Freelance payment advice...

# 1 27-01-2005 , 12:01 AM

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Location: London

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I need a little advice regarding payment for a job I’m currently doing.

Basically I’m designing and making a PowerPoint presentation for a certain organization, and later I’ll design some samples for a web site on the same subject (i'm not the one making it though).

They’ve asked me to tell them what I’ll charge for doing this, however, as I’m not a freelancer or a not a ‘professional’ I a) don’t want too overcharge them, and b) don’t want to undercharge.

So generally I just want some advice on this. Would £100 be sufficient, or would £200, £300, £400 or even £500 be better....

Time involved in this includes the production time, meetings, and amendments etc.

Preferably i'd prefer advice from people who have had experience in freelance work/billing people etc although i'll appriciate any replies.

If preferred you can contact me via PM.

Thanks in advance.
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Yeah, but no but yeah but no....

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# 2 27-01-2005 , 06:41 AM

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Have you checked what other content providers are charging in your area? There's a book in the U.S. called the Artist Market which deals with this type of thing. Don't know if there's a UK/EU version, but see as how a great majority of graphics related magazines originate there, I'm sure your local book story or library will have something on that. The one thing I can safely recommend, is don't take on a job without first negotiating terms.

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"If you love your job, you'll never work another day in your life."

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# 3 27-01-2005 , 08:30 AM

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there is such a book... a direct translation of the US book, with the prices still in dollars... !
______________________________________________

i would bill hourly including:
1 what you want to earn
2 part of the cost of what you are going to use (amortization of the cost of programs, cameras, expendables n stuff...)

they wont want to pay transport n meals n stuff so i goes in what you want to earn...

they will expect you to not bill them the meetings even if those are 3+ mornings... (so calculate an average and include it on your hourly billing)

if you have to copywrite, translate or even worse, copy a paper text back to digital because theyre so cheap as to not give it to you in a digital format, dont forget it: "you bill the same for typing as for designing, and you type with 2 fingers..."

also dont forget if you are going to go full time to set aside your taxes and social security payments... those can be scary at once if you forget em...

if all of that surpasses by far the average prices in your area you can a) talk them into acepting it because of how great u are and how great the project will be or b) swallow what they offer and do more projects in less time (but dont let they know it took you less time)

talk about money and changes (and what changes to the project cost) before accepting it... they will want lots of changes, always, be the project good or bad, if they are free

bear in mind that you would probably want to be paid as soon as you give them the finished project, and they will generally want to pay you sometime between the end of the current month and the end of the next of even second ot third month...

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# 4 27-01-2005 , 08:07 PM

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Thanks for the feedback. user added image

Just some notes to consider… The job is kinda, to some extent, informal. And, I’m not charging hourly, but rather a total amount.

I got the work from a colleague and have actually already started the job. Origanlly didn't expect to be paid for it, and considered it some work for the CV/experiance etc. It was them who said they'll pay me, and i'm sure they'll pay whatever i ask for, however i dont want to rip them off, just as i dont want to rip myself off.

I've kinda got an idea of what i'll like charge, but i've got nothing to compare it against.

Yeah, but no but yeah but no....

Last edited by doodle; 27-01-2005 at 08:09 PM.

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# 5 02-02-2005 , 03:37 PM

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https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...books&n=507846

Is this the U.S. version of the book?

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# 6 03-02-2005 , 08:25 AM

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Hi z1mmnd14

I had to do a similar thing recently, basically it involved doing a PPT presentation at a conference in York to show company members a rough idea of a new website for them. I live/work in London as a freelancer so it was quite a treck for a 15min presentation.

The difference between your situation and mine is that I'd been brought in to design their logo and website so it was worth keeping the PPT presentation charges lowish to keep them sweet.

I costed it outright at £200 but they paid for first class train tickets, overnight stay at a 4 star hotel with lunch and breakfast thrown in. You should consider an hourly rate to make it worth your while and let the client know what to expect to pay. This presentation took only a couple of hours to put together but I was charging for the design work seperately.

I charge different hourly rates for PPT, Photoshop, Quark and 3D work, if it's a big corporate company or advertising agency then coming in cheap as beans doesn't help you get the job.

Hope this helps.

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# 7 03-02-2005 , 10:57 AM

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how much do you bill in the UK for example for a logo?

In Spain the standard for a logo for a small company is somewere from 600€ to 2000€ for three rounds of 6 propositions/variations each of the silhoutted logo with B/W and upto 4 colours and a sheet with the final logo with the color codes n stuff and a beauty render of the logo for screen... yet i keep having to lower my prices below it in order to get em... (in fact the last one i had to include it for free to sweeten the webdesign deal...):grrr:

Have you done any full corporative identity change? if so tellme the details plz

POWERPOINT IS EVIL!

Last edited by dragonfx; 03-02-2005 at 11:04 AM.

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# 8 03-02-2005 , 11:51 AM

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Your logo charges are pretty close to mine dragonfx, which are upwards from £500 for small companies, like you say including screen wallpaper. Usually have to wax lyrical about colour theory and form, which I hate having to do.

I haven't had to go through that many rounds of propositions for one job but I suppose you'd up the price to cover for the extra work. I've done logos and idents for TV productions but not a full large corporate id change.

I had to do some work for a design company that were doing a major oil company ident change and they made an absolute fortune out of it. They split it into two stages, a small change before the major shift, saying it was too radical a change for the consumer to take in one go. One job for the price of two.

There was a whole team of people working on colour boards based on their colours which included photos of snooker balls! A helluva lot of flannel.

Last edited by Squid; 03-02-2005 at 12:00 PM.

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# 9 03-02-2005 , 09:20 PM

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Good info guys.

I'll also be taking into account the fact that i will be updating their web site in the future for them.

Yeah, but no but yeah but no....

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# 10 03-02-2005 , 10:58 PM

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That's where a minimum time charge of an hour would be handy, you could charge a maintenance fee monthly, quarterly or annually but that way you might be stepping into the unknown with a small company.

I'd start them of with an hourly update charge at least until you've got a good idea of their requirements then you can negotiate a fixed monthly fee with reasonable conditions imposed, extra for animation for example.

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