Professional Daily rates

[Al]

Having a bit of a discussion and Google is a dead end result.

What would you charge as a daily rate for a media/computer professional? For those that don't know I work in Post-production: film editing, titles, effects, colour grading etc etc.

I need to start working out rigid day rates for my clients rather than a account by account rate which invariably works out me doing far more work than originally quoted.

I want to hear from anyone who does anything similar ie: web designers, graphic designers etc (based on probably a project quote divided by how long you spent doing it)

I have a good client list on projects (see website), just nothing "major" ie: an advert or feature film.

Any help, much appreciated - as I'm sure you'll realise it's hard to value yourself. Too cheap and you sell yourself short, too much and it may put off people who won't realise I'd be worth that amount.

I am based in London with my own equipment (this can be considered towards charging more)

 

[DrDrew]

Don't know if this will be any direct help, but at my old company I think graphic designers were charged out at roughly £350 - £400 per day. This was mainly for web design/branding and short animations, and was far out of London.

 

[Al]

From what I've seen that sounds about right for mid-graphic designers. Such a load of guess work. Last thing I want to do is say to this new client I've got £200 a day and then end up braking my back doing 25 hour days because they figured it'd take no more than £400 to produce. It's all a bit sensitive this early in the game.

 

[Matt]

There are so many things that can contribute to what you charge. Personally I charge by the hour, but quote for an estimated time (ie. quote 8 hours work at X per hour). Although some of my projects are based on a flat rate (ie. PSD to Wordpress is a fixed cost).

It's even harder to go by what others charge as they have different overheads, etc. You need to consider how much you NEED to earn to make a living, cost of rent, any travel, equipment, etc etc. I read a good article on this recently, will see if I can dig it out.

What I find hardest is not how much to charge, but how many hours to quote. I rarely manage to get work done in the quoted time and end up having many late nights trying to get work finished. Lesson learnt is to always add to your quote. I've been told to add an extra 50% of time to cover this extra work or even double it but personally I think that's too much. It's only human to care but we all need to make a living right!

Edit - Can't find it, but I'm certain it was FreelanceSwitch;

https://freelanceswitch.com

https://freelanceswitch.com/money/how-to-tell-when-your-rates-are-too-low/

 

[Al]

Cheers Matt, that's useful.

Through a bit of digging I've found the company that in house freelance me charge on my behalf £300 a day. If only I saw that!