While I don't do this rate difference for my work, assuming your day rate is 8 hours that puts you at $440 for the whole day based on hourly. It's literally cheaper to hire you per hour and slowly lock you in for the whole day, even getting an additional hour off you for 9 hours at $495, than it is to just pay for your day rate. If anything, your day rate should be the discount, but, again, I wouldn't discount yourself for day vs hour unless they're trying to just get 1 or 2 hours out of you. At that point you lose out on a potential day.
Thats a good point. I guess most of the per hour work is done for additional changes to an existing project and the full day work is usually the initial branding project that takes alot more brain power.
Yeah that's kind of weird TBH. It seems like you're making it unnecessarily harder on yourself and setting yourself up for more clients to potentially take advantage of you.
"I have you for the day, instead of just this one brochure, I think you can finish a brochure, a flyer and a presentation in one day."
If they pay your day rate, are you going to their facility and working the day on site?
If not, then $55x8=$440. There isn't a real benefit to the client to retain you for a full day as long as deadlines can be met.
If I hire you to do work for me, and I say I need 4 mailers created and the deadline is in one month, how do you navigate that?
Hmm that is a good point. I did write back on the other comments, but I'll repeat it here that usually the full day projects are branding and require more strategy and the per hour jobs are either changes to existing work or stationary work, where the brand guide is already established so I'm following already set guidelines instead of having to think up concepts. But you've given me alot to think about.
That pricing seems backwards - you’re currently penalizing people for giving you predictable work at higher volumes. It should be the same rate for both, or your day rate should be slightly cheaper to entice ‘buying in bulk’.
Thanks yeah thats a good point - I guess the way I thought about it was that the people who book in for the full day are usually branding projects while the per hours are usually the stationary requests, where a brand guide is usually already established and I'm more following guidelines rather than thinking up new concepts.
Ah I gotcha, in that case it may make the most sense to charge different hourly and day rates for different services. Charge X for branding and Y for print work. It’s a common practice as some activities are more strenuous/strategic/valuable than others.
As others have mentioned, hourly rates are never good, either for you or the industry.
Regardless, your rate is whatever you want it to be project by project. If the project is an amazing add to your portfolio and the client is cool, then go with a lower, fair rate.
If the project will never/should never be in your portfolio, and the client is a bit challenging, then charge a LOT more.
I did start out with project rates when I first began, but I started to use hourly rates a lot afterwards for additional requests after quoting, and then it became easier to just have hourly rates.
With Project rates, what do you do with reoccurring work? So if you have a document that you charge a project rate to create but it needs to be constantly updated every month and the changes can vary all the time so some months its 1 hour chnage and other times its a full 8 hours. Its hard for me to estimate how long the changes will take as every month the changes are different.
I also do website design and sometimes people need graphic design changes to their website. For example they supply pictures for the site, when they are up on the site, the client wants them to be photoshopped. If I use hourly pricing, I can just do and the weird requests as the project progresses.
Completely understand. So, you create an initial fee to develop the website, not based upon how many hours it will take you to do that work...but a fee based upon several things.
These factors should consider; your experience level, the client (is it Pepsi or a local bakery), complexity of project, how valuable that project will be to your whole portfolio (meaning, will it get you more work), and to some degree, the going rate other designers are charging similar clients.
In that same contract in order for them to sign off on to start, you should have some verbiage that speaks to 'updates' to website beyond this first phase.
Again, you should consider the hours it will take you to do these differing levels of updates, but absolutely don't share those hours with the client.
Making up numbers here just to illustrate the point.
$3,500 for concept and design development of the website.
$2,700 for execution and launch.
$1,500 for significant updates to existing site. (this is where you will need to provide client examples so they understand)
$850 for typical and ongoing updates to existing site. (this is where you will need to provide client examples so they understand)
The reason for bigger, generalized buckets of fees for updates is you do not want to position yourself to the client as a gardener who cuts the grass. Your fees are bases upon your education, skills and experience. As you become more and more experienced, the time to complete a project will actually become less ands less and you shouldn't be penalized for becoming abetter designer right?
Lastly, and here's a secret most designers don't know. If a client comes to you and asks how much for a logo design, and you say $2,500 and they go to another designer of similar experience, and that designer quotes $3,000...wanna guess who the client will often pick? The latter. It's just human nature.
