They sent a 40-page NDA. Here’s the extra.

The quote priced a normal contract. The stack showed up after.

In 2026 the paper still arrives after the number: “legal just needs you to sign this,” “attached is our standard MSA,” “quick NDA before kickoff.” The quote you already sent assumed a normal contract — a short SOW, their one-pager, a handshake plus invoice. A 40-page NDA is not that. Sitting with their indemnify paragraph, marking the non-solicit, commenting on the IP assignment — that clock was never in the original number. Bill it at the same hourly floor you already set on the hub — yearly keep, billable weeks, a tax slice you typed there. This card does not copy that tax slice and is not a 50-state tax engine. $180 here is 2 × 90 written as money. Invoice in another currency on the hub. Still guessing at $90? Start on how to set a freelance rate.

NDA-review extra = hours you type to read and mark their paper × hourly floor. Count the sitting: first page to last comment. Two hours is 2 because you typed 2, not because this page invented a 2-hour NDA rule or a pages-to-dollars table. Four hours is 4. This card will not mint “NDA review is $500 flat,” a lawyer’s $450/hr mill, or a percent of the original quote. Clear the 2 if the stack is a weekend. The product follows what you typed. These are your hours on their clauses. This page does not advise you which clause to accept.

Worked USD: 2h × $90 = $180

Preset: 2 hours to read and mark it — because you typed 2, not because 40 pages equals two hours as a law. Floor $90. Extra: 2 × $90 = $180.

That $180 is you on their paper. It is not extra people reviewing your deck. It is not weeks they freeze other clients. It is not a free pitch. Name the dollars before you open the PDF. Do not wait for “signing the NDA was in the original fee.” This page never put a 40-page redline inside that fee.

Second preset: 4 hours on a long MSA, same $90. Extra: 4 × $90 = $360. You typed the 4. This page did not. A thicker stack — exhibits, data-processing addendum, a second schedule — is still hours × floor, still billed because the quote assumed a normal contract, still not a $500 flat and still not a lawyer mill.

You were going to eat the read

Third preset: still 2h at $90. Extra is still $180. Eating the read does not make you easy to book. It trains the next “just sign the paper.” Name the extra or give it away on purpose — do not pretend a 40-page NDA was already inside a quote that assumed a normal contract.

Four other cards that are not this paper

They did not add legal, brand, and a VP as extra reviewers of your work. Extra people on a quote that assumed one decision-maker — extra people you type × hours per extra person you type × floor — lives on the extra-approvers card. Worked there: 2 × 2h × $90 = $360. Extra inboxes are extra eyes on the same deliverable. This card is extra eyes of yours on their contract. Do not hide a 40-page read inside “legal is looping in,” and do not hide three new signers inside an NDA PDF. If they added reviewers and they sent the stack, price the people there and the read here. Two clocks.

They did not ask you to freeze other clients for N weeks. Hours you typically bill per week × weeks of lockout × this floor × the share of the week they actually block lives on the exclusivity card. A lockout empties the calendar. An NDA read fills an afternoon with paper. The NDA might contain a non-compete — that is why you are reading it — but the hours to sit with the clause are this card, and the empty weeks if you actually accept the lockout are exclusivity. Do not launder a four-week freeze into “I spent two hours on the NDA.” Read here. Lockout there.

They did not ask for a free look at their files before anyone signed. Opening a Figma, mapping scope, or writing a teardown with no invoice is unpaid discovery. That card prices a paid alternative, or writes the decline. This card is later: a quote already went out, then the paper arrived as a gate to start. Do not treat a 40-page MSA as another unpaid pitch, and do not paste a “I don’t do free discovery” line onto a contract they already sent. If they also want a free teardown, price that look there. Price the read here.

They did not ask for a paid workshop as a gate before you will quote. Hours you type × floor, billed before the project number, optional credit that starts off, is the kickoff-workshop card. 4h × $90 = $360. A half-day in a room is not you alone with their PDF. A kickoff can happen after you sign; this extra is the paper that blocked the start. Do not hide a redline weekend inside a workshop invoice.

Send the sentence before you open the PDF

Name the hours you typed. Name the floor. Name $180 (or the product on the card). Name that the quote assumed a normal contract. Copy from the card so the dollars match. If $90 is still a guess, rebuild it on how to set a freelance rate first.

• 2h × $90. The quote assumed a normal contract. 2 hours to read and mark the NDA at my $90.00/hr floor is $180.00. That is my hours on your paper — not a $500 flat, not a lawyer rate. Please confirm that NDA-review extra before I open the PDF.
• 4h on a long MSA. The quote assumed a normal contract. 4 hours to read and mark the MSA at my $90.00/hr floor is $360.00. That is my hours on your paper — not a $500 flat, not a lawyer rate. Please confirm that NDA-review extra before I open the PDF.
• Eat the read. The quote assumed a normal contract. 2 hours to read and mark the NDA at my $90.00/hr floor is $180.00. If I eat the read, I still spend the 2 hours and I give away $180.00. That is not free. Please confirm $180.00 before I open the PDF.

Skip guilt, fake scarcity, and “everyone reviews NDAs for free.” Those lines turn a stack of paper into a lecture. There is no official $500 NDA flat on this page, and no lawyer mill. If they will not confirm, do not open the file. The original quote still covers a normal contract. If the ask is actually extra people on your work, leave this card and use extra-approvers. If the ask is a lockout of other clients, use exclusivity. If they wanted a free look before a contract, use unpaid-discovery. If the $90 floor moved, go back to the hub and rebuild it before you name the read.

Planning math, not a lawyer and not a policy

Educational only — not legal, tax, or collections advice. We do not invent a required $500 NDA flat, a statutory freelancer-read fee, a lawyer-rate mill, a complimentary “just sign it,” marketplace contract calendars, or a 50-state tax engine. Use the agreement you already have. An NDA a court will enforce is something a lawyer where you work drafts before you start. Filling this card does not redline their clauses, does not tell you which paragraph to accept, and does not write that NDA. These are your hours sitting with their paper.

Inputs: hours you type to read and mark their paper, hourly floor. Outputs: read hours, NDA-review extra, one pasteable sentence. Dollars on this page; live currency and the tax slice live on the hub.

Rate calculator Extra people on your work Lockout of other clients Free look before a contract Set the hourly floor

If your billable-week count moved, set the hourly floor again on the hub before you price the read. Hours you sit with their NDA after a quote that assumed a normal contract are named here — hours you type × floor, not a $500 flat, not a lawyer mill. Extra people reviewing your deck live on extra-approvers. Empty weeks they freeze live on exclusivity. A free look before anyone signed lives on unpaid-discovery. Still guessing at the floor? Start on how to set a freelance rate.

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