Professional SU-ers, what do you charge?
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Hey everyone
In my current job, I've recently started implementing sketchup and podium to my workflow (I work for a Loft Conversion company based in Cardiff - Wales).
I'm looking into freelancing for other companies and just wondering what experiences you have doing so?
At first I'll just be doing rendered stills of interiors & exteriors.
I'm thinking of targeting architecture firms, and planning consultants (who don't already regularly offer 3D services to their clients).
Currently I've only done 3D for my current job (though the company is a big player round here, my portfolio is obviously limited!).
I have no idea what the going rates are for stills at this sort of level.
Does anyone else here freelance in a similar way to this? Not just UK, I'm curious as to everyone's experiences doing this.
Thanks in advance to anyone who de-confuses me!
Thanks
Mike -
I too would be interested in knowing what Pros charge for SU work, weather by the piece or by the hour.
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Hmm didn't think of by the hour..
I think I'd prefer per job to make it simpler for me to fit round my day to day work -
@mrmikeesq said:
Hmm didn't think of by the hour..
I think I'd prefer per job to make it simpler for me to fit round my day to day workSomehow you need to think of per hour - even though you charge by the day. You must estimate how many hours you will need to complete the task, then based on what your own expenses are, bills etc, you work out how much you must charge in order to make ends meet.
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By Hour!
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I doubt many folks are going to disclose what they charge on an open forum however they may discuss how they charge.
Mike, If I understand correctly you are full time employed and wanting to supplement your income by doing work on the side right?
If that is the case you need to first think about how much your free time is worth, cost of living really is not a factor here as you are already gainfully employed.
I cannot impose my system of rates as I'm 100% freelance and price out work using many variables, all designed to keep me busy and a steady income.
Which also means I do a lot of boring, repetitive stuff that can really make the job I love stale fast.-
Portfolio, you need a good portfolio of work that sells your abilities, words are meaningless in the industry, results sell contracts.
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Availability, no point in being good if you are not available, so do not bite more than you can chew, existing customers get preference over new.
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Never under sell yourself, settle on a price that you feel is fair to both you and client, every job is your last job, use all your previous experience's to make it your best job.
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break up a project into modeling/setup and rendering times, I do not charge the same rates for rendering as I do for modeling/setups as rendering is a process that the computer does (or in most cases your networked machines do) so it's not fair to charge a client at the same rate. I generally charge 1/2 my modeling rate for rendering time.
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Ah yes all that does make sense
Then again I'll be working that out myself and just giving fixed quotes to the clients, rather than keep them on the line and charging them laterI really have no idea of the vauge range though
My role at work is changing lately, and I do have time to do this 3D in work hours. I can't seem to find consistant prices online though, I hear very different things from place to place, from cheap for stills to hundreds and hundreds, its very confusing
I understand people don't want to say their rates though, so I'll have to keep hunting.. -
What does your company charge your client for your time? Think of it that way.
If currently you make $15/hour at your job, you must realize they probably charge the client $60-$75 for your time. So that model that takes you 50 hours to complete, they give you $750 - woohoo! Well, except that they are actually charging the client $3,000 (@ $60/hour). So start figuring out how much time you spend on stuff currently. Then figure out what your company is charging their clients for your work.
Then realize that no one will hire you for that rate, because they still want to make a profit on your time. So if the company you want to freelance for has estimated they can charge their client that same $3,000 (that is not information they will disclose with you, that is something you have to guess at) - then they will not pay you $3,000 because they want a percentage gains still. They probably want 50% or more. So 50% of $3,000 would be $1,500 and that is about what I think you could charge, which is about double what you currently make per hour.
That is one way to estimate how much you should make per hour.
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Interesting...But with that conclusion it seems extortionate for a set of stills! Unless I've got this industry all wrong
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@unknownuser said:
Unless I've got this industry all wrong
I quite often see job listings from clients who clearly don't appreciate the amount of work involved.
Only the other day I came across someone who wanted 4 or 5 high quality image sets per week (3-5 images per set), but were only willing to pay $30 per image - and that included modelling.
