"The hot topic"

[Harutium]

I know this topic 's been "the hot topic" in many occasions, but it is never clear enough, at least for me!
It's been quite a long time since I haven't done any corporate/office building modeling/rendering so I don't know how much a possible competitor could be charging or the amount of hours this work could take me!
It is a 12 stories building: 4 parking floors and 8 office floors, located in South Florida and the client asked me for a quick estimate.
Could you give me any clue on how much for the first exterior rendering and how much for any additional ones, please?
What amount $$$could be kind of average for CG market for this particular case?
Thanks a lot!

[cpnichols]

$5000 and $3000 if you are good. $2000 and $1500 if you are ok and it is a quick and dirty job. $500 if you are in china (cost of living is that much less there).

[ihavenofish]

or,
you could actually calculate what it COSTS you to make this end product and charge accordingly.

i have never been one to subscrbe to arbitrary pricing, particularly when given by people who are not in your market. not to say that cpnichols price is arbitray to himself, but to someone living on the other side of the world, with most likely entirely different overhead structures, it is more or less meaningless.

try to find out exactly what you need to spend to create this work. figure out what you want on top of that. then bill that price. everything costs you money, your software, hardware, office/house, phone, prints, driving to see the client, etc, etc, etc... dont just blindly create prices without at least knowing if you can handle the concequences (starving yourself may well be one of them)

there isnt going to be any fixed dollar value for what a viz/model/animation/render is worth. not even in the same area. picking $5000 "cause i'm good and i think its worth $5000 cause this person said so" can generally lead to disaster, either by losing cash cause it wasnt enough in the end, or losing the job because it may well have been "worth" only $99 to the client.

hell, i've charged $5000 just to re-render someone elses crappy viz. and on the other side, ive charged $1000 for an animated flythrough of an office building. i billed these according to how long they took, and ended out on top on both. if i were to have made up the prices just from asking "what someone else charges for a flythrough and a re-render" i'd have totally screwed myself on both counts, eating it on the re-render, and losing the fly through.

so, the moral of this story is, dont just pull pricing out of your ass. it will come back and kick it in the end.

damn, thats one lame moral

later

[gafl]

Hi,

I may help you telling you that a company in Poitiers ,I live here(France) , did ask
about 4000 FF a half day (600 euros) to make architecture rendering and
maybe modelisation.
It didn't work.

In Nice or somewhere not very far from there, another company did
propose its services in 3D... for 400 FF an hour (60euros)

When I started I proposed 26 euros an hour, then now I'm at 30 euros an hour.
Well It's not enough, but life is very hard.

A residence costs 1000 euros more or less sometimes 1500euros.
A house costs about 500 euros.
People are not ready here to pay 1 or 4 images at that price.They don't
really understand, it is "just" an image.

So, it's not easy to find a good price when you don't belong to a group.
You have to think to your taxes if you are honest, and it's a huge part.
For instance, at the end of this year I do not have any money left, I had
to give about 4000 euros in different taxes.
So There is no christmas this year.

Another important thing, if you're not a dealer,like me, that's a very bad point.I give too much service to make the customers happy without charge.
"Trop bon, trop con !"

It's very difficult ! be carefull !
Bye !
Gael

[plastic_]

if it's your first building your going to be very, very slow.
say you need 1 week for it...if you were experienced with architectual rendering you'd need one day. that would be about 500-1000 EUR probably.
as gafl says, don't expect to make huge money when you work for architects.
the number of images hardly plays any role, unless it's a lot. it's more important if you also need to render interiours, which can be quite some work. the requested detail is also something to consider.

[Dynedain]

As usual, these questions are all answered here:

CGArchitect.com

Read all these articles, starting at the bottom and working your way up. Very very good advice and info on how to handle pricing, costs, dealing, contracts, etc.

