Price Range

[glorybound]

I have been getting some inquiries about architectural rendering, asking for a price range. I want to say that it would be like going into a car dealership and ask how much is a car? Typically I give a range, however I am just trying to appease them. What do you say when asked that question? I tell them that a lot goes into pricing a project, however if I have to give an answer, blah blah blah.

[Raven]

Yeah, I often get, "how much does a 10 second animation cost?"

I Just say it is impossible to give an answer without a brief, or at least an example of what is needed.

[im.thatoneguy]

I agree with the other Gavin. It's just not possible. So you should spend your time coming up with clever ways to explain why it's impossible. Our favorite analogy is "How much does it cost to build a house." Houses are one of the few built-to-order large ticket items most people have experience with. And when you make a house analogy you can say "It will depend on the design, how many floors there are, whether you want marble counter tops, skylights etc. It costs as much as you want it to cost. The important question is how nice of a house do you want?" We will then usually say something to the effect of "Our studio's standard day rate is around #####, how many days it'll take will be determined by the concept and the fit and finish that you're looking for."

[glorybound]

I give them some answer, which kind of pre-qualifies them. Sometimes it's almost an educational moment. I have even sent sample contracts to show exactly what a service like mine is. Most of the time the range isn't an issue and we move to the quote. Other times I get things like, "What? I was thinking $50 - $100". I have had people think that the number I quote means I stick with the project no matter what happens, like I have some kind of skin in the game. One lady called furious about someone she just fired become he refused to make anymore changes. After I sent the sample contract, and explained how it works, she felt bad. I asked how many changes he had made, and she said, "what does it matter?" I asked if he charged per hour and she said, "no, it was a flat fee".

[Morbid Angel]

The way I quote jobs now days is if I'm asked to give a ball park number then I take my daily rate and x2 on it. Then I take a guesstimate on to how long a job would take me. For example 30 work days. I then take this number and multiply it by my hourly rate * 8 * 2 and get the final number.

The reason I do it this way is:

lets say your hourly rate is $50 per hour. And you work 8 hour day.

Then your client cannot expect you to work more then 16 hour day at any given time. So you protect your self by giving your self additional maximum time. I'll explain a bit more.

For jobs where there are many things involved, like assets, animations, renders etc its impossible to predict the total cost (as every one else already pointed out) By giving your self additional $ time you cover those expenses like remote farm rendering, countless revisions, and so on.

I've just been in a situation like this. I quoted a job using such method. It was slated to go for about 4 weeks. I had to deliver final raw renders. After we were done, my client received a bunch of notes and a new deadline for another 4 weeks.

This means now I will have to be working additional 4 weeks for free. But because I had done this, I'm safe for this period of time.

I also put clause in my contract saying that when you exceed a certain number of revisions, its overage and that value is going to be decided later.

If you complete the project on time and it was smooth sailing, then what I do is give my clients some discount, that always makes them feel good and you know you made a nice profit (every body wins).

[glorybound]

I do 100% architecture, so mine is a little bit of a commodity. They want a picture of their house; almost like they are hiring a photography. I decide how many days it'll take me to do it and I multiply it by my daily rate. I don't budge and I have turned down a lot of work. I get requests like, "if I give you all my work can you do it for a discounted price?" I did a kitchen for a kitchen designer. I quoted him a price and he said that it was ridiculous. He ended up calling back and accepted the quote. He has emailed me three times over the past year asking if I can do them for 1/4 of what I charged him if he sends me all of his work. With a little arrogance, I told him that I average a 30 day backlog and it makes no sense for me to discount my rate.