Day rates. How do they work?

[Richard Herd]

My wife’s a vegetarian. Even when she orders her meals without the beef, we still pay for the beef.

[Scott Carnegie]

“I would suggest that if you’re getting 1-hour gigs, that you may wish to take a long look at your business model.”

I had phone call one day where a client from Toronto needed some shots in Winnipeg a few days later at a store of a surpirse prize winner. Get the shots of the celebration, some b-roll, quick talkie with a few people and out the door, send off the tape.

One hours work for a half day rate plus charge for equipment, nothing wrong with that business model.

http://www.MediaCircus.TV
Media Production Services
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

[Ed Cilley]

[John Davidson] ” My theory is that if you rock it in 5 hours when somebody else would take 8 or 9, you get the whole day. You shouldn’t be punished for being fast and good.”

Amen!

Good clients will quickly learn how much you accomplish in a given amount of time.

In response to Rick’s original question …

[Rick Turners] “If the freelancer completes the days task in 4-5 hours…Is it right for the freelancer to get his full days rate?”

That’s the clients problem, not yours. If they only have 4 hours of work and book you for the day – you were booked for the day. Yes, it is right for you to get a full day rate. If they constantly overestimate (or underestimate) the number of hours needed, and don’t learn for their misspending of dollars, and ask you to change your rate, then you will be the one who takes the hit. Money is a great teacher.

Ed

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Anything worth doing at all, is worth doing well.
– Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield

[Patrick Ortman]

>>where we will plague them with harassing phone calls

Bob is my hero.

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PatrickOrtman, Inc.
Los Angeles Digital Agency and Video Production Company

[Stan Parker]

As someone who’s just getting started in the industry, it’s really helpful for me to get a lot of different perspectives on how things work, (although I could do without so much of this bickering).

I work in a small city as a one-man operation. I handle the clients, shoot, edit, and deliver. For me, an hourly rate has worked out pretty well. Sometimes clients want a lot of small changes, and as they add changes, your hourly rate keeps them valuing your time. And some edits or revisions only take me 3 minutes to complete.

I also saw the question asked: “If something takes me 4 hours to complete that would have taken someone else 8, then is it okay to charge a full day rate?” To me, I don’t think it’s that big of a deal if you and your client are both on the same page as to how your billing system works. I don’t think there’s any degree of “dishonesty” there. However, I think I would just prefer to increase my rates as I get faster and better, so that at some point my half-day rate is the same as the other guy’s full-day rate, and they’ll know that I’m worth it.

Thanks everyone for all the thoughts.