Freelance quote in Algeria: a downloadable template and a method to set your rate

The question comes up for every new freelancer: “how much do I ask for?” The answer that works is not to copy a competitor’s price, but to start from what you want to earn net and work up to the rate. Here is the method, a worked example, and the quote to download to put it into shape.

Download the quote template

• Quote, English (.docx)
• Devis, français (.docx)
• عرض أسعار، عربي (.docx)

Replace what is in square brackets. The tax mention is left “to confirm”: no text we read says what a quote from an auto-entrepreneur under IFU must show about VAT. This template is ours and has not been validated by any administration.

The method in five steps

1. Set the monthly net you want. It is what stays in your pocket after tax, contribution and costs. Example (invented, to illustrate): 60,000 DA a month.

2. Add your costs. Internet, software, a computer to depreciate, transport. Example: 5,000 DA a month, so 60,000 DA a year.

3. Add your compulsory charges.

• IFU is 0.5% of turnover, with a minimum of 10,000 DA a year for the auto-entrepreneur. At a modest turnover, the minimum applies.
• CASNOS: the flat 24,000 DA a year, or the standard 15% contribution on a base of at least one annual SNMG. The flat option is the lower of the two, but the rights it opens need checking: see flat fee or 15% and the CASNOS calculator.

4. Work out the annual turnover you need. In the example: 720,000 DA net (12 × 60,000), plus 60,000 DA costs, plus 24,000 DA CASNOS, plus 10,000 DA IFU (0.5% of that amount would be about 4,000 DA, so the 10,000 DA minimum applies): 814,000 DA a year. You can check with the freelancer net income tool.

5. Divide by your billable hours. You do not bill 8 hours a day: there is prospecting, quotes, admin, slow clients. Example: 22 days of 8 hours a month, 60% billable, about 105 hours a month, 1,260 hours a year. Rate: 814,000 ÷ 1,260 ≈ 646 DA, rounded to 650 DA an hour.

The 60% is our starting assumption, not a statistic: track your own hours for a month.

From rate to project price

A client wants a price, not an hourly rate. Estimate the hours, multiply by the rate, add a margin for the unexpected. Example: 40 hours × 650 DA = 26,000 DA; with a 20% margin (our rule of caution, to adjust), 31,200 DA. Put a fixed price on the quote, with what is included and what is not.

Keep the 5,000,000 DA yearly ceiling in mind: if your rates go up, track it with the ceiling tracker.

What a good quote contains

• Your details, your card number, the date, a number, and the validity period.
• The client and the project.
• The breakdown: description, quantity, unit price, total.
• What is included and what is not, and the number of rounds of corrections.
• The delivery time, running from the deposit.
• The deposit and the payment schedule.
• An “approved” line with the client’s date and signature.

A signed quote also has legal value. The Civil Code says that with a fixed price you cannot claim an increase for changes unless the client authorised them with an agreed price, and that agreement must be written (art. 561). If the price is not fixed in advance, it is set by the value of the work and the expenses (art. 562), so with the risk of a disagreement. See the template contract and, if the client does not pay, the formal notice.

Clients abroad

If you bill in euros or dollars, convert at the day’s rate to compare with your dinar rate using the DZD converter, and read receiving a payment from abroad before sending the quote.

What we could not confirm

No text we read requires a freelancer to give a quote, or sets its form or the tax mentions (VAT) of an auto-entrepreneur’s quote. The calculations above use invented amounts to show the method: redo them with your own figures. For the rest of the path, see the list of steps after the card and the auto-entrepreneur invoice.