For years, I was terrible at estimating projects. Here’s what changed.
For years, I was terrible at estimating projects.
I’d tell a client it would take 40 hours, and somehow it always turned into 60.
Every time, I had to choose between explaining myself or eating the extra time.
At first, I thought I just sucked at planning.
But it wasn’t my hours — it was my structure.
My proposals looked clean and professional,
but they didn’t show what was behind the numbers.
One day I’d had enough, I decided to break a project down properly.
No more “Phase 1: Design” or “Phase 2: Development.”
Instead, I listed everything, step by step:
- One-time costs — design, development, integrations and more
- Recurring costs — hosting, domains, maintenance, everything that client needs to know about future costs after the project is done
- Milestones — grouping all one-time work into clear stages with pre-payment, description and deliverables
It wasn’t fancy, but it worked.
For the first time, clients could see the moving parts — and finally understand the price.
That changed everything.
After doing this manually a few times, I noticed I was rebuilding the same Notion template over and over — just changing numbers, checking formulas, updating dates.
So I built a small internal tool to make it faster.
In Leadsleek.com, every proposal is built around real structure, not slides.
You add milestones, one-time and recurring costs, and the app:
- Auto-calculates total and recurring costs
- Estimates deadlines automatically based on many customization options
- Adjusts timelines dynamically when you change scope
- Ties payments to milestones so clients see exactly what they’re paying for and when.
- Lets you share via a single link — no PDFs, no decks
That’s how Leadsleek was born — a small SaaS for freelancers and small teams who want to stop guessing and start quoting with clarity.
Project estimating isn’t about getting the math perfect.
It’s about showing your work.
When clients see what’s behind the price, they stop questioning it —
and you stop doubting yourself.
Leadsleek just makes that process faster, clearer, and easier to repeat.
🧠 Try it free for 30 days — no credit card required.
👉 leadsleek.com
(It’s still in Beta — if you find bugs, you can report them inside the app or email hello@leadsleek.com)
