Definition
The daily rate, known in France as the TJM, is the price billed for one day of work by a freelancer, an agency or a services company. An assignment billed by time spent is priced by multiplying the daily rate by the number of days used; the final price is therefore only known at the end.
It differs from fixed-price work, where a described scope is sold at a price and a date set before starting.
Why it matters to a business owner
For a business owner, the daily rate makes it possible to compare proposals and estimate a budget. It says what a day costs; it does not say how many days the project will take, nor what will be delivered at the end.
It suits assignments whose content cannot be set in advance: advisory, coaching, team reinforcement. For building software, it shifts the risk of overrun onto the client.
What Stratedge Consulting does
The agency sells builds by scope: a described lot, a price, a date. A project without a written scope is paid for in unbilled back-and-forth, on both sides. Floor prices are public, Sprint from €6,000 excl. VAT and Program from €15,000 excl. VAT. See the Engagements.
Time is billed by the day or by the hour only when the format calls for it: the consulting hour by video call at €300 excl. VAT, the on-site consulting day at €2,000 excl. VAT, the AI Training day at €2,500 excl. VAT. The Partnership, from €2,500 excl. VAT per month, reserves two days of production per month, carried over within the quarter.
Common mistakes
Comparing two providers on the daily rate alone. A low rate with more days costs more, and a high rate without a scope protects you from nothing.
Signing a time-and-materials contract with no milestones or deliverables. Without a checkpoint where you see what has been delivered, the invoice moves forward and the project not necessarily.