[Fastdraw]

holy crap im a student and when im out of school. im going to under cutt you greedy pll out.are you friging kiding me.no wunder the world is the way it is.(may god forgive you)

[RErender]

LOL fastdraw, hope you don't eat much

[Trapezium]

holy crap im a student and when im out of school. im going to under cutt you greedy pll out.are you friging kiding me.no wunder the world is the way it is.(may god forgive you)

Good point... you're a student Maybe you should check this link before you try to get any werk www.spellcheck.net

--Jon

[percydaman]

holy crap im a student and when im out of school. im going to under cutt you greedy pll out.are you friging kiding me.no wunder the world is the way it is.(may god forgive you)

read this link before making more of a fool out of yourself smartypants...

http://www.cgarchitect.com/upclose/article2_DW.asp

and yes you are joe doe.

[Fastdraw]

No wounder you all charge so match your client are paying for your
living expenses that's crap.this is a art form not a service.
Price should be on your talent . Like all art work price and demand.
You type of pll make me sick you all expect every 1 else to pay for your crap. I drive a BMW so IM going to charge you 5000 buck for a 500 dollar job give me a break.
.IM in school steel and published many projects.
Why is that you ask because I under cut you other pll.
I've payed off my student loan got a new car and now working on a house.
All from projects I've worked on. And the funny thing is I didn't charge over 1000 for any of my work.see that's the difference between me and you I love art work all kings . And think every 1 should be able to get it for a price
cheaper than you all money grabbing people charge.
See when I go to sleep @ night I sleep good cuss I know where IM going when I die. How well do you all sleep.
Dont be mad @ me because you all think your better then every 1 else.

[Dynedain]

No wounder you all charge so match your client are paying for your
living expenses that's crap.this is a art form not a service.

Are hollywood movies an art form or a service? Are architectural water colors for a big box retail development so the developer can get his project past city hall art or a service? Is doing CG reconstructions of a crime scene art or a service? Is producing a commercial art or a service?

Get off your high horse and welcome to the real world. If you want to do "art", then by all means, do your own art and try to sell it at art shows and the like. But when a client wants a visualization created of something that doesn't really exist, that is a service. It may be art, but it is more importantly a service. The vast majority of us here are doing service work, not art. Zuliban's work is art. My personal work is art. The renderings I have done of tract housing and custom housing, tv set design, movie teaser trailers, mutlimedia presentations, and animated studio logos have all been services. There is an art to them, but they are still services.

Yes, it is always a plus to be fortuneate enough that your work is something you love doing - awe inspiring results come of this. But it is still work, it is still a job, and you still need to get paid.

Should we all charge really low rates and go work at McDonalds to make up the difference we need in our living expenses? Or is working at McDonalds "art" as well.

Go back to your cave, troll.

[Trapezium]

So Y kNoT dEw It FeR FREE


--Jon

[ezrhythm]

yeah, why not undercutting the price when you live with your mom, you mom pays the bills, your mom cooks, your mom buys you XBOX games etc...

i am off to play Desert Combat. i am pissed off...

[percydaman]

No wounder you all charge so match your client are paying for your
living expenses that's crap.this is a art form not a service.
Price should be on your talent . Like all art work price and demand.
You type of pll make me sick you all expect every 1 else to pay for your crap. I drive a BMW so IM going to charge you 5000 buck for a 500 dollar job give me a break.
.IM in school steel and published many projects.
Why is that you ask because I under cut you other pll.
I've payed off my student loan got a new car and now working on a house.
All from projects I've worked on. And the funny thing is I didn't charge over 1000 for any of my work.see that's the difference between me and you I love art work all kings . And think every 1 should be able to get it for a price
cheaper than you all money grabbing people charge.
See when I go to sleep @ night I sleep good cuss I know where IM going when I die. How well do you all sleep.
Dont be mad @ me because you all think your better then every 1 else.

your little misspelled rant couldn't be further from the truth. Raise your hands if you drive a bmw and live in a huge house........

The fact of the matter is that Im sure most of us make an average wage. Do you have any idea how much it costs to start a studio and keep it running? The thousands spend on software alone???? The thousands spent on hardware???

I think I can pretty much guarantee that you've burned your bridge here...move along....

BTW, love your flaming logos...they're so.... artsy....