Increasing my rates

[jf design]

Hi everyone

I am a graphic designer with 12 years experience. I have been freelance for just over a year now and am thinking of increasing my fees. I mainly work direct to design agencies, there's about 20 companies who I work for currently (some very regularly, some just occasionally). I think my fees are slightly lower than average for my skillset and ability and I want to bring these inline by increasing them by about 15%.

I'm not sure how to word this to my clients. I guess I need to give them a reason, apart from "I think I can charge you a bit more than I do now"! If anyone has any advice or opinions on how to approach this I'd be really grateful.

Thanks

[Dave L]

My view? 15pc sounds like quite a hike in one go; it'd be different if you were able to say that you hadn't revised your rates in, say, two or three years but one year in sounds a bit soon for such a hike (an annual increase is fine: correcting an error you feel you made in setting your prices less so). If I were one of your clients I'd want proper justification for it and just might see what other options I had before I signed off an extra 15pc on any work I wanted to farm out.

In short, give it a go if it's important to you or consider either waiting a while or settling on a lower figure.

[Katedesign]

It's always difficult to set your fees - you probably got them wrong in the first place!

It does depend a bit on how you charge. I agree that 15% would seem to be a big rise ... unless you are starting from a low base! £20 ph with 15% is only £23 ph. If you charge for mileage and other expenses that could increase. The government now says that each mile costs the average motorist around 65p. If however you are charging £60ph putting that up to £69ph would be too much in one hit.

Give it a go... but perhaps to the guys who give you a lot of work only bump it up 10% You can charge different people different rates.

[squeezee]

Do what the supermarkets do, change the size of the packaging, then sneak in the old pack as better value. So rather than put the hourly rate up 15% put it up 7% and charge the 8% as extra time. You can rationalise it up later.

[Katedesign]

Ahh! You mean work slower!

[jf design]

Cheers for the replies everyone. I like the idea of spending more time per project! Also I'd be very happy if I was on £60ph

The hourly rate would increase by £3 (or by about £24 a day) which isn't much more for agencies to shell out, although obviously this would add up over the course of a week or more. I hope this wouldn't offend anyone too much but it's just a tricky subject to approach.

[Katedesign]

Go for it!

[Dave L]

The hourly rate would increase by £3 (or by about £24 a day) which isn't much more for agencies to shell out, although obviously this would add up over the course of a week or more. I hope this wouldn't offend anyone too much but it's just a tricky subject to approach.

I take it all back: my maths is pretty awful but is that all agencies pay?

[Minuteman Press]

£23 per hour sounds very reasonable.

[smartappz]

Go for it
Too many people underprice themselves. If you are cheap, you are a commodity.
As long as you can justify why you charge X, you can charge it.
Inflation is going up, so go for it.

Cheers for the replies everyone. I like the idea of spending more time per project! Also I'd be very happy if I was on £60ph

The hourly rate would increase by £3 (or by about £24 a day) which isn't much more for agencies to shell out, although obviously this would add up over the course of a week or more. I hope this wouldn't offend anyone too much but it's just a tricky subject to approach.