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Day rate is the most important profitability metric in CharleOS. It tells you how much you’re earning for each day of work delivered—higher is better.

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The Two Day Rates

CharleOS tracks two different day rates that tell you different things:

Sold Day Rate

What you promised to deliver at based on the contract

Actual Day Rate

What you’re actually earning based on work done
The difference between them shows whether you’re over-delivering or under-delivering relative to the contract.

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Sold Day Rate

The sold day rate is calculated from the client’s contract and represents the agreed-upon value:
This rate is fixed—it doesn’t change unless the contract changes. It’s your baseline for measuring performance.

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Why 7.5 Hours Per Day?

CharleOS uses 7.5 hours as the standard billing day. This is an industry-standard measure for professional services—a full day’s worth of billable work.

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Actual Day Rate

The actual day rate shows what you’re really earning based on work delivered:

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Why “Prorated” Revenue?

Using prorated revenue prevents early-month inflation. Without it, if you logged 1 day of work on day 2 of the month, the system would divide the full £5,000 by 1 day = £5,000/day (artificially high). With prorating, on day 2 of the month with 1 day logged:
  • Time used: 450 mins (1 day)
  • Time allocated: 3,600 mins (60 hours)
  • Prorated revenue: £5,000 × (450 ÷ 3,600) = £625
  • Actual day rate: £625 ÷ 1 = £625/day ✅
This correctly shows the day rate based on work delivered.

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Understanding Variance

The difference between sold and actual day rates tells you how well you’re performing:
Variance
Actual day rate > Sold day rateYou’re earning more than expected per day. This happens when:
  • You’re delivering efficiently (completing work in less time)
  • You’re banking time on tasks
  • Estimates are accurate or conservative
Example: Sold £625/day, Actual £700/day = +£75 variance (+12%)🎉 This is good! Keep it up.

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Day Rate Thresholds

CharleOS uses thresholds to categorize performance and trigger alerts:
Breakeven threshold: £680/dayBelow this, the agency is losing money (0% EBIT). Clients below breakeven should be reviewed urgently for:
  • Scope management
  • Estimate accuracy
  • Process efficiency
  • Contract renegotiation

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Over-Serviced Clients

A client is “over-serviced” when the actual day rate is significantly below the sold day rate—meaning you’re giving them more work than they’re paying for.

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Severity Levels

Example: A client with £625 sold day rate but £440 actual day rate:
  • Variance: -£185 (-30%)
  • Classification: Severe over-servicing
  • Action: Urgent review needed

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Where to See Day Rates

Day rates are displayed throughout CharleOS:
See your personal weighted average day rate across all clients you’ve worked on. This shows your overall profitability.The weighting is based on billable time—clients you’ve spent more time on have more influence on your average.
Each client profile shows:
  • Current sold day rate (from contract)
  • Current actual day rate (from work done)
  • Month-over-month trend
  • Variance from target
  • Status badge (green/amber/red)
This helps you track client profitability over time.
If you’re a Client Success Manager, you’ll see the average day rate across all your clients. This shows the profitability of your portfolio.
Managers see their department’s weighted average day rate, showing overall team profitability.
Admin users see the agency-wide weighted average day rate, showing overall business profitability.
The agency dashboard includes a sortable table of all clients ranked by day rate (lowest first). This helps identify which clients need attention.

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Worked Examples

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Example 1: Efficient Delivery

Scenario: You’ve delivered a client’s work more efficiently than allocated. You’re still on target even though you used fewer hours—this is efficient delivery creating banked time.

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Example 2: Over-Delivery

Scenario: You’ve logged more hours than allocated. Even with over-delivery, the day rate stays consistent because prorated revenue accounts for the extra work value delivered.

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Example 3: Over-Servicing

Scenario: You’ve logged many more hours than allocated without proportional value. Wait—shouldn’t this be negative? Not quite! The day rate stays at £625 because prorated revenue scales. However, you’ve delivered £7,500 worth of work for a £5,000 contract—that’s over-servicing at the contract level, not the day rate level. The key is: day rate measures efficiency per day, not total contract value.

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How Day Rates Are Calculated

Day rates are calculated and stored in several ways:
1

Daily Snapshots

Every night at 1 AM UTC, CharleOS captures day rates for all clients, departments, users, and the agency. These snapshots enable trend analysis and historical reporting.
2

Real-Time Calculations

When you view dashboards or client profiles, day rates are calculated in real-time based on current billable time entries and contracts.
3

Weighted Averages

Personal, department, and agency day rates use weighted averages based on billable time. Clients you’ve spent more time on have more influence on your average.Formula: Sum(Client Day Rate × Days Worked) ÷ Sum(Days Worked)
All day rates in the database are stored in pence (not pounds) to avoid floating-point precision issues. They’re converted to pounds for display.

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What Affects Day Rate

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Things That Improve Day Rate

  • ✅ Efficient delivery - Completing work faster than estimated (banked time)
  • ✅ Accurate estimates - Setting realistic expectations that you can beat
  • ✅ Clear requirements - Reducing rework and scope creep
  • ✅ Focused work - Minimizing context switching and distractions
  • ✅ High-value contracts - Negotiating better rates with clients

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Things That Hurt Day Rate

  • ❌ Over-runs - Tasks taking longer than estimated (overage)
  • ❌ Scope creep - Doing work outside the agreed scope
  • ❌ Poor estimates - Underestimating complexity
  • ❌ Rework - Fixing mistakes or misunderstood requirements
  • ❌ Inefficient processes - Manual work that could be automated

Utilisation

Day rates measure profitability per day, but utilisation shows how many of your available days are billable

Efficiency

Efficiency (banked time vs overage) directly impacts your actual day rate

Retainer Plans

Day rates are calculated from retainer plan monthly costs and hours

Billing Model

Understand how value-based billing affects day rate calculations

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Tips for Improving Day Rates

Regularly check the Client Day Rates table on the agency dashboard. Focus on clients in the red or amber zones.Ask:
  • Are estimates consistently too low?
  • Is there scope creep happening?
  • Are processes inefficient?
  • Should we renegotiate the contract?
Look at which clients have the best day rates and why. Can those practices be applied elsewhere?
Better estimates lead to better day rates. Review past tasks to calibrate your estimates and use T-shirt sizing consistently.
Scope creep is a day rate killer. Make sure everyone understands what’s in scope and use change requests for additional work.