Price

[glorybound]

It's time for the talk again. Are you seeing prices go up, down, or are they maintaining? I have had several people this year come to me with projects that their 'normal guy' would have done, but $2000 an image for their quality seemed high, after seeing my work (blush). It's odd that all three people were being charged $2000 an image, so that makes me think that it is some kind of going rate for a good rendering. I say good because all the examples I was shown were ok looking rendering. Personally, I don't charge $2000 an image and I always discount other images of the same space, like the other side of the house. For the front and back of a 'normal' house would cost around $1300. I have so much work my head is spinning most days, so less work for more money would be a good thing. Anyway, thought?

[OPEN_RANGE]

I am not seeing pricing going up, that's for sure. My pricing hasn't changed much in 10 years or more. What I work on may have some more complexity than other suburban or urban houses. More, architectural complexity, varied materials, site work, background photography etc. For me $2K for the first exterior seems about right on most projects. some more others less. A second exterior is almost always less probably about 1/2 the cost.

Less work for more money is a good way to go. In practice it may be easier for some than others. I'm low overhead, debt free, no kids and I like to do a lot of other things aside from working, That said I've almost never turned down any work. Most people who contact me either hire me for the work or don't. Very rarely do I get hit on to negotiate down. I almost never hear about other guys who will do it for less. An old adage, "If no one ever complains about your price, then you aren't charging enough." Though I seem to charge at the higher end, I am not having any complaints so maybe.....?

I'm also mindful that the time and costs of writing proposals, communicating with the client, providing some update(s), software subscriptions, maintaining and buying equipment and resources, skill development, invoicing, accounting, web site management, archiving,etc is not factored into what I charge.

[fixeighted]

Personally I charge a rough day rate which I'll convert to a project rate if the project demands it. This rarely seems to go wrong as I've done enough to be able to
assess stuff accurately. Caveat: there are always curve-balls and occasionally I feel I've made a slight loss or misunderstood something that makes my quote too low.
So that day rate takes into accoount what the client seems to think they want and I have had zero complaints over the years, so that's good.
I do a lot of different stuff other than archviz, although mostly it's houses etc. recently, so having a day/project rate is the only way to do it.
I have to say that I also do try to be sensitive to people's budgets, so can do more for the rate than is strictly necessary - but that's just how I see my work and I don't care really.

Regarding the change is costings....hmm. Well my rate has actually gone down from what it was a few years ago. This, for me, is down to the fact that simply more people are doing what we do and they are doing it for less,
so I want to still compete. Also, tech has leaped so far that more can be done, better, quicker, for appreciably less. Example would be that we probably all used to spend way too much time in Photoshop before it was possible to
effectively do it all, or most, in the render.

So I guess it's really a case of 'horses for courses' and it's really not possible to compare like for like, in situations that can vary quite radically in terms of what country you're in and what other overheads/commitments etc. go into
your pricing structure. I reckon what you're currently saying you charge seems fine for the scale of the places you commonly do.

As a comparison, I am currently doing a large farm site for which I quoted £1200 and you can see if you reckon it's either worth it, or I'm undercharging, when I post it shortly

Final thought - Bobby....too much work is reeeeeally bad for you!
Do less, be happier

[francomanko]

too much work....lucky I dont have much and what i do have, is real estate work that im doing at a depressingly low rate.

[glorybound]

I do feel blessed and thank God daily, so no credit to me. The economy is doing well here, so there is a lot of things being built. I think architects are realizing that they can't compete with quality in-house, so they are looking for a good outsourced resource. Also, the real estate brokers are finding that if they can show what the property can be, they can turn it over faster for a higher profit.

[JuhaHo]

Shouldn't the pricing reflect the benefit, the customer gets when purchasing renderings. It means sometimes one gets bigger earnings per hour and sometimes not. Those being not, can be justified for instance if they can be counted into R&D costs.

[JuhaHo]

I think it's good idea to buy some books about pricing. I bought recently this: Hinnoittelu on helppoa ja hauskaa (Pricing is easy and fun). It contains 55 tips how to rise Your prices up to the skies. With wrong pricing people keep on losing money as well as transferring their own well-being to their customers.

[glorybound]

I think it's good idea to buy some books about pricing. I bought recently this: Hinnoittelu on helppoa ja hauskaa (Pricing is easy and fun). It contains 55 tips how to rise Your prices up to the skies. With wrong pricing people keep on losing money as well as transferring their own well-being to their customers.

I have watched a lot of videos on pricing, which have greatly helped. I'll look into the books you suggested, thanks!

[JuhaHo]

These books I was referring, were written in Finnish. I have bought pile of those self help books covering topics like: how an office worker should eat, how to maintain brain health at office work, how to get things done, how not a seller sells...

[glorybound]

Yeah, I found that out .