What do I charge for this

Reznik

Welcome to another edition of Newbie Freelance Artist Has No Idea How To Set Prices

I made a header for a website for a friend of a friend's business. Not particularly difficult. Maybe 4 or 5 revisions, 3 hours of work total? I have no idea what to charge, obviously.

I've done freelance work before, but it was a poster/dvd cover for a student filmmaker and obviously they didn't have very much money so I did all that pretty cheap.

Also, this is just kind of an on-the-side thing that I do while I'm at school. It's not like, my regular job (well technically it's my only source of employment right now but it's not an official business is what I'm saying).

Halp?

Nappuccino

I don't have any experience with this, but this would be a good question for the A/C's question thread if none of them see this thread first.

(my gut says 75-100... but I don't really know- you definitely don't want to undercut other artists too much and cheapen their efforts)

LewieP's Mummy

I charge £20 an hour ($30) for paid commissions, so an average painting works out at about £300. So far, people are happy to pay that, I tell them it up front, as soon as they ask me to paint something - then they have the choice to say no. So far, only 1 person has.

MushroomStick

When your starting out, a good starting point would be like $30 an hour plus expenses. So Nappuchino's 75-100 guesstimate is pretty good.

Forbe!

I charge about $80/hr. I have a lot of overhead though.

bowen

Yeah $40/hr + expenses is my average. Minimum 2 hours billable (even if it's only 5 minutes). I'd say around $80 for that.

EggyToast

Concur with $40/hr. Add a premium if you are particularly skilled or in-demand. Add a discount if they're friends/family, and the discount should be based on how close you are to them (your call, of course). Add a discount if you are not particularly good so what would normally take someone an hour takes you two. But $40/hr is a good starting point to start thinking about money, and you can adjust up or down from there.

Deebaser

40-50 an hour is a good rate. In this case I'd go with about $100.

Reznick in the future remember this simple rule:

NEVER AGREE TO DO THE WORK WITHOUT SETTLING ON THE RATE!

Nappuccino

Forbe! wrote:

I charge about $80/hr. I have a lot of overhead though.

I think it should be noted that Forbe works with metal, like a badass

Unterpreiz

Just chiming in to parrot pretty much what everyone else has already said. Find an hourly rate, consider the skill-level to produce, multiply by the hours it took, and that's how you get the amount to charge. I'd say $20 an hour for design/webwork even for a pre-college level freelancer is undercharging.

After going to school for 5 years for art, I wouldn't do any art/design/web related job for less than $30/hr and that's bare minimum, too! So, yeah hovering around $100 is about right. And, as Deebaser beat me to saying-- try not to work without at the very least a verbal agreement/understanding on hourly rate/cost before engaging in this sort of stuff, at best-- hammer out a quick contract. I haven't run into the issue yet, but especially with friend-of-friend type work, they can get some massive sticker shock if they don't realize how much something should cost upfront.

Deebaser

Unt has it. The other thing is, if payment hasn't been discussed, your friend's friend may think you did this for "exposure" or your "portfolio" or something else that would justify him being a cheap fuck and not paying you fairly for your work.

Please don't take this too harshly, but he may not treat you like a professional (right or wrong), because you weren't acting like a professional. I really don't mean any offense. Everyone who has ever freelanced in the history of forever has made dumb rookie mistakes.

If you come at him with $100 and he counters with something offensive like $40, try to negotiate something a little better, but really it's a learning experience. Don't burn the bridge over it. If he does come back or refer you to someone else, just make sure the terms are clear beforehand.

GOOD LUCK!
GET PAID!

bowen

Yeah when discussing a proper business website people get a sudden case of the ohshitsies when you tell them that no, it's not going to cost $50.

And yes, it will cost $4000.

DoctorArch

Get this book: Graphic Artist's Guild Handbook of Pricing and Ethical Guidelines.

Reznik

Awesome, thanks for all the replies. Yeah, I should have talked price before doing anything but I haven't actually worked on anything like this in forever and it just sort of fell into my lap so I wasn't thinking properly. The person I'm doing it for is most definitely not expecting it to be free, though. The friend who got me this gig has done web work for them before so luckily it's not a "Well my nephew can do this for $5" kind of situation. I think I'm going to go with about $80.

Also definitely going to check out that book. That's exactly what I need.

Thanks!

peridot

I charge $50/hr, but I've been working full time for the last 3 years. This is my rate for friends.

However, next time, agree on a price beforehand and at the very least get an email confirmation. You should for any freelance jobs you might have.