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pricing question with AE project
I am creating a simple effect for a guy with 4 different videos. It’s going to be all the same effect, I’m just going to add in a shadow for a person shot on a green screen, so it shouldn’t take that long. He wants to know how much to charge him. I’m thinking this will only take about an hour to do. I have no idea what to charge him, any ideas? Btw, this is my first paid freelance job. So I don’t have a clue.
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5 Replies
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I also have the same problem. Anyone’s got an idea? Should I charge by the hour or by the complexity of the effects? I think that if I charge by the hour, it would end up like charging for the complexity since a more complex project requires more hours of work.
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I see this question a lot. There is no definitive answer. Some would say $250 per shot or $25 an hour some say that’s too low or too high…etc.
Put yourself in the clients shoes. Should they pay you $20 and hour as you fumble around in AE? Not saying that you would, but if you are proficient enough, how about estimating a total cost: 4 hours of work at $50 an hour = 200 per shot. This way you can make a lot of money or some learning money and the client wont mind when you drop by creativecow.net to figure something out. (in fact if you do it late at night no one will know…)
Most people like to know exact costs to get a project done. Give them a fair rate and be honest with yourself about your skill level.
And as Ron Lindeboom might say, ‘there will always be someone cheaper’ than you, but as long as you do quality work “they will come”.
Andrew Kramer
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Welcome to the hardest part of motion design/ visual effects, making money. The latest issue of the COW magazine has a focus on this very subject.
To me you should never charge less because you think it might be easy. First it well never stay easy. Second if you only charge X for this then your client will always want to get work done for X easy or hard. Time is Time. The place you might make a concession is say you thought it would take four hours and it really only took four hours (remember to count the time you talk to the client about the project as well) then if you feel like you were able to multitask while doing the four hours and you got some other work done, as well as your sure that this client is a good one then discount the time. Not the price per hour.
It’s always tough to get going, but it’s even tougher to make money if you give away the work.
TonyTony
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“Shouldn’t take that long” are famous last words. You will almost always run into a wrinkle with this sort of project (greenscreen was shot by someone who has never done key backgrounds, lighting is uneven, videographer forgot to shoot a clean plate, etc.).
We have all been burned by the “how long could it take?” thought that first hits us when a project comes in. What I generally do is a rough guestimate of the worst case scenario, then quote the client based on that time plus about a quarter more time for contingency fee (that’s for when the client comes back after you’re done and says “I love it, but could you just move the shadow a little bit to the left?”). Quote the client the high price, letting him/her know that it’s based on your knowledge of the project at this point, and that you will bill for actual hours involved (at whatever hourly price your market will bear – it’s $25 to $50 an hour here in NH, depending on the level of expertise needed – I bill $100/hour for 3D work).
Bear in mind that the client ALWAYS remembers the first price out of your mouth, so if it’s high, and you come in lower, the client is happy. If not, you won’t see that client again. Good luck.
Joe Bourke
Art Director / WMUR-TV -
Estimating and quoting on work becomes easier with experience. You say the work may only take an hour — really?
Do you have to capture / encode the video, export to a specific format, deliver on any specific media?
In addition to competitive rates and your skill level, these are all costs and times that need to be considered when estimating a job.
Your time on the computer is only one element of the job process. Will there be client approval meetings? Will you upload the files to a server? All these take time — yours. That an your skill is what you are selling.
I tend to quote by the job and avoid quoting an hourly rate.
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