What's your hourly rate?

romet6

Member
If you don't mind me asking, I am curious about the average hourly rate for the people in these forums.
I see that some people do projects with quite big budgets (Tony, chrismitchell) but I wonder how many hours might these projects take?
I understand that the budget for each project is different and you probably don't know the exact amount of hours that you have spent or will spend but you could make an educated guess... or not...

To start off... I have been in design for almost a year and I ask $15 per hour on oDesk (there are a lot of people willing to work for a small amount, so I can't ask too much) but I might quote a higher price if the project seems a bit more complex.
 
Hi Romet, nice to meet you!
We've actually got a thread on this subject which you can find here: http://www.designforums.co.uk/topic/8928-how-much-does-design-cost/
$15 is actually very, very low. Just so you know $15 is almost £9.84 which is just £3.53 above minimum wage. Unfortunately you're going to limit yourself quite a lot by working through sites like oDesk because of the sheer amount of competition you face, the rates people charge are going to affect that. People don't want to pay more if they don't have to.
 
Let's just say you can't afford me. ;)

I kid. But the general going rate for just out of college seems to be $25-$30. I'm at a point in my career where I've received a lot of awards and recognition and have worked for some large companies that I charge between $55-$65 an hour. But I do illustration exclusively so I will present a ballpark rate based on my hourly rate since clients tend to shy away from the hourly thing.

At times this can bite you in the butt (like a project I clocked in over 100 hours and got paid only $1,000 with LOTS of client changes because they were adding the information as we went along) but other times this can work for your benefit like if you estimate 10 hours and it only takes you 5, you still get what you'd be paid for 10.

:)
 
Sean Lee-Amies said:
Hi Romet, nice to meet you!
We've actually got a thread on this subject which you can find here: http://www.designforums.co.uk/topic/8928-how-much-does-design-cost/
$15 is actually very, very low. Just so you know $15 is almost £9.84 which is just £3.53 above minimum wage. Unfortunately you're going to limit yourself quite a lot by working through sites like oDesk because of the sheer amount of competition you face, the rates people charge are going to affect that. People don't want to pay more if they don't have to.
Oh, sorry, my bad.
I guess I should have done a search first : )
I just didn't expect there to be a thread on this because as Tony said "a lot of designers seem to have some stigma attached to discussing it." So I wasn't even sure what kind of responses I would get to this topic.

I actually see a lot of people even charging $3-$4 dollars on oDesk, that's... crazy.
 
No problem :)
I'll talk about anything. No point in holding back just because someone might get jealous or laugh at you, we're all friends here :) Yes, $3-$4 p/h is ridiculous, welcome to the global market. The only reason those people can charge so little is because their cost of living is so, so much lower than ours though. It really makes you think about just how expensive things are these days, when you can get similar, in type and quality, products and services for a mere fraction of the cost we pay.
 
"we're all friends here"
Yeah, this seems like a nice little community.
I really like that it's filled with people who have similar interests as I do.
I started out with design as a hobby but did different work for a few years,
until I got tired of unreasonable bosses and 9 to 5 jobs overall.
I am from Estonia, where the minimum wage is €300, so my rate is relatively okay here
(before I get thrown out of here, let me say that I have lived in UK for 4 years as well, if that helps :D ).
I actually started out lower on oDesk, just to get some positive feedback on the site.
I then gradually started raising the price, as I built up a small portfolio.
I have had some customers, who paid me more than what I asked (just recently one paid $40 for half an hour's work)
and when I doubled my price with one long-term client, he didn't even try to negotiate a lower price, just agreed to it immediately.
One thing that I have learned is that in many of these sites the bid that is on the top of the list (first to be seen) has the best chances to get the job.
The same is with personal websites. If you can get the visitors, you can ask whatever you like and eventually someone goes for it.
 
A lot of times you will get very lucky and get clients that don't question your price because they know you provide a service and specialty.
I'm a hand letterer, I get paid and hired because I specialize in it. :) People expect to pay $500 for a half page illustration because they know it will come out well and that I will make whatever changes necessary to make them happy with it.
 
I remember the words of Johnny Castle (the patron saint of freelancers):

"Last month, I'm-I-I'm eating Jujubes to keep alive, this month women are stuffing diamonds in my pockets.
I'm bouncing on shit and quick as that I could be down there again."
 
scotty said:
I remember the words of Johnny Castle (the patron saint of freelancers):

"Last month, I'm-I-I'm eating Jujubes to keep alive, this month women are stuffing diamonds in my pockets.
I'm bouncing on shit and quick as that I could be down there again."
Hey, at least he had Jujubes, that lucky |$%^ :)
 
It's all about experience. As freelancers, we all start out with a low rate, but that will grow as you get busier, quicker, more confident in quoting, etc.
There's nothing wrong in taking on the lower-paid jobs to start with, especially if you're not busy or it will look good in your portfolio.
My hourly rate is around £45 ph, sometimes more if it's direct with a big company, but often less if it's big job which are difficult to budget,
or for a private client on a low budget. Each job is different, but I can command that rate because I've been doing this for over 20 years and
my clients know they will get a professional job.
I think someone did a poll and the average was £30-35.00 per hour for a freelance designer with a few years' experience.
 
romet6 said:
Hey, at least he had Jujubes, that lucky |$%^ :)

*Advice*
Always have a stock of 19p instant noodles in the larder
....... and a fluffy Wine Gum in yer pocket. :D
 
Keep up with stellar advice like that and you'll soon progress from DF Amateur Scotty! ;)
 
scotty said:
*Advice*
Always have a stock of 19p instant noodles in the larder
Yeah, I have a few packs of them somewhere : )
I remember seeing deals for full cases of them in London...
I don't know what I could do for $300+ in a day (of 10 hours).
I just chose the simplest thing to start with - banners.
I'm a TV fanatic and designing those didn't seem to interfere with my TV addiction,
although I have run out of decent shows and movies to watch by now.
I have taken on other design projects as well, when some of my clients have requested it, but I don't see any of that earning me $300+ per day right now. When I do better work then that also means spending more hours, so the pay would come out the same in the end.
 
You should check out this thread for some good TV Shows to watch: http://www.designforums.co.uk/topic/8871-what-have-you-watched-recently/
$300 for a 10 hour day works out to just under £20 an hour, which is decent, but not even close to what you could be earning if you develop your skills enough and find the right client base. I'm not sure what you mean by that last comment, when you do better work you'll be able to attract higher quality clients, or at the least better paying clients, which doesn't automatically mean more hours.
 
In an ideal world you shouldn't change your hourly rate depending on what the project is...your hourly rate is YOUR hourly rate because it's what you value your time as being worth.
It's up to a client if they want to pay you that for a task that they could get cheaper elsewhere, but that's always the case.
The only time I drop my hourly rate is for very regular clients who send me a lot of work and are reliable themselves when it comes to paying on time etc.
 
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