%
Open in the calculator

If the professional brought this client: professional €33,000.00 + €1,650.00 = €34,650.00; YRproject keeps €6,600.00 − €1,650.00 = €4,950.00; the client still pays €39,600.00. Open in the calculator.

Example D

A long project across all three bands: €110 per hour, 2,400 hours

LineArithmeticAmount
Professional2,400 h × €110.00€264,000.00
Fee, hours 1–500 at 20%20% × €110.00 = €22.00 per hour; 500 h × €22.00€11,000.00
Fee, hours 501–1,500 at 15%15% × €110.00 = €16.50 per hour; 1,000 h × €16.50€16,500.00
Fee, hours 1,501–2,400 at 12%12% × €110.00 = €13.20 per hour; 900 h × €13.20€11,880.00
YRproject's fee€11,000.00 + €16,500.00 + €11,880.00€39,380.00
Client pays€264,000.00 + €39,380.00€303,380.00
Client's average per hour€303,380.00 ÷ 2,400 h€126.41
Fee as share of the rate€39,380.00 ÷ €264,000.0014.92%
  • Client pays €303,380.00
  • Professional €264,000.00 87.0%
  • YRproject keeps €39,380.00 13.0%
Open in the calculator

At a flat 20% the same project would have cost the client €316,800.00. The taper saves the client €13,420.00. The professional receives the same either way.

Example E

A day rate: €900 per day, 150 days

A day is 8 hours. €900 ÷ 8 = €112.50 per hour. 150 days × 8 = 1,200 hours.

LineArithmeticAmount
Professional150 days × €900.00€135,000.00
Fee, days 1–62.5 (hours 1–500) at 20%20% × €900.00 = €180.00 per day; 62.5 days × €180.00€11,250.00
Fee, days 62.5–150 (hours 501–1,200) at 15%15% × €900.00 = €135.00 per day; 87.5 days × €135.00€11,812.50
YRproject's fee€11,250.00 + €11,812.50€23,062.50
Client pays€135,000.00 + €23,062.50€158,062.50
Client's average per day€158,062.50 ÷ 150 days€1,053.75
Client's average per hour€158,062.50 ÷ 1,200 h€131.72
Fee as share of the rate€23,062.50 ÷ €135,000.0017.08%
  • Client pays €158,062.50
  • Professional €135,000.00 85.4%
  • YRproject keeps €23,062.50 14.6%
Open in the calculator

Example F

An executive profile: €200 per hour, 1,200 hours

Executive profiles are 20% flat, whatever the length.

LineArithmeticAmount
Professional1,200 h × €200.00€240,000.00
YRproject's fee, 20% flat20% × €200.00 = €40.00 per hour; 1,200 h × €40.00€48,000.00
Client pays€240,000.00 + €48,000.00€288,000.00
Client's rate per hour€288,000.00 ÷ 1,200 h€240.00
  • Client pays €288,000.00
  • Professional €240,000.00 83.3%
  • YRproject keeps €48,000.00 16.7%
Open in the calculator

Example G

Five percent, twice

Anna is a commissioning engineer — a made-up person, for the arithmetic. She introduces a yard to YRproject and does a project there herself: €140 per hour, 1,200 hours.

Once — her own project. As in example A, self-introduced: Anna receives €176,400.00 instead of €168,000.00. That is €8,400.00 extra.

Twice — the hours of others. Within 24 months of the first invoiced hour at that yard, YRproject places two more professionals there.

ProfessionalHours × rateInvoiced at their rateAnna's 5%
Planner1,000 h × €100.00€100,000.00€5,000.00
E&I supervisor800 h × €120.00€96,000.00€4,800.00
Total€196,000.00€9,800.00
Where that €9,800.00 comes from.
Planner's projectE&I supervisor's project
Professional receives (full rate)€100,000.00€96,000.00
Fee the client pays500 × €20.00 + 500 × €15.00 = €17,500.00500 × €24.00 + 300 × €18.00 = €17,400.00
Of which to Anna (5% of the rate)€5,000.00€4,800.00
YRproject keeps€12,500.00€12,600.00

The client pays the normal scale. The planner and the supervisor keep their full rate. Anna's total from the introduction: €8,400.00 + €9,800.00 = €18,200.00.

Your own rate and hours as a one-page PDF: open-book quote

Check it with your own numbers.

The same calculator as on the homepage, with the same rules as the tables above. The starting figures are an example, not a market rate.

The client pays €39,600 for 300 h100%

= €880 per 8-hour day

≈ 2 months full-time · 37.5 days of 8 h

Special cases
Client pays, on average
€132.00/h

€39,600 in total

Professional receives
€110.00/h

€33,000 · 100% of the rate named

YRproject keeps
€22.00/h

€6,600 · 20% on top of the rate

Short or executive: 20% flatfee on top of the rate, by hours worked
  • All 300 h at 20% flat€6,600
  • YRproject keeps€6,600

One invoice, seen identically by both sides.

The client receives this invoice. The professional sees the same document, line for line, in the private environment. Situation: 440 hours were invoiced in months one to three; this month the professional worked 168 hours. The 500-hour threshold falls inside this month.

