Rate for Compressing Video for Web

[Greg Ball]

I normally charge a flat rate especially if it’s NOT something they need immediately. Otherwise they pay my hourly editing rate.

[Ryan Hamilton]

Greg said,

I normally charge a flat rate especially if it’s NOT something they need immediately. Otherwise they pay my hourly editing rate.

The questioned asked was how much should he charge. This again is like all the other posts on rates. People comment but never actually share what their rates are. Are you all scared to say what it is you charge? It not like rates are the secret recipe for coca-cola. Sharing them among peers and your competition should be a good thing. If more designers, videographers, photographers shared their rates and established a true industry level cost for certain areas then clients make their choice based on quality and style. It should be if your level of work isn’t good enough to compete with the industry you don’t make it. Not the other way around.

[Steve Wargo]

Some people like to keep their rates a bit of a secret. So, all you have to do is call em and ask what their rates are. I don’t quite get it. But, I think what Greg was saying is to charge whatever your rate is, whether that’s $20 an hour or $200 per hour.

For a 30 second spot, I would charge $ 50, same as if I was laying it to a BetaSP. They pay it or move on. No deals. We compress it and upload it to our server and send an e-mail to the recipient with a url and a password. So easy, even a caveman could do it.

Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!

Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck
2-Sony EX-1 HD .

[Zane Barker]

Chill out Ryan,

There are a LOT of factors that go into what you are charging. And one of those factors is LOCATION. Some one in L.A. or new your is going to be charging quite differently then someone in Bosie ID or Topeka KS.

As for my thoughts on the question. Some of it also depends on if I was the one who was hired to do the original production and edit. If I was then I would most likely do it for free. Also if it is a client that you do work for often then just do it.

To compress a 30 Sec spot for the web only takes minutes.

Now if it is just a complete stranger off the street, then sure charge him. And I would say that charging 1/4 to 1/2 your regular hourly rate should be fine. If this person os going to be coming to you often with 30 sec spots that need to be compressed , then you could work out a better deal.

The price of a nice lunch sounds good.

And yes Ryan the price of a nice lunch is going to be different in New York then in Topeka KS.

Don’t let technology get in the way of your creativity!

[Ron Lindeboom]

[Ryan Hamilton] “Sharing them among peers and your competition should be a good thing.”

There is NO WAY that I am going to tell my competition what I charge. I will tell them LOTS of things. I will share all kinds of information and things that can help them. But my pricing structure? Never. Nope. Nine. Nada.

Why?

I arrived at it through all the steps that many here have outlined. Steps that involve analyzing your business, your market, your real costs and on and on…

Will I and many here help people analyze these things and come to their own conclusion? Yes. But will I hand someone a magic window that gives them a breakout of what each type of work costs in my business? Nope.

If that offends you, which it seems it does based on some of your comments around here, then you need to understand that there are many many years of business represented across the pictures that host this forum and each of them gives a LOT of free advice. They learned long ago that there are no magic answers for rates, policies, etc. You have to review your own circumstances and abilities — along with the kind of customers you attract. You charge $50 an hour for motion graphics work. Me, I wouldn’t open After Effects for $50 an hour and my customers wouldn’t want me to. They wouldn’t take me serious if I did. But that’s because I don’t make it the #1 part of my business. It’s just another service I offer. If I were doing After Effects work all the time, then $50 an hour MIGHT make sense, just so I could keep my job log more full. (But I doubt I really would under my present situation, though based on circumstances, your mileage may vary.)

That’s the point: prices change with circumstance, situation, overhead, customers, etc., etc. — and that is why only someone starting out in business throws out rates like there is nothing to it. It’s actually quite amateurish, really.

BTW: If you EVER make another post around here in which you treat someone with the same kind of discourtesy that you treated Paul Del Vecchio when “critiquing” his website, with all the personal insults and whatnot, I will show you the door in an instant. Capeesh?

Have a nice day,

Best regards,

Ron Lindeboom
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronlindeboom
Publisher, Creative COW Magazine
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[Tim Tschudin]

Thanks everyone and sorry I didn’t mean to stir up a hornets nest. And thank you Steve, I think I will bill it just like making a dub.

Tim
Fence Post Creative

[Steve Wargo]

Well Tim, we’re just replacing one task with another and I don’t believe in charging less money as time goes on.

Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!

Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck
2-Sony EX-1 HD .

[Mike Cohen]

depends upon your business model. If you make your income from piecemeal work, then you have a rate for that. If you make your living from project prices, ie, $XYZ for finished product, then compression and mastering may be part of the package price, and a client who is paying for a project from soup to nuts probably doesn’t care about individual costs. Some do and want an itemized list – which may have more to do with internal budgeting procedures.

Mike

[Steve Wargo]

Ryan

A long time ago, being sort of new and having a very cool office, I kept a lot of tapes in a shelf unit, in the office, with clients names printed boldly on the labels for everyone to see. Sort of a “Look who I’ve got for a client” kind of attitude.

A “friend” of mine used to visit my office once a month or so just to kind of pick my brain and we’d exchange ideas.

I started losing those brag clients, one by one. Hmmmmm. I started to ask around and discovered that my “friend” had several of my big accounts. It turns out that he knew my rates and knew who my clients were and he went to them with a “better offer” and some of them were stupid enough to take it. Two of them were PetSmart and Blue Cross – Blue Shield. His quality and experience were far less than mine but he had a better price.

All but one of those clients came back.

I keep my rates to myself.

Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!

Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck
2-Sony EX-1 HD .

[Ryan Hamilton]

Ron,
So are you implying that $50/hr for AE is to low? or to high? I’m curious to know for your location at what rate your clients would take you seriously.
Secondly I meant no disrespect to Paul. I was being completely honest and not affraid to do so.
When asking for a critique I’d expect the best and the worst. It’s only the worst that drives me onwards and actually improves my work. And people who lie and say things are great and aren’t completely honest I feel are doing me a complete disservice. Capeesh?