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Quotes or hourly rates? Your pricing, how do you value your time?

Thread title: Quotes or hourly rates? Your pricing, how do you value your time?
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04-29-2011, 01:54 PM
#161
grilaje_mobile is offline grilaje_mobile
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i have a fixed rate no matter what

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06-15-2011, 10:00 AM
#162
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I am charging a fixed rate as well. I think what works well for me is when clients ask to lower my rate I still do it with the same level of commitment and expertise. In the long run it will all pay off to be able to build my profile.

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06-23-2011, 11:44 AM
#163
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Jaydee, and others

I hope if you lower your rate you are similarly limiting the services you provide. Not the quality of course, the quantity.

This is one reason why, as many of you know, I'm a strong advocate for project-based or fixed rate pricing.

When the potential client responds to your proposal with "I love your plans but $40,000 is too much," you an reply with "Okay, I'm willing to do this and this and this for $20,000."

You're not undercutting the calculations you made about what you need to earn to stay afloat. You're not giving in to what's known as scope creep and you're not setting yourself up so that this client (and his friends) always expects a discount.

07-05-2011, 09:48 PM
#164
Firefall is offline Firefall
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Thank you I've never been sure what to charge. It's one of those things that makes freelance work a little intimidating.

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08-02-2011, 09:01 AM
#165
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I keep a set hourly rate for services that includes overhead, and use these as the basis for fixed rate quotes for clients. This helps me construct accurate quotes, and still allows me a reference for small jobs that might only take 1-2 hours.

Over the years I have learned this works best for me.

The most dangerous clients are the penny pinchers - those who expect $5,000 worth of work for $1,000 - they are the first to complain, they always expect more than what they are willing to pay for, and they SUCK THE LIFE OUT OF YOU.

For this reason I am always wary of changing a quote after delivery. If someone says "$5,000 is too much, but how about $4,000?" my tendency is to say sorry, can't help you. In some cases you might be able to remove features, but often you'll spend more time trying to shave down features and still maintain a workable app than you would have just building the features in the first place.

It's a tough call but sometimes it has to be made. If a client says "well, so and so can do it for HALF that!", then tell them they should go with so-and-so since it's such a great deal!

12-03-2011, 07:36 AM
#166
Glen_B is offline Glen_B
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Originally Posted by Julian View Post
In response to a topic I recently replied to, I thought it would be good to explain my costings on projects.

I always quote clients unless they want to pay me by my hourly rate. My reason for quoting is that sometimes I can complete a project very quickly and offer the client a discount, which looks really good to a client If I go over time in the project I have to carry the costs, which reduces my profit.

Over the period of a year I always make a good profit. Bigger clients always want quotes, then they want the quotes broken down to hourly costings. This is easy to do after a couple of years of project work, but can take time at the beginning. So if you are just starting I suggest you begin with charging by hourly rates.

Now onto pricing and working out your hourly rates.

I charge out at $100/hour which is fairly standard in my country ($65 US/hr). A 5 page site may take me 3-4 weeks or longer to complete, depending on a lot of factors. Therefore 3-4 weeks at 40 hours/week x $100 = $12000-$16000. I tend to adjust my pricing per client too, if it is pure business client they pay full price, if it is a school/personal site then they get reduced pricing. I may look expensive to some, but I value my time properly.

My hourly rate is broken into numerous factors i.e:

Actual time value (I value my skills and creativity highly): $50/hour
Equipment/software (computers, printers, Photoshop etc): $10/hour
Office space (home office, rented or owned): $10/hour
Overheads such as electricity, printing, phone calls, internet costs, communication, stationary etc...: $10/hour
Profit: $20/hour

My prices also take into account days where I may be sick and cannot work, or holidays I wish to take and won't be paid for etc, or just downturns in business.

I can afford to hire a couple of freelancers, if need be, on bigger projects, and still get $20/hour of profit. If I do the entire job myself I get $70 hour for myself

Now you may be able to eliminate a lot of these costs such as overheads, office space, software etc, it's up to you. But everything you have purchased for this business is a cost. If you don't consider these costs then you are paying for them out of your own pocket. No business pays for these sorts of costs from their own pocket. The business pays for them!

Here is a scenario:

If you are selling a template for $25 and it took you 6 hours to make it then your time is worth $4.16/hour. Broken down that equates to:

$2.08/hour - your hourly rate
$0.42/hour - equipment software costs
$0.42/hour - office space
$0.42/hour - overheads
$0.84/hour - profit

If you are a youngster it is all profit, because you don't pay for equipment, software, office space or overheads. But your hourly rate is still only $4.16/hour.

If you sell your template for even less, you are lowering the industry value even more.

I know that pricing is relative to age but please consider your futures. If you continue with the trends you will lower the whole industries value. It will in turn mean that you will devalue your future income by what you are doing today. I know some of you just want to make a quick buck to buy a new PSP game, or an iPod etc, but please think of the consequences.

If you are a late teen then you should be considering charging near full prices, something in the $50-$75+ bracket, commensurate with experience etc.

Now if you have managed to sell the template for $250 then everything looks slightly better:

$20.80/hour - your hourly rate
$4.20/hour - equipment software costs
$4.20/hour - office space
$4.20/hour - overheads
$8.40/hour - profit

It is still a ridiculously cheap project but is getting closer to where you should be.

For a 6 hour project I would charge $600, broken into:

$50/hour - your hourly rate
$10/hour - equipment software costs
$10/hour - office space
$10/hour - overheads
$20/hour - profit

If I do the job entirely by myself I can consider dropping the profit margin to $5/hour. I can also consider dropping overheads costs such as phone calls and printing if I don't use them...maybe $2/hour. If my equipment is new and modern and software up to date I could reduce or drop this cost to $2/hour or so. Maybe reducing the whole job to $69-$70/hour or less in some cases. So a 6 hour project could be charged at $390 or so, instead of $600.

In all be flexible, don't price yourself so low you will lower the whole industry, and remember you are charging for more than just your time.

Comments?
Wow. I actually copied all of these as I have been looking for a more sane way of dealing with clients.. at least this is something that is fair on both ends.

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12-07-2011, 04:20 PM
#167
DesignSteez is offline DesignSteez
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nice post man. thanks. this really helped me out alot.

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03-25-2012, 05:32 AM
#168
freelancer_dame is offline freelancer_dame
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Thank you for this helpful article. I still consider myself as a newbie freelancer. I write, so I guess the hourly rate for writers is lower than designers? Am I right here?

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