Sample — illustrative figures

Invoice

Month four of example A

YRproject B.V.
The Netherlands
KvK 97813974
To
The client (sample)
Project
Reference and deliverable(s) worked on
Professional
Name and role
Period
Month 4 · 168 approved hours
Invoiced before this month
440 h
Rate named by the professional
€140.00 per hour
#LineHours × amountAmount
1Professional's rateApproved hours 441–608 of the project168 h × €140.00€23,520.00
2YRproject fee at 20%Hours 441–50060 h × €28.00€1,680.00
3YRproject fee at 15%Hours 501–608108 h × €21.00€2,268.00
Total fee this month€1,680.00 + €2,268.00€3,948.00
Total excluding VAT€23,520.00 + €3,948.00€27,468.00
VAT, where applicable here 21%21% × €27,468.00€5,768.28
Total to pay€33,236.28
Project hour counter
608 h after this invoice — next threshold at 1,500 h
Payment term
30 days from invoice date
Payout to the professional
€23,520.00 (line 1), within 5 working days after the client's payment is received

This document is the client's invoice and the professional's payout statement. There is no second version.

The client reads

That €23,520.00 of the €27,468.00 goes to the person doing the work, and that the fee dropped from €28.00 to €21.00 per hour during this month.

The professional reads

What the client is charged for every hour, and that line 1 is exactly hours × the rate they named.

Both read

The hour counter, so both know when the next band starts.

How we earn.

The fee is our only income on a project. No sign-up cost, no mark-up hidden in the rate, no kickback from either side.

What the fee buys on a standard project

What YRproject doesWhen the work happens
Finding the right professional for this assignment, and vetting against the requirements of this assignment: experience, certificates, referencesBefore the start
Contracting: the project agreement with the client and the matching agreement with the professionalBefore the start
Credit check on the clientBefore the start
Monthly invoicing on approved hours, and collectionEvery month
Paying the professional within 5 working days of receipt, and carrying the administration and the follow-up when a client pays lateEvery month
The tools: the open book, the project map, Ask the North Sea, the Crew Forecast and the radarAlways on

Why it tapers

Most of our work sits at the front: searching, vetting, contracting, the credit check. After the first months, what remains is invoicing, paying out and staying available when something changes. So the fee starts at 20% and steps down to 15% and then 12%. A long project should not keep paying for a search that ended long ago.

Why short assignments and executive profiles are 20% flat

The front-loaded work is the same for a project of eight weeks as for one of eighteen months. On a short assignment there are no later months to spread it over. Executive searches take more of that front-loaded work.

Why we publish it

In this market the margin is usually unknown to both sides. The director of a Dutch interim marketplace puts intermediary margins at “mostly between 15% and 25% per hour worked”, rising to around 40% when intermediaries stack.1 We would rather compete on a number you can check than on one you cannot. Run your own in the Margin Check.

  1. Consultancy.nl, quoting the director of Planet Interim (translated from Dutch): https://www.consultancy.nl/nieuws/52176/wenstarief-van-interimmer-en-zzp-consultant-tot-40-afgesnoept

Payment, and what protects it.

Money flows from the client, through one invoice, to the professional. These are the rules on the way.

Invoicing

Monthly

On hours actually worked and approved. The rate and the fee are separate lines.

Client pays

30 days

From invoice date.

Professional is paid

5 working days

After YRproject receives the client's payment. Accelerated payout is not offered at this stage.

Credit check

Every new client

Before the project starts.

Suspension

More than 30 days overdue

The project is suspended until it is paid. That caps the unpaid hours a professional can build up.

Non-circumvention

Two years

Client and professional do not contract each other outside YRproject for work that came about through YRproject.

Terms, in ten lines.

A plain-language summary. It is not the contract and not legal advice. The contract is agreed per assignment — with larger clients, normally on their own framework agreement. Where a signed agreement differs from this summary, that agreement applies.

  1. Rate. The professional names the rate and receives it in full.
  2. Fee. The client pays the fee on top: 20% to 500 hours, 15% from 501 to 1,500 hours, 12% above. 20% flat for assignments shorter than three months and for executive profiles.
  3. If the client already has the professional. What YRproject does and what it costs are agreed together, per assignment: duration, hours per week, function and rate. Settled before the start, unchanged while it runs, its own line on the invoice.
  4. Self-introduced client. Same scale for the client. The professional receives rate + 5%, out of YRproject's fee.
  5. Introductions. 5% over other professionals' hours at an organisation you introduced, for 24 months from the first invoiced hour. One introduction per client; first registration counts.
  6. Day rate. One day is 8 hours.
  7. Projects. Each assignment is a project with a described result, deliverables and dates.
  8. Invoicing and payment. Monthly on actual hours. Client pays in 30 days. Professional is paid within 5 working days after receipt.
  9. Credit and suspension. Credit check on new clients. Project suspended when a client is more than 30 days overdue.
  10. Non-circumvention. Two years, both sides, for relationships that came about through YRproject.
  11. Admission. Requirements depend on the assignment. Registering obliges you to nothing and guarantees no assignment.

Read the full terms summary

Check it against your own numbers.

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