House Prices

[glorybound]

I have this guy pop up a couple of times a year, asking for prices. Each time I quote and each time he says that I am about 2X more than the others. Each time I wish him luck with his project and that's it. I don't know if he forgets each time and I wonder why he isn't using the same person each time unless it is just a game of whoever is the cheapest. He does say that he doesn't mind paying more for better, however, not twice as much. He sent me these five houses and I told him that they are all about the same size and complexity, so I told him $800 per house. Now, I do these all day, almost every day, so I know I am not charging more than I am worth and I would be silly to do them for less if I don't have too. My question is, some of these are pretty complex, so who is doing them for $400? The fourth one might be $600, but I averaged. If you do the math, the person is making something like $5 an hour. It is about a two-week project, I am estimating, as long as I got timely feedback.

What are your thoughts? BTW, I love the watercolors.

[glorybound]

Also, often I get the "you cost more" and then they sign with me anyway. This afternoon I got a deposit through PayPal, I didn't recognize the name so I looked the project up. It was from someone early last month who said I was too much. The same thing, I wish him luck on his project and went on my way. I can only imagine this guy went cheap and now he is paying again.

What do they say? "If you are not told you are too expensive at least half the time you are not charging enough".

[joconnell]

Also wasn't it "If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur."

[glorybound]

These people do the floor plans, selling them on their site, so they have to know what goes into drawing things. The modeling time alone is worth more than what they say they can get these done for. I can guarantee that they called someone in the states, who simply shoot these overseas. They probably pay someone in China $200 and they pocket $200 for doing absolutely nothing. I know this because, not only have I had these calls and emails from China, but I have guys in the states call me and discuss this very proposition; teaming up with them. Now, if the quality was there it would make sense, but it isn't. I tried several of these guys from China and I wasn't able to use what they sent, even as a starting point.

[flino2004]

At $800 per house to make sense, it has to be done in 1 or 2 days...Those houses have a lot of repeated elements so It's possible to get it done in a day and a half.

[glorybound]

At $800 per house to make sense, it has to be done in 1 or 2 days...Those houses have a lot of repeated elements so It's possible to get it done in a day and a half.

So, are you saying $800 is a good number #? I could do it in 1/2 day, but it would look like crap. To add, people who complain about price are harder to please, these might take 3+ days per house.

[sirio76]

It seems you get a lot of work request Bobby, my advice is to skip cheap projects and concentrate only on quality/pricey works.
You’ll will face a lot of competition on cheap work, this will force you to keep both price and quality low, it’s far from ideal and most of the time you will have the same amount of issues with clients regardless if you are doing a cheap work or a pricey one.
By selecting only the best clients you can concentrate on quality, improve your skills, work less and earn the same or more.

[andybot_cg]

Bobby - those are not week or more projects! Just modeling one of those houses is probably an hour or two tops. If you have a nice environment library, you can pop those into a background and wha-la, you've spent half a day.

[glorybound]

Now, how can you model even the easiest of the house in an hour? I'll have to hire you for the modeling part . Half a day per house, heck, I can do them for $250 per house.

[andybot_cg]

Well, I do use sketchup, so maybe I'm cheating I'm saying, once you have a workflow, including pre-made backdrops, and some 3D to watercolor workflow (I use Fotosketcher) the house exterior model is the only thing you need to spend much time on. I always ask for CAD elevations, and it's super quick to throw the model together in SU.

[glorybound]

These guys didn't want the watercolor look. These are the houses that they are doing over and these are the three-decade-old watercolors that they currently have on their website. I don't use SU, but if it is faster, I might take a serious look at it. I also get the CAD elevations but model them in MAX. When I model, I also use RailClone, so all the siding and roofs are geometry, which takes some time.

[flino2004]

So, are you saying $800 is a good number #? I could do it in 1/2 day, but it would look like crap. To add, people who complain about price are harder to please, these might take 3+ days per house.

I would charge a minimum of $1,200 for photorealistic quality. If they want to apply filters to looks like watercolor if up to them. but it can be done in 2 days( 8 to 10 hours per day) with very good quality.

[glorybound]

$1200 per house or $240 a house? Please, tell me per house, or are you happy with $12 an hour? I can be a people greater at my local Walmart for $16 an hour.

[JezUK]

BricsCAD Shape is a 'clone' of SketchUp and is free. It also works in DWG and not SKP file format which I'd assume is easier on the import side of things. Haven't used it much, but looks incredibly like SketchUp to me (I've just bought BricsCAD and it's literally identical to AutoCAD, only better in my view).

[glorybound]

It is madness. I have been taking calls from someone for months. We had a number and then he passed it to his COO. 45 houses, with three options for each house and then three color options for each. I gave the smallest number that makes sense and this COO said my price blows their budget out of the park. So, your budget was $25 a house? Really, what are these people thinking? Why waste my time with your garbage!