Recession - driving you crazy?

[trick]

I do get the feeling that clients/companies, not all, but some, are taking advantage of the "recession". To ask for discounts just because we are in recession is quite cheeky to be frank. ...

In a recession...who doesn't ? I don't really like the car analogy, but when I needed a new one now, I would sure deal for the lowest possible price. And not only US or EU car companies are troubled by this. It's just a sign of these times. The only way to survive is proving your clients you can offer a service they can really benefit from: a service that is very different from your neighbours, a small or big company, a freelancer, another country, whatever. It's just common business sense: that just now there is a recession should not matter, since people have been and will be doing business in worser times !! Real business men are not the ones that expect clients to come to their offices without asking for the best and cheapest: that is just a legacy of the last decades when times were good !

[tricky]

In a recession...who doesn't ? I don't really like the car analogy, but when I needed a new one now, I would sure deal for the lowest possible price.

Wouldn't you do that if we were not in a recession though? I certainly would. It is difficult to compare such wildly different businesses!

The fact remains that the schemes that *are* going ahead and *will* go ahead command such high prices (yes, even in the midst of a recession) that the costs for good quality visualisation are just a tiny drop in a massive ocean.

I would also say that "real businessmen" get a fair and justified price for their work - that is the difficult bit!

[trick]

... - that is the difficult bit!

The "difficult" bit is that there are people that can offer the same product for lower prices. And with the current state of the economy you can expect them to go even far lower. Almost every client tries to remind me of that fact, and each time in return I have to remind them that there are other things to consider then just price alone. It also depends on the particular project: I also had projects with the same clients on which I recommended a far cheaper (Eastern) alternative. If you make customers aware that you want to do fair business, both parties can only grow.

Another "difficult" bit is that ArchViz is a very technical profession, for the larger part. In the old days, good illustrators were almost 100% artists and that is why prices did not change very much while there were no computers doing their work. The technical part of this work can be optimized either by working harder or automation which will eventually lower prices even more.

Talking about regulating prices is very difficult in this regard, since this will more lead to a discussion about the effects of global economy and if protectionism is the answer to that...

[mike_kennedy]

Good luck with protectionism in a internet based society for digital art......not like the files have to cross through customs

[Morbid Angel]

not to be funny...but I actually had a nice suprise from a whole recession thing today: I went to buy my self a new leather jacket, mine has served me for 11 years and has been wornd and torn and so I desided it was time for a new one. Came to the same store (danier leather) and found that similar jacket which I had bought for 11 years ago now costs about 60% less then what I paid for it then. So happy to buy a new one

[zoranm]

found that similar jacket which I had bought for 11 years ago

Ha,ha.This is typical male stuff. I do the same thing when buying things: look for the same shoes I bought 3 years ago! Or I buy 3 pairs off pants at once, which drives my wife crazy, he heWomen just don't get male logic...zoran