While I don't do this rate difference for my work, assuming your day rate is 8 hours that puts you at $440 for the whole day based on hourly. It's literally cheaper to hire you per hour and slowly lock you in for the whole day, even getting an additional hour off you for 9 hours at $495, than it is to just pay for your day rate. If anything, your day rate should be the discount, but, again, I wouldn't discount yourself for day vs hour unless they're trying to just get 1 or 2 hours out of you. At that point you lose out on a potential day.
Thats a good point. I guess most of the per hour work is done for additional changes to an existing project and the full day work is usually the initial branding project that takes alot more brain power.
Yeah that's kind of weird TBH. It seems like you're making it unnecessarily harder on yourself and setting yourself up for more clients to potentially take advantage of you. "I have you for the day, instead of just this one brochure, I think you can finish a brochure, a flyer and a presentation in one day." If they pay your day rate, are you going to their facility and working the day on site? If not, then $55x8=$440. There isn't a real benefit to the client to retain you for a full day as long as deadlines can be met. If I hire you to do work for me, and I say I need 4 mailers created and the deadline is in one month, how do you navigate that?
Hmm that is a good point. I did write back on the other comments, but I'll repeat it here that usually the full day projects are branding and require more strategy and the per hour jobs are either changes to existing work or stationary work, where the brand guide is already established so I'm following already set guidelines instead of having to think up concepts. But you've given me alot to think about.
That pricing seems backwards - you’re currently penalizing people for giving you predictable work at higher volumes. It should be the same rate for both, or your day rate should be slightly cheaper to entice ‘buying in bulk’.
Thanks yeah thats a good point - I guess the way I thought about it was that the people who book in for the full day are usually branding projects while the per hours are usually the stationary requests, where a brand guide is usually already established and I'm more following guidelines rather than thinking up new concepts.
Ah I gotcha, in that case it may make the most sense to charge different hourly and day rates for different services. Charge X for branding and Y for print work. It’s a common practice as some activities are more strenuous/strategic/valuable than others.
Nope. This is the way. Some clients have deeper pockets. Some projects are easier or more fun. Some clients are jerks and get an “asshole tax.”
As others have mentioned, hourly rates are never good, either for you or the industry. Regardless, your rate is whatever you want it to be project by project. If the project is an amazing add to your portfolio and the client is cool, then go with a lower, fair rate. If the project will never/should never be in your portfolio, and the client is a bit challenging, then charge a LOT more.
I did start out with project rates when I first began, but I started to use hourly rates a lot afterwards for additional requests after quoting, and then it became easier to just have hourly rates. With Project rates, what do you do with reoccurring work? So if you have a document that you charge a project rate to create but it needs to be constantly updated every month and the changes can vary all the time so some months its 1 hour chnage and other times its a full 8 hours. Its hard for me to estimate how long the changes will take as every month the changes are different. I also do website design and sometimes people need graphic design changes to their website. For example they supply pictures for the site, when they are up on the site, the client wants them to be photoshopped. If I use hourly pricing, I can just do and the weird requests as the project progresses.
Completely understand. So, you create an initial fee to develop the website, not based upon how many hours it will take you to do that work...but a fee based upon several things. These factors should consider; your experience level, the client (is it Pepsi or a local bakery), complexity of project, how valuable that project will be to your whole portfolio (meaning, will it get you more work), and to some degree, the going rate other designers are charging similar clients. In that same contract in order for them to sign off on to start, you should have some verbiage that speaks to 'updates' to website beyond this first phase. Again, you should consider the hours it will take you to do these differing levels of updates, but absolutely don't share those hours with the client. Making up numbers here just to illustrate the point. $3,500 for concept and design development of the website. $2,700 for execution and launch. $1,500 for significant updates to existing site. (this is where you will need to provide client examples so they understand) $850 for typical and ongoing updates to existing site. (this is where you will need to provide client examples so they understand) The reason for bigger, generalized buckets of fees for updates is you do not want to position yourself to the client as a gardener who cuts the grass. Your fees are bases upon your education, skills and experience. As you become more and more experienced, the time to complete a project will actually become less ands less and you shouldn't be penalized for becoming abetter designer right? Lastly, and here's a secret most designers don't know. If a client comes to you and asks how much for a logo design, and you say $2,500 and they go to another designer of similar experience, and that designer quotes $3,000...wanna guess who the client will often pick? The latter. It's just human nature.