Consultant day cost
What one consultant day truly costs the firm: gross salary, employer contributions, variable pay, expenses and a share of overhead, divided by billable days.
Definition
The consultant day cost, sometimes called the day price, is what one day of a consultant costs the firm. It adds the gross salary, employer social contributions, variable pay, professional expenses and tooling, plus a share of overhead. The result is then divided by a number of days worked for clients.
The denominator convention matters. Divide by actual billable days and you show the true cost of a billed day; spread the same total over all working days, bench included, and you get a flatter average. Fewer billed days means each billed day carries more cost. The day cost is the cost mirror of the day rate, and the margin is the spread between the two.
Formula
Day cost = (gross salary + employer contributions + variable pay + expenses + overhead share) / billable days
Example: An annual loaded cost of 55,000 EUR over 180 billed days is about 306 EUR per billed day. The same 55,000 EUR over 150 billed days is about 367 EUR.
Why it matters
The day cost is the cost mirror of the day rate, and the margin is the spread between the two. Without a real day cost, a rate that looks healthy on paper may barely cover the loaded salary, the tooling and the overhead share. The denominator choice shifts the number on its own, so the convention has to be stated and kept stable across the firm, or two teams will compare margins computed on different bases and draw opposite conclusions from the same billing.
How to keep the day cost honest
- 1
Recompute the loaded cost every year after salary reviews; a stale cost fakes the margin and flatters every rate decision built on it.
- 2
Count bench days somewhere on purpose, spread or flagged, instead of letting them hide in an average nobody checks during pricing.
- 3
Watch tooling and subcontract add-ons that creep into the loaded cost and quietly push the real day cost above the rate you defend.
How Okouro shows it
In Okouro, each consultant profile carries a daily cost, visible only to pricing roles and kept current, so every margin calculation starts from a real number the firm sets itself. Okouro stores that cost figure; it does not compute employer social contributions or run payroll. A free plan is available to get started.