The worst thing was that they already had a freelance artist producing visualisations for these fees, but were looking for someone else to help with the workload.
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Hmm, it seems 3D is worth more in general than I thought.
Not surprising I didn't have a clue, I only know how to do any through hobby. -
Well I have a (poor) salary and no matter how many models and images I complete in a month, I earn the same.
Sometimes I have to work against the clock, sometimes I have a week for something very simple. But, of course, my job is not always about modeling/rendering...
If I do something freelance, I'm also lost when they ask me how much, and I think I tend to ask for less than I should -
Hmm, it's definitely confusing due to the many different charges people put on their work, and then there's the variable of quality etc.
I'm in contact with an architecture firm at the moment who claims their current 3D guys charge too much, and take too long (they said a week..). I'm curious as to what they were paying -
@mrmikeesq said:
Hmm, it's definitely confusing due to the many different charges people put on their work, and then there's the variable of quality etc.
I'm in contact with an architecture firm at the moment who claims their current 3D guys charge too much, and take too long (they said a week..). I'm curious as to what they were payingThat's the thing - many expect illustrations for nothing. Giving no thought to how long it takes to produce the work. And what worsen the problem is that many under-charge their work.
So you need to create a clear picture of how much your time is worth in order to make your own ends meet. If a client expects a render for $20 - then walk away. If anyone questions your rate, explain how you need to charge per hour spend like in every other profession. If they don't understand that - walk away, they are not dealing with you professionally. Spend your valuable time on finding good clients instead.
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@thomthom said:
If a client expects a render for $20 - then walk away. If anyone questions your rate, explain how you need to charge per hour spend like in every other profession. If they don't understand that - walk away, they are not dealing with you professionally. Spend your valuable time on finding good clients instead.
That sounds logical (and fair), but the problem comes when you live in a city with more than 20% of unemployment, where besides, the few jobs available are for bartenders and shop asistants.
Then when you find a client, they expect to see you crawling for that "small job", and if you don't someone will be more than happy to take the job for whatever he can charge...
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$20 a render isn't a job. If someone else will work for that, then good luck to them. They'll burn them selves out for nothing. It's not sustainable.
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Here's something you can hang your hat on.
You'll find the average for Europe is about $500-$2,000 for a still. You can sell your time for less or even to pro bono work but both are highly frowned upon. As has been mentioned its unsustainable and only adds to the misconceptions about what we do which makes things harder for all of us. You'll end up being frustrated that you're spending all of your time and energy on a project that isn't as fun as you'd thought and only making $10/hr for what you're doing. Then all of your repeat work from that client will be equally frustrating because it's hard to raise your prices when you originally worked so cheap. And you'll get references from cheap clients but those new clients will also expect the same cheap rates.
As Pete mentions, you have the freedom to not scrounge around for cheap clients shelling out jobs so don't fall into that trap already. Just take the reasonable paying jobs from clients who aren't looking for a bargain rendering.
All that said, you shouldn't expect to be able to charge $1,000 for a rendering if you don't do good quality work so you need to be a little flexible.
-Brodie
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Well that's a lot higher than I expected. Of course there's different context for different works, residential, commercial, directly to client or freelancing to architects etc.
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It could be calculated roughly with just a few numbers:
Like:
Expected income per year : $50,000 (a bit lower than average here in Norway)
Add 20% for expenses, hw/sw etc : $10,000 (may be more or less?)45 weeks each with 20 hours work (don't expect to get work full time all year) : 900hours ea year.
$60,000/900h = ~$67 per hour.
You may set the h/week lower, like 10h? Then you end up with $130/h.
It is really a simple calculation. What is more difficult is to calculate how much time you're going to spend on doing the job.For fixed price projects you'll need to know/calculate how much time you'll use for making the model + rendering and compositing.
Could you do it in one day or less, or would you need more time?
I typically calculate with halfday blocks (4h), and usually calc at least one day for a normal/small project.
As I also usually travel and photograph background photos (and often a HDR 360-probe/pano for lighting/reflections) that is calculated/added